This Year Celebrate Tu B’Shvat with a Seder

Tu B’shvat is the Jewish New Year for Trees. As the environment is changing, and the concept of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) is changing with it, we must be more aware of how this generation has the potential and the responsibility to change current practices in our society. In Deuteronomy 20:19 we learn “A human is like a tree in the field.”  Just as one tree does not make a forest, one person does not make up a community.  It takes all of us working together to repair the spiritual and physical damage human have inflicted upon the Earth.  As we celebrate Tu B’shvat, following in the traditions of the Kabbalists in Tzfat (Safed), we must also think about our responsibility to the earth and how to begin these repairs.

Materials are provided here to help individuals, families communities, and synagogues to organize and implement a Tu B’shvat seder as a way to examine and celebrate our connection to the land of Israel and the people of Israel. It is also a way to infuse Zionist identity with a green consciousness.

Tu B’shvat is an ideal time to focus on Israel.  Spring is about to emerge in Israel and forests are beginning to show a tinge of green.  How better to celebrate Israel and environment than with this Tu B’shvat Seder.  Download the hagaddah here.  Download the leaders guide here.

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Bring the Israeli Social Protest to Your Community

Zionism Poster

An excellent opportunity to integrate Tikkum Olam, Jewish Values, Israel education all while incorporating recent events of the modern Israeli society!

 

Bring the Israeli Social Protest to your community, synagogue or school!

Over the summer Israelis took to the streets to protest on various social matters ranging from housing & healthcare to education & animal rights. The World Zionist Organization Department for Diaspora Activity has created an amazing visual art exhibit that gives insight into the movement through imagery and provocative questions and discussion topics. The kit provides information on the goals of the movement and how social justice fit in, highlights Jewish values, what role Zionism played, and how people in the United States can relate to Summer 2011’s Tent City Tel Aviv activities.

The kit includes 10 posters, a leader’s guide on how to use the kit,  Jewish & Zionist texts, and articles connecting the US. Plus, some t-shirts for leaders and participants!  Here’s a brief overview of the posters and content:

Daily Routine & Culture- Experience the true Israeli counter-culture, alternative school, community kitchens, and intellectual gatherings! The “tent cities” were festive, there was no money to purchase food, everything was donated, people shared spaces, scheduled organized meetings and protests and used each other as resources to get their message heard.

Zionism – “No, Zionism would not have arisen–and will not stand–in a world that denies Justice, Law, and Freedom to all who are created in the Divine Image, and it won’t repudiate these human values, for in these [Zionism] will have to judge itself.”   Those are the words of Berl Katznelson, one of the most prominent leaders of the Zionist movement. Explore how the protesters sought to revive and re-connect with the Zionist dream.

Jewish Identity- On Yom Kippur it is custom to read from the Book of Isaiah, the passage- “share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them,  and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood!”- Discover how the protesters came to understand the bond between Judaism and their call for social justice.

 

Social Justice- The overall theme of the protest, what is social justice and what Israelis want from it. Justice for animals, people, the environment and everything in-between.

Democracy & The Protest- Celebrating Israeli democracy all spectrums were heard. There was no political agenda in the protest, people wanted to forget the “Left & Right” and focus on the immediate needs for the Israeli people

Housing- Educate your groups about the living situations for Israelis in the cities. With soaring prices and not enough cheap places to live, Israelis made their concerns heard by creating “Tent Cities” in Tel Aviv and other areas to show their need for affordable homes is imperative to the future of Israel.

Health- Israel has one of the best public healthcare systems in the world, still, households are finding an increase in healthcare bills as costs rise and people are unable to afford treatment. Demanding for reform in this sector was a huge component to the protests.

Education- Education has always been a part of the Jewish life and now in the Jewish State , nearly 250.000 hours of classroom time has been cut over the last decade as budgets have dwindled, teachers are being paid less no matter their experience and classrooms are starting to fill up past capacity.

The Diversity of Protesters- The protest was composed of variety of social, political and ethnic groups. The ages spanned across young and old, college students to working class, but their were some perspectives missing. The kit explores those who were present but also begs the question- who was missing?

Collage – A collection of pictures taken from the protest that put the whole protest into one view

 

See with your own eyes what the Israeli Social Protest was all about…order today or schedule for one of our educators to come to you.

Contact Shoshanna Howard for more details and prices:

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Young Zionist Leadership Conference in Miami Beach

promo for YZL

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WZO and AZM Sponsor Conference Addressing Delegitimization

Yuli Edelstein, Minister for Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs

Yuli Edelstein addresses the Conference on Sunday, September 25 in Manhattan (photo credit: David Karp)

 

Pro-Israel supporters pledged to take action to counter the Delegitimization of Israel during a full-day conference  in Manhattan organized by the WZO Department for Activities in Israel and Countering Anti-Semitism and the American Zionist Movement (AZM).

MK Yuli Edelstein, the Minister for Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs, was the keynote speaker at the  conference, entitled HARD REALITIES: Addressing Delegitimization and Anti-Semitism.  In addition to Minister Edelstein, other speakers included Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; Professor Kenneth Stein, of Emory University and the Center for Israel Education; Brooke Goldstein of The Lawfare Project, Dan Mariaschin, Executive Vice President of B’nai B’rith International, and Michael Miller, Executive Vice President of the New York, Jewish Community Relations Council.

Ya’akov HaGoel, Chair of the WZO Department for Activities in Israel and Countering Anti-Semitism said “It is important to gather representatives from the United States who are facing false accusations concerning Israel’s right to exist. There is an escalation of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel events on college campuses, in the media and on the streets.”

William D. Hess, President of the American Zionist Movement added, “This conference was intended to help empower the Jewish community to fight delegitimization.  In the morning conference speakers analyzed the underlying issues that have brought us to this point. In the afternoon addressed the challenge of how to reverse negative trends and give people the tools to fight back.”  Hess added “we want to encourage the Jewish people to embrace the Zionist idea.  Zionism is the national movement of the Jewish people; getting people to say they are Zionists is the starting point for the struggle against delegitimization.

The conference took place less than a week after the United Nations General Assembly opened its 2011 fall session.  Hagoel said the timing was not a coincidence and that pro-Israel supporters need to “acquire legitimate arguments that empower both Jewish and non-Jewish activists, as well as influential people around the world.”

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Conference on Delegitimization of Israel in New York City

Click here or on the image to sign up

Program (Subject to Change)

Hard Realities: Addressing the Delegitimization of Israel and Anti-Semitism
Lighthouse International Conference Center
111 East 59th Street

Register: www.izionist.org/seminar-in-nyc

9:30 – 10:00 AM      REGISTRATION AND COFFEE

10:00 AM                  WELCOME

William D. Hess, President, American Zionist Movement
Ya’akov Hagoel, Chair, WZO Dept for Activities in Israel and Countering Anti-Semitism

AN OVERVIEW OF DELEGITIMIZATION AND ANTI-SEMITISM

Chair: Jan Schechter, Past President, AMIT

10:15 – 11:45 AM    OPENING PLENARY

Dan Mariaschin, Exec V.P., B’nai B’rith
Demonization and Delegitimization of Israel in an Age of  Global Anti-Semitism

Prof. Kenneth Stein, Emory University and the Center for Israel Education
The Intellectual and Political Assault on Israel

Brooke Goldstein, Director, The Lawfare Project
Lawfare: the Use of the Law as a Weapon of War to Delegitimize Israel and the Shared Implications for Democracies

11:45 AM – 12:30 PM   KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Chair: Marlene Post, Chair of AZM Board

The Delegitimization of Israel and Anti-Semitism

The Honorable Yuli Edelstein, Minister for Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs

12:30 – 1:15 PM      LUNCH

RESPONDING TO DELEGITIMIZATION

1:15 – 2:00 PM      AFTERNOON PLENARY

DELEGITIMIZATION: THE ZIONIST RESPONSE

Chair: Richard Stone, Chairman, Conference of President of Major American Jewish Organizations

Morton Klein, President, Zionist Organization of America
Marcie Natan, Member, WZO Executive, President, Hadassah
Kenneth  Bob, Member WZO Executive, President, Ameinu
Natalie Silverlieb, Helyn B Reich Memorial Scholarship Recipient, Young Leadership representative

2:00 – 2:45 PM     DELEGITIMIZATION: THE COMMUNITY RESPONSE

Chair: Leonard Cole, Co-Chair, Jewish Agency’s Task Force on Anti-Semitism

Malcolm Hoenlein, Exec. Vice Chairman, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations

David Dabscheck, Managing  Director, Israel Action Network

2:50 – 3:30 PM     THE MEDIA RESPONSE

Chair: David Krantz, Green Zionist Alliance

Using New Media in Countering Delegitimization
Eitan Ori Behar, Director, WZO Communications Center


A Media Professional’s Perspective on Delegitimization
Nadav Perry, Correspondent, Israel Channel 10

3:30        THE ACTIVIST RESPONSE TO DELEGITIMIZATION

Co-Chairs: Judy Gelman, Ameinu and Stephen Wolnek, President, Mercaz Olami

  • Talking to the Far Left and Unions

Dan Fleshler, Strategy XXI Partners

  • Building Bridges to Other Communities

Michael Miller, Executive Vice Chairman; New York Jewish Community Relations Council

  • How to Cope with anti-Israel Sentiment on Campus .

Zoe Jick, New York Area Director, Student Activities, WZO Department for Diaspora Activities

Eric Schorr, President, LionPac, Columbia University

David Dabscheck, Managing Director, Israel Action Network

5:00 PM   CLOSING AND CALL TO ACTION

Chair: Philip Meltzer, Past President, ARZA
Yaakov Hagoel, Chair, WZO Department for Israel Activities and Countering Anti-Semitism

HATIKVA

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