Click on any of the below to view and download PDF instructions for these activities

Eco Spa Balm Making

Our tradition teaches that Shmirat HaGuf – care of our bodies – is important so that we can do good work in the world. To love ourselves we need to take care of our mind, body, and spirit. Using natural products with simple earth-based ingredients is a way of taking care of our bodies and gifting to others.

ECO SPA BALM MAKING

Microgreens

Microgreens are mini versions of regular vegetables. The shoots are harvested at a young age, before they grow into fully matured plants. They have a wonderful flavor and are richer in nutrition than their larger counterparts. Best of all, microgreens are fun and easy to grow!

Microgreens

Paper Making

As we learn from our tradition, we have a responsibility to care for the trees we have and to plan trees for the future. Recycled papermaking is a way of making new paper without needing to harvest more trees.

Paper Making

Pickling 101

There are many options to preserve each season’s harvest, including canning, vinegar pickling, drying, blanching and freezing. This particular activity teaches lacto-fermentation pickling – an easy, fun and extremely health-friendly method of food preservation. Participants will take home a jar of their own and in a few days will be able to eat their own pickles!

Pickling 101

Jewish Learning From The Roots Up!

Unplugging, slowing down and taking the time to learn and live in nature fosters responsibility and independence within young learners, as they form deeper connections to the Earth based on gratitude, awareness, and joy.

Learn More About Teva

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The Haggadah is designed to create a similar setting to a Passover seder – creating conversation with friends, peers, and colleagues, while enjoying wine and special foods. While Passover focuses on slavery and freedom, Tu B’Shvat focuses on pertinent issues relating to ecology, the environment, and sustainability.

In addition to the Haggadot below, you can find additional resources and activity ideas on our list of Tu B’Shvat Sustainable Resources.

Tu B’Shvat Haggadah by Jewish Youth Climate Movement

The Jewish Youth Climate Movement (JYCM), a program of Adamah, is empowering our network of young Jews to host local seders aligned with our vision of integrating Jewish tradition with climate action. The JYCM Tu B’Shvat Haggadah is a teen-made resource that includes blessings, climate commentary, and framings for your seder.

Download a free copy of the JYCM haggadah

Looking for activities and other ideas to help celebrate the holiday as a young adult? Check out this Tu B’Shvat Program Guide compiled by Adamah on Campus student leaders.

Adamah Tu B’Shvat Haggadah

The Adamah Tu B’Shvat Haggadah uses Jewish text and climate science to focus on pertinent issues relating to ecology, the environment, and sustainability – and how we consider the changing needs of the world in every generation so we can best ensure a safer, stronger, and more sustainable world.

Download a free copy of the Adamah haggadah

2019 Tu B’Shvat Haggadah: Hazon Seder and Sourcebook (MLK Day)

The 2019 Tu B’Shvat haggadah features the blessings on wine and symbolic foods, various thematic activities, as well as four sets of texts focusing on our relationship with food, trees, the land of Israel, and the wider world. This was created when Martin Luther King Jr. Day fell on Tu B’Shvat this year, so the final section adds a social justice component featuring excerpts from Dr. King’s teachings.

Download a free copy of the MLK Day haggadah

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Our short guide contains kiddush for Rosh Hashanah, a series of prayers to be recited over different symbolic foods, and other verses and prayers for the new year.

“Abaye said: Now that you have said that omens can be significant, on Rosh Hashanah one should eat gourds, fenugreek, leeks, beets, and dates.”

Babylonian Talmud, Keritot 6a

This Talmud teaching forms the basis of our Rosh Hashanah seder with its simanim (symbolic foods) and blessings. Over time, different Jewish communities have added their own traditions and interpretations.

While some foods, such as apples with honey or pomegranates, have become near universal, we have also included other Ashkenazi, Sefardi, and Mizrahi customs, creating a ritual that reflects the diversity of modern Judaism. With each symbolic food, a prayer is recited. Many use a play on words related to the Hebrew, but other traditions contain puns using Aramaic, Yiddish, or Farsi.

Feel free to download a version that can be printed into an 8-page booklet or print a 4-page handout to enjoy at your table.

Booklet Version

8-page PDF to print as a booklet

Handout Version

4-page PDF to print as a handout

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Translated as “Release,” Shmita is integral to the Torah’s vision of a just society. Though the specifics of Shmita observance have changed throughout Jewish history, its inherent values remain prescient. Shmita, with its dual acknowledgment and transcendence of the agricultural and economic realm, offers an opportunity for social reset and renewal to the entire Jewish world – and beyond.

This 3rd edition is completely redesigned with the user experience in mind, many additional sources, and more thorough commentary and explanations. This comprehensive, accessible sourcebook is well-suited for individual, partnered, and group study, with guiding text and discussion questions to enhance your learning, regardless of educational background. The Hazon Shmita Sourcebook offers a holistic understanding of Shmita, from the depth of Jewish tradition to the most pressing issues of our time.

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Just as Tu B’Shvat has been revived as a Jewish Earth Day, Rosh Hashanah La’Behemot is a modern-day reminder of human relationships with animals. Animals provide humans with companionship, food, clothing and so much more. Rosh Hashanah La’Behemot is a time for us to honor our relationships with behemot, the animals in our lives.

Think of the chicken on your Shabbat dinner table, the milk in your coffee, or the leather in your sneakers. Ask yourself: How do animals impact your life? What are your relationships with animals? If you start paying attention to the products you rely on every day, you will see how much you rely on domesticated animals. There are plenty of reasons to celebrate animals on Rosh Hashanah La’Behemot!

Rosh Hodesh Elul, the new moon festival of the month of Elul, marks the day for ma’aser behema, or the counting of domesticated animals, such as cattle and sheep, for tax purposes. During the time of the Temple, this day was the new year to determine the start date of animal tithes.

When the Temple stood, Rosh Hashanah La’Behemot celebrated one way people honored the domesticated animals that allowed people to survive. Rosh Hashanah La’Behemot parallels the more well-known Rosh Hashanah L’llanot (Tu B’shvat), the New Year’s Festival that marked the day for tithing fruit bearing trees.

Rosh Hashanah La’Behemot points to the connection with domesticated animals. “Domesticated animals” include all those historically bred by humans, whether they are kosher or non-kosher, such as cats, dogs, cattle, chickens, pigs, llamas, and goats. Today, animals are  indirectly affected by humans in ways our ancestors couldn’t imagine. Human activities like factory farming and deforestation lead to habitat loss and decreases in biodiversity. Even animals we don’t directly interact with are being impacted by human activity.

Use this day to consider the deep relationship between humans and animals of all kinds. The holiday can serve as a chance to remind people tza’ar ba’alei hayim, the prohibition against unnecessary cruelty to animals. Rosh Hashanah La’Behemot is a perfect day to start conversations about animal welfare — and start taking action to improve the lives of animals around the world.

Rosh Hashanah La’Behemot has not been celebrated extensively since Temple times. There is room for creativity and interpretation in adapting this ancient holiday to address modern issues. Questions? Ideas about how to celebrate? Contact us at foodeducation@hazon.org.

Rosh Hashanah La’Behemot Programs:

• Shofar- Blowing Ceremony: All-ages ceremony to bless the animals in our lives.
• The Council of All Beings: This 1-2 hour activity encourages children to explore their natural ecosystems and imagine themselves coming together as a council of animals.
• Rosh Hashanah La’Behemot: Explanation and Ritual
• Two Shofar Rituals for the New Year of Elul
• A Blessing for Bugs on Rosh Hashanah La’Behemot
• Host a Vegan Shabbat Dinner: Host a vegan Shabbat Dinner on Rosh Hashanah LaBehma.  Provide plant-based meat alternatives  to show people high welfare options are available and delicious.  If children are present, shape the food like animals to make the dinner more interactive.  During the meal, hold a guided discussion regarding the connection of Jewish values to animal welfare.  Discuss how the way in which animals are treated today within the food industry may not align with Jewish ideals.
• Commit to buying higher-welfare animal products: Take our online commitment to buying higher-welfare eggs, and download the Food Guide to learn more.

Animal Connection Programs:

• The Ark Project: This b’nai mitzvah curriculum from the Jewish Initiative for Animals contains a wealth of activities to explore human-animal relationships.
• Min Ha’Aretz: Making meaning from our food: This curriculum includes texts, Jewish quotes, and questions that allow children to explore their relationship with animals in a Jewish context.
• Meat Reduction Rap: This fun activity allows for a creative way to explore the environmental effects of eating meat, specifically beef.
• Fur and Feather Together: A picture book about animals and people across the globe standing together against climate change.

Articles

• Three articles about restoring the ancient New Year for Animals by Richard Schwartz
• Rosh Chodesh Elul: The New Year for the Animals by Aharon Varady (Open Siddur)
• Explanation and ritual for the New Year’s Day for Domesticated Animals by Aharon Varady (Open Siddur)
• Why Animals Need their Own New Year by Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg (The Jewish Chronicle)
• A New Year for the Animals: The Time Has Come by Jeffrey Cohan (The Forward)
• A New Year’s Resolution to Be Proud Of (That You Actually Can Keep!) by Joshua Ratner (My Jewish Learning)
• What is Our Responsibility to Other Creatures? A Jewish Perspective on Animal Suffering and Conservation by Rabbi Simcha Feuerman (My Jewish Learning)
• Happy New Year… for the Animals? by Natalie Warhit (The Forward)
• Rosh Hashanah La Behemot Teach-In video featuring 15 guest educators

Jewish Organizations Promoting Animal Welfare

• Jewish Initiative For Animals (JIFA):  provides new ways for the Jewish community to bring its values of compassion for animals into practice and build Jewish community in the process.
• Shamayim V’Aretz Institute: Jewish animal welfare organization that educates leaders, trains advocates, and leads campaigns for the ethical treatment of animals
• Jewish Veg: encourages and helps Jews embrace plant-based diets as an expression of the Jewish values of compassion for animals, concern for health, and care for the environment.

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download the local lulav packet

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