Peoplehood & Planethood: Adamah Leadership Israel Mission

I am so grateful to these wonderful people—Adamah staff, board members, committee members, donors, organizational partners, and allies—for stepping up to be here, to learn, to cultivate relationships, and to build bridges for our people and our planet. It is going to be an amazing week: follow along with our daily blog.

My heart is moved by all I cannot save: so much has been destroyed
I have to cast my lot with those who age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world.
― Adrienne Rich

This is my second time here since October 7th: I was here last April on one of our Adamah Israel Farm Volunteering Missions as well. There are so many realities about Israel that remain hidden from us as we view Israel through the American media, seemingly impossible to convey yet so important to understand in this moment, especially for those aligned with Adamah’s values and mission. I share just two such observations here:

1. The land and people of Israel are heart-achingly beautiful. Mountains and hillsides, wildflowers and beaches, birds and porcupines and wild boars, rain and wind, sunsets and stars. The Carmel forest, Hof Habonim, Ein Kerem and the Jerusalem forest, and a thousand other places to connect with nature, Creation, community, and ourselves. This past beautiful weekend saw many thousands of Israelis enjoying the outdoors, hiking and picnicking and many other things, connecting with friends and family, enjoying life and each other. To be here, on this land with our ancestral memories and connections embedded within us—even with all the pain—is truly a gift. The vast majority of Jewish history has unfolded without our ability to set foot on this sacred ground. Even now, amidst this trauma, it is a miracle to be alive and to be here at this time.

2. Israel is a family. To see so many parents and children enjoying themselves outdoors, to see their smiles and hear their laughter, is a testimony to both Jewish and human resilience and the healing power of love and nature connection. As I walk on a trail or sit on a beach here, I feel the tender hearts of everyone around me, and weep silently in awe of their strength, their fierce love for their children, for life, and for this tribal family national experiment: the Jewish homeland. I went into the old Haifa shuk (market) yesterday with friends, and stopped into a store where the savta (grandma) in charge not only tried to sell us some of her wares, but also tried to convince my friends to leave their sleeping 1-year-old baby with her while they go have some quiet time in the shuk as a couple. The haggling over the baby was at least as arduous as any sale that might have occurred. That savta is the norm not the exception, emblematic of the Israeli ethos, reflected last week when over 100,000 Israelis lined the streets nationwide to watch the heartbreaking funeral of the Bibas family.

Over these next few days, our group will be meeting with closely aligned allies here, “cousins” you might say: Israelis and Palestinians invested in peacebuilding through environmental cooperation, Israeli environmentalist leaders of all ages and backgrounds and organizational kinds, climate tech entrepreneurs, municipal sustainability leaders from Tel Aviv and elsewhere, partners from Birthright and the Jewish Agency, and many more. There is no shortage of news highlighting our more distant Israeli “cousins” with whom we may profoundly and angrily disagree, but we cannot and will not allow our minds and hearts to give into despair.

There must be another path forward, and Adamah is committed to helping blaze that trail. We will invest in building bridges and partnerships, for our people and our planet.

“There will not be a victory of light over darkness as long as we do not recognize the simple truth, that instead of fighting the darkness, we must increase the light.” ― A. D. Gordon

L’Shalom – In Peace,
Jakir Manela
Adamah CEO

Adamah’s statement of its relationship with Israel describes my heart and my kavannah (intention) for this week:

One of Adamah’s seven core values is Peoplehood & Planethood: building bridges for the Jewish People from Israel and the Diaspora to create a more sustainable future together…We connect like-minded Diaspora Jews and Israelis, fostering cross-cultural connections and collaboration. We believe in peace building through environmental cooperation, aiming to support peace, justice and sustainability for Israelis and Palestinians. We know that there are many viewpoints on this issue; we are committed to empathy, listening and inclusive community as we remain committed to moving forward in this direction.

We never know how our small activities will affect others through the invisible fabric of our connectedness. In this exquisitely connected world, it’s never a question of critical mass. It is always about critical connections.
― Grace Lee Boggs

Today’s theme Peacebuilding Through Environmental Cooperations (PEC) was a profound place to start and a reminder of the power of connections, both regional and global. Our first stop, Wadi Atir, is a hub of innovation in farming, animal husbandry and resource management. which combines the ancient heritage and lost knowledge of Bedouins with research and technology of the future. It is a revolutionary model of sustainability and self-sufficiency, True to today’s theme, it is also a model of building sustainable relationships, as between Muhammed El. Nabari, the visionary of Wadi Attir, Ben Gurion University, and committed Jewish Israelis and Bedouins from the surrounding area in the Negev.

Looking out into the fields of Wadi Attir, with planes from the nearby air base flying overhead, the Director of Wadi Attir shared one example of the significance of these relationships. Following October 7, the olive trees were heavy with ripe olives that need to be picked. Out of desperation and a belief in the relationships that have been forged, a call was made for volunteers to harvest the trees. During this terrifying and painful time, they dared to hope that twenty people might answer the call. In late October 2023, in an event labelled “Harvest of Hope”, 200 volunteers, Jewish and Muslim, showed up to work the land, side by side for the olive harvest. “Working in the ground together, we don’t care where partners come from, their religion nor their politics,” he explained. “Rather, it is through the act of working the land together, that critical connections deepen and new opportunities emerge.”

Our twelve hour day continued in the Negev, to the Al-Furaa Off-Grid Hub: the first off grid school in the country and an innovative project of sustainable water purification and self-determination in partnership with the Arava Institute. From machines which turn air into drinking water (literally!), to self standing units where moss covered sheets help filter human wastewater into water suitable for irrigation, we witnessed the efficacy and large scale potential of these pilot projects as acts of collaboration, sustainability, self determination and local empowerment.

Our day ended with a delicious (kosher!) Iftar (the meal eaten after sunset during Ramadan) dinner and powerful conversation with alumni and staff from the Arava Institute Peacebuilding through Environmental Cooperation (PEC) and the Dialogue Forum about the challenges and potential of dialogue between Jewish, Palestinian, Jordanian and international youth. The legacy of over 1900 graduates throughout the decades of this program is inspiring, while it is clear that this is a moment of even more profound challenges for dialogue and understanding.

Exhausted, inspired and left with more questions than answers, the message of Wati Attir Founder Muhammed El Nabari leaves me both humble and inspired. After decades of seemingly impossible collaborations in sustainability throughout the world, El Nabari challenged “Describing problems is an easy way to release energy. The work of solutions, is removing obstacles.” It is my hope and prayer that the visionary people, projects and collaborations we encounter this week, and the connections that we make with them and one another will continue to move us through the invisible fabric of our connectedness…in this exquisitely connected world.

-Jackie Victor, Israel trip participant

A guiding theme throughout this day was what kind of world we are giving our young people, and how we can work alongside them to do better, while also navigating all of our big feelings. So it makes sense that they handed this one to me, I guess.

We visited the moshav of Netiv Haasarah, which practically touches the Gaza Strip. The woman who met us there, a seed farmer, told us about raising her own two children under a constant barrage of rockets. The government’s solution: Make the nursery school into a safe room, make the playground into a safe room with toys, and put the children to bed in a safe room every night. It sounds cruelly surreal until you realize that the United States has essentially the same response to school shootings.

Thankfully Ziv, who’s 18 and a half (note the half), joined us to lighten the mood for the next leg of the trip. She is taking a gap service year before the army, an increasingly popular option since the war. She works as a nature-based educator for the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, the oldest and largest environmental group in the country. As we stood on the beach, she told us about the Blue Half, the organization’s marine protection program, and its efforts to restrict fishing and prevent pipeline spills.

Elad Hochman, Executive Director of Green Course, a national Israeli youth climate activism group, closed out the day with a dynamic presentation featuring Adamah’s own Samm Kaiser, who manages the Jewish Youth Climate Movement. Green Course has a lot of energy, a strong strategy, and a great track record, and there’s many ideas cooking about how we could collaborate and exchange knowledge. Hochman also very much appreciates the mental and emotional dimensions of his work, as he sees younger people navigating a climate crisis, a political crisis, an economic crisis, and above all, a crisis of hope all at once.

When it comes to youth, he says, “We have to make them believe again that they have the power to change, and they have to hold hope.”

Shamati–I hear that.

-Anya Kamenetz, Israel trip participant

Starting with a walking tour of Park Mesila with Dr. Boaz Kedar, Sustainable Planning and Energy Manager for the Municipality of Tel Aviv – Yafo. Park Mesila, formerly a gritty street of parking lots and garages was transformed into a vibrant pedestrian walk/park that leads to the beach. We ended the walk at a public water sports facility on the beach. Most of that facility is below grade with a public space above. The public space is covered with the largest pergola in Israel. The coolest part is that the pergola is covered with an integrated 68kW solar array making the facility net positive (i.e. it generates more energy than it uses).

We were hosted for lunch by Fanta Prada, an Ethiopian Jew and entrepreneur, at her restaurant, Balinjera. We were joined by our sister City representatives in Israel – Sigal for Baltimore/Ashkelon and Eliad from Atlanta/Yokneam.

After lunch, we met with Rotem of Planetech for a stroll through the port of Yafo. Planetech is a network of close to 400 climate tech startups. Through their ecosystem, they match startups with investors and corporate partners as well as identify market needs that startups can address. Rotem is particularly focused on the startups deploying their proof of concept locally. At the port, we saw the demonstration projects for EcoWave Power and ECOoncrete. EcoWave is a grid connected wave energy array. The company recently went public. ECOconcrete is a resilient material that protects marine flora and fauna.

Next we proceeded to the Tel Aviv city hall to meet (by zoom) with Noah Efron, a former member of the Tel Aviv City Council, academic, writer and host of The Promised Land podcast. Noah explained the dramatic evolution of climate adaptation and mitigation in Tel Aviv over the past decade. Tel Aviv has made world class progress in almost every metric including: less cars, more bike lanes, air quality, tree canopy, renewable energy, etc.

After a debrief, we boarded the bus to travel to our next hotel, Maale HaChamisha in the Jerusalem Hills.

-Rob Frier, Israel trip participant

I’ve been told there are beautiful sweeping views but there was heavy cloud cover this morning along with cold, soaking rain. We were certainly well prepared to proceed with our plan to be in the field, especially after fueling up on that gorgeous colorful Israeli breakfast buffet. We traveled by bus to Eytanim, a nearby government-funded residential mental health hospital to meet with leaders from Venatata and Taglit-Birthright Israel We were greeted by Meital Yaakov and Avishai Shoua of Venatata, as well as Ohad Yron, Director of Environmental Programming of Taglit.

You likely know that Taglit-Birthright Israel offers Jewish young adults ages 18-26 the opportunity to a free 10-day trip to Israel. But their new Greening initiative, supported with a major gift from Jewish environmentalist and philanthropist Stephen Bronfman, now infuses exposure to environmental content and activities and immersive environmental tailor-made programming. They are now reducing the carbon imprint of bringing thousands of young people to Israel by removing disposable plastics from all trips, using electric transport within Israel, serving sustainable foods and vegan offerings, and other eco-friendly practices, just as a start. I know that these issues are on the minds of my own kids, ages 20, 17, and 13. The idea of offering an experience like this on the issues that matter to this young generation is incredibly exciting and necessary.

Venatata has been working with Taglit to help showcase environmental programming in Israel, mainly by planting therapeutic gardens all around Israel. Venatata plants in urban spaces, sets up therapeutic and community gardens in public and private settings, grows vegetables on rooftops and in houses to contribute to balancing the climate, reacting clean air, carbon fixation, healing the soil, creating ecological continuity, promoting sustainable economic growth, and encouraging a culture of planting and caring for trees as an educational instrument and a tool to connect between people, and between people and the land.

Avishay gave us these thoughts which I thought were brilliant. He instructed us to think of physically grounding ourselves on the land to feel the connection. If it weren’t so cold and muddy, we would have removed our shoes. And he also said, we are Jewish hippies backed by science. This makes perfect sense. After all, Jews care deeply about education and doing things well. If we are hippies, of course we will be backed by science.

Our group’s task today was to divide into small groups to plant a fruit tree garden, primarily small tree plantings with a winding mulched pathway within a short walking distance from the front building of the mental hospital. Additionally, we painted inspirational signs with words like “Ahava” (love) and “Shalom” (peace) to place along the walking path or this newly planted garden. It was a muddy mess but by the end, the small area was transformed and a beautiful newly planted garden along with hand painted inspirational signs had been laid. The result was beautiful. We were reminded by our group leaders that we won’t even realize our impact here. Perhaps a patient’s rehabilitation will be reduced by up to a month from the effects of the therapeutic garden, perhaps birthright participants will come years down the road and see tall trees that were planted today. The work is for a better future.

Jewish geography was on full display this morning. We also heard from part-time Venatata worker David, who just happened to be Pearlstone’s shaliach for 3 years! It was only by chance that he was working today, so we were so lucky to spontaneously find this incredible connection to our group. His emotions were on full display as he shared with our group what it meant to him that we were there in the field and that we had come to Israel. Over and over this week, we have seen how important it is to Israelis that we are showing up for them to do meaningful work.

After we said our goodbyes, we headed by bus to Shuk Mahane Yehuda in the heart of Jerusalem for lunch. I had been here previously but never on Friday. I’m not sure I can accurately describe the energy of this market during those final hours leading up to Shabbat. If you have not experienced the market at this time of day at this time of week, put this on your list of must-do Jewish journey experiences. Even if, like me you hate crowds, you need this experience at least once. There was a crush of people enjoying food, shopping for Shabbat, socializing with friends, walking with children and strollers, and more. It was incredibly loud. Given the state of affairs, the horrible headlines, and all of the outside world’s perception of Jewish people, that was missing here. Instead, there was just connectivity, energy, and even acceptance and love.

Heading into Shabbat, I feel calmer and clearer about my journey to Israel with Adamah. I was seeking healing and connection. I am deeply moved and appreciative of the work that is happening to heal the land and to help guide our youth through this time. It is certainly not the first time in our history that Jewish parents have had to shepherd our children through challenging and horrible circumstances. But the issues we are talking about are the issues of our children’s time. I will never forget Noah Efron’s open and humble honesty and tears earlier this week as he cried and with open honesty said in so many words, look at the war has done to the land and to innocent people—on both sides. Such hard issues that we must confront for the sake of our kids and humanity. I am immensely grateful for the many open and honest conversations I’ve had over the week over how hard it has been to guide kids through this time. I am honored to be on the Advisory Board of Pearlstone in Baltimore and be part of an amazing group of talented and dedicated lay leaders and professionals on this journey in Israel.

-Sarah Davison, Israel trip participant

On Saturday, the Sabbath began with deep and profound learnings from Einat Kramer from Teva Ivri, Natan Mazeh from Bar Kaima and Nigel Savage of the Jewish Climate Trust (and founder of Hazon, predecessor to Adamah). In the quiet of a shared Sabbath, we reflected on what it means to pause—not as an interruption of progress, but as a deepening of it. We sang, we studied, we played, and we walked slowly through the land, allowing ourselves to listen. On our journey, we contemplated and discussed Rav Kook’s Fourfold Song, which speaks of four levels of connection: to oneself, one’s people, all of humanity, and the whole of existence. This framework illuminated our experience—our time in Israel wasn’t just about personal growth but about harmonizing our voices with the broader symphony of life working to make sure that the human voices do not overpower other living things. The day ended with a havdalah bonfire and joyous connection through songs.

On Sunday one of our most grounding experiences was hiking through a forest next to Wahat as-Salam / Neve Shalom, which is a village jointly founded by Israeli Jews and Arabs. Here we again slowed down and formed special bonds with trees and each other. Inhaling the scent of cedar and pine, we felt a quiet sense of belonging—not just to our group, not just to Israel, but to the earth itself. The forest reminded us that healing begins with presence, that before we rush to save the planet, we must first learn to listen to it.

In Tel Aviv, we visited a unique urban garden in the Shapira neighborhood that reimagines both economics and ecology. Here, a local community developed its own currency—one that values compost as much as cash. People are paid for their “black gold,” turning waste into wealth, decay into renewal. It was a model of transformation in action, a playful yet profound way to shift mindsets around sustainability. In this space, climate action is not a burden but a creative, joyful endeavor.

Much of these final two days were dedicated to reflection about what we – individuals and Adamah – can take home from this trip. Through these shared conversations I heard many pearls of wisdom from my fellow travelers – magic of the land, genius of love, garden of many truths, Jewish joy, food as a doorway – and through these pearls, themes emerged – transformation, community building, and action. The experience was an invitation to open our eyes, build bridges, and experience joyful Jewish connection in the land and to the land.

-Daniella Hirschfeld, Israel trip participant