I just got back from the TED Countdown Summit last week in Nairobi, Kenya, where I was one of seven faith leaders from across the globe invited to join this visionary group of global innovators, business executives, scientists, policymakers, next-generation leaders, artists, and activists — all united in our commitment to building a brighter future. 
 
Why Nairobi?  According to the TED organizers: “There is no path to achieving the Paris goals that does not run through Africa. Kenya boasts one of the greenest grids in the world, with 90% of its electricity from renewables and 50% of this from geothermal. With 70% of its population under 30, Kenya is also home to a new generation of leaders committed to leapfrogging old patterns and pioneering a resilient path to economic development.” 

Over the course of three days, over 500 participants (half local, half global) heard over 40 climate-focused TED Talks from incredible leaders doing amazing things. There was also a variety of interactive workshops and discussions, including a dynamic session exploring faith-based initiatives, during which I spoke and facilitated deep and meaningful conversation alongside wonderful partners and participants. It was amazing to learn from so many world-class leaders and innovators driving systemic change across a variety of sectors, and a wonderful opportunity to deepen relationships with faith leaders, and cultivate new partnerships as well. 

My TED Countdown experiences over the years have been remarkable for a variety of reasons, including the profound global diversity in the room, and relatively very few Jews, at least compared to most other rooms I find myself in these days. That said, I connected with several local Jewish green business leaders, and one of my biggest highlights was getting to know Tzeporah Berman, the powerhouse Canadian climate activist leading the global Fossil Fuel Nonproliferation Treaty. Melanie Katzman led our outing to KENVO—Kijabe Environment Volunteers—a local Nairobi-outskirts community reforestation project working in partnership with the World Resource Institute to create a youth-led initiative in biodiversity protection and climate resilience. And Lindsay Levin serves as co-host, emcee, and one of the lead organizers of each TED Countdown Summit. So rest assured, amidst this fascinating and uplifting global climate leadership gathering, there were also moments of Jewish Pride and Jewish Peoplehood. 

As the TED Talks are released over the next 3-6 months, look out for more reflections from this gathering. There is so much to unpack and integrate into our work, and so many wonderful leaders and partners from which and with whom we can learn and grow together. 

Our world is in the midst of a hard reset. Institutions are faltering, and achievements, like the Paris Agreement, appear increasingly precarious. Critical challenges that mark everyday life remain unresolved, deepening fears about our shared future. Yet amid these headwinds, there are clear signs of progress toward a better world. Booming clean energy industries in China, the end of coal in the U.K., and a new generation of leaders in Kenya committed to leapfrogging old patterns of development, all point the way forward. Positive tipping points – many already in motion – can take us further, faster.

— The TED’s Countdown Summit leadership

Here’s to the global coalitions that continue to build a better future amidst these dark times. Now is the time for serious action, and we each can do our part.  If your Jewish organization is planning a sustainability project, Adamah’s Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition is here to help with planning and with financing. Connect with us today and learn how to get started.

L’chayim,
Jakir

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Ein ye’ush ba’olam klal. There is no despair in the world.

– Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav

Friends,

Can you feel this edge in time we are living through? I sure do, like we’re crossing a threshold in human, ecological, and Jewish history. Friends tell me astrologists have strong feelings these days too.

We are overwhelmed this week by the destruction of the LA fires, hard to comprehend. Just ask Roz Larsen, member of the JYCM Leadership Board, in Santa Monica. Not long ago, we shared testimony from the catastrophic flooding in North Carolina. And in the past 18 months New Yorkers have experienced unprecedented flooding, wildfire-smoke orange skies, and dangerous air quality for weeks. 

Have we entered a new phase of planetary feedback? Natural cycles and rhythms are changing before our very eyes, imposing dramatic harm and danger for societies and cultures everywhere.

This week we also bid farewell to the presidential administration that prioritized and achieved the largest investment in climate action ever. And this week we anticipate the imminent arrival, just a few days from now, of a very different governing coalition with other priorities.

And this week we watch, pray, and hope to soon give thanks for a ceasefire and return, at long last, of our hostages. After so much devastation, loss, and suffering—please G!d can this turn towards something different? Please G!d can there now be time and space to breathe, to grieve, to heal, to build bridges, to invest in peacebuilding…maybe even to hope for something better?

All things in life come to an end: people and plants and animals, relationships and communities, jobs and presidencies and governments and empires and civilizations. Rocks and mountains and streams. Even the sun has a shelf life. Nothing lasts forever. 

Trust the Grief. Grieve for our planet, for our people, for all the hostages not returning home, for all the families under threat of mass deportation, for all suffering and pain. We are strong enough to face the truth of this time and wise enough to learn from it, to change our behavior, to grow through crisis. 

Pray. For rain in Southern California. For all the hostages to be returned safely to their families, and for Israelis and Palestinians to begin recovery and healing. For hearts and minds to change.

Have Faith. Give Thanks. The outpouring of love, support, and mutual care in LA has been beautiful. And we learn from nature, from G!d’s Creation, that death and loss are inextricably interwoven with rebirth. Always there will be rebirth, always something new will come. That’s what Chanukah showed us a few weeks ago: kindling lights in the darkest darkness. And that’s what Tu B’Shvat is about too, coming soon: the nascent spring, first blossoms, sap rising amidst the dark and cold. Like the precious return of loved ones to their families. Like the end of war and the prayer for peace.

Come Together. Host a Tu B’Shvat Seder or find an Adamah Tu B’Shvat gathering near you amidst this historic moment. Gather your loved ones to share, support, and learn from one another. Find meaning together as you grieve, give thanks, sing, and tell stories. Laugh, love, and celebrate the gift of life through the New Year of the Trees! Our goal this year is to activate over 100 seders impacting over 1,000 participants. Click here to download our Tu B’Shvat Haggadah.

Life moves inevitably forward. We have no choice, we are swept up into the flow, onward into something new, together.

We get to decide how we show up in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead. We will not be victims of forces larger than ourselves; we will be warriors of the spirit, digging in for community and belonging, for joy, hope, and love. 

May G!d bless our path ahead. And may we help each other through.

Shabbat Shalom,

Jakir Manela
Chief Executive Officer

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There is no alternative to persevering, and that does not require you to feel good. You can keep walking whether it’s sunny or raining. Take care of yourself and remember that taking care of something else is an important part of taking care of yourself, because you are interwoven with the ten trillion things in this single garment of destiny that has been stained and torn but is still being woven and mended and washed. – Rebecca Solnit

Friends,

Democracy must not be taken for granted. Too many people have advocated and fought and died for our sacred rights to participate in shaping our own future. And yet our campaigns and elections have become increasingly bitter, divisive, and toxic. 

As this electoral earthquake sends shocks across our nation and across the world, what can we do? 

• Take Time and find a quiet place, go for a walk outside, prepare and enjoy a nourishing meal with loved ones—do something to find stillness, reflect on what this means for you and your people, for all of us and our collective future. Ground yourself as we face the path ahead. 
• Join Us for a Post-Election Gathering for Song & Solidarity, organized by our partners at Dayenu, this Friday at Noon ET.
• Make Art. Use this resource from our friends at the Jewish Studio Project. 
• Take Collective Action. Organize a stream clean up, start a neighborhood compost campaign or a group to protect the green spaces in your town.  Work with your local Jewish organization to join Adamah’s Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition and help them create a Climate Action Plan.
• Invest in Change. Double down on organizations doing good work who align with your values.  Consider becoming a monthly donor; we all need you now more than ever. 

Adamah will continue to uphold our core values of Community & Belonging for all people. We will continue to approach each other, our constituents, and our work with empathy, compassion, understanding, and an open mind and heart in the days, weeks, and months ahead.  

We gain nothing by denigrating those with whom we disagree; it may feel good in the moment, but in the long run we must all work harder to listen to and empathize with people who have formed different views and opinions than our own. Too many Americans see our political opponents as enemies; Jewish tradition, in contrast, teaches us to see each other more as chevruta – partners in dialogue – in the great task of learning, growing, evolving, and building a more just and sustainable world for all. 

May G!d bless America with greater empathy and compassion, and both inner and outer peace as we navigate the years ahead. And may we work together to create the future we wish to see in the world, come what may. 

L’Shalom,

Jakir Manela
Chief Executive Officer

The post The Path Ahead appeared first on Adamah.

What will change in the year ahead, and how must we change ourselves?  In case we needed any further evidence of the peril we face, Hurricanes Helene and Milton provide a visceral, stark reminder. We send our prayers to those impacted, but what else can we do? Are we capable of profound change? How do we make that happen, together?

We all need community right now. We need joy. We need hope. And that’s why our work at Adamah is more important than ever.

As the largest Jewish environmental organization in North America, Adamah is leading a burgeoning movement in Jewish life.

This year, Adamah will impact over 30,000 people. 

Hundreds of kids and families harvest their own food, pray outside, and revel in joyful celebration at Adamah Adventure Camp, Teva day school trips, and family camps throughout the year.  

Over 380 organizations have joined Adamah’s Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition, and our Climate Action Fund has deployed over $745,000 to 32 organizations, saving more than $560,000 in utility costs and reducing 1,000+ metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents annually. 

73 chapters of the Jewish Youth Climate Movement empower high school leaders nationwide. 

1,500 college students engaged with Adamah on Campus in its first year and now we have 19 established chapters and over 100 more interested!  

Adamah’s two fellowship programs, Teva and Adamah, integrate Jewish wisdom, ecology, and regenerative agriculture- now with 900+ alumni between the two programs. 

We’ve had tremendous impact this year, and we are just getting started. Let’s try to take a deep breath. Give gratitude for the trees and the earth that sustains us.

This year, you can support tree-planting and reforestation initiatives on our own campuses and with JTree, our partnership with the National Forest Foundation. Every $18 contribution to Adamah’s nature-based solutions helps create tangible change in our ecosystems, ensuring a healthier planet for future generations. 

Underlying all of this is Adamah’s commitment to Peoplehood & Planethood: building bridges for the Jewish people— from Israel and the Diaspora—to work towards a more sustainable future together.  

This year more than ever, may our holiday prayers break through! For our people, and for our planet.

Gmar Chatima Tovah – May we all be inscribed in the book of life for a year of health, happiness and peace,

Jakir Manela
CEO, Adamah

The post We need community. We need joy. We need you. appeared first on Adamah.

We’ve just finished two outstanding Rosh Hashanah retreats, both great successes. These heartfelt gatherings were even more important this year, because they lead up to today, October 7^th.  This is a day of profound grief and sorrow for many people.

One year ago on this date, Hamas massacred over 1,200 Israelis and took over 250 hostages, including dozens of Americans and people from around the world. It was the deadliest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust. One full year later, 97 hostages have still not come home, and many of them are now presumed dead. One full year later, the war sparked by that massacre still rages on, with almost 42,000 Palestinians dead and more than 97,000 injured in Gaza. This massacre and the ensuing war has dramatically diminished the potential for and progress towards peace across the region, and has sparked demonstrations at hundreds of college campuses, including both legitimate messages of empathy and protest against the loss of innocent life, as well as hateful antisemitic messages defending or even supporting or celebrating Hamas’s evil as legitimate “resistance by any means necessary.” This past year has brought about great trauma and turmoil in Israel, across the Jewish world, and for all those who care about peace, humanitarian values, and universal human rights. Too often, it is difficult for many to acknowledge the suffering and rights of both Israelis and Palestinians, and seemingly impossible to find a better path forward. Amidst such tragedy, today we can give ourselves space to grieve over this year of pain and sorrow.

For Adamah, this year has represented progress and momentum on many fronts, despite these broader challenges. And amidst this storm all around us, we have worked collaboratively to cultivate a culture of listening and empathy.

We have also worked over this past year to establish clarity around Adamah’s Relationship with Israel. One of our core values is Peoplehood & Planethood: building bridges between Israel & the Diaspora to create a more sustainable future together. We believe in peacebuilding through environmental cooperation, and we work to build relationships and partnerships with Israeli leaders and organizations aligned with our mission and impact through immersive experiences, Jewish environmental education, leadership development, and climate action. That work continues to move forward, now more important than ever.

Wherever you are today, however this date and this past year impacts you, I want to encourage us all to find time for quiet and stillness, to express your grief in whatever ways work for you: go for a walk outside, take some deep breaths, talk with family or friends, or find other ways to slow down, unplug, and connect to what’s most important in your life. This is a profoundly sad day for many people, and events continue to unfold with great uncertainty as to what lies ahead. So let’s all continue to hold empathy and compassion for one another—as a Rosh Hashanah guest said to me before leaving yesterday, “It’s so clear how much this team cares about and supports one another. That’s not a given, and it makes a huge difference.”

Sending love, and praying for peace

Jakir Manela
CEO, Adamah

The post October 7 – One Year Later appeared first on Adamah.

On the eve of this new year, the Middle East faces unprecedented tumult, danger, and sorrow. The latest climate disaster, Helene, wreaked death and destruction across the American southeast. An imminent election holds profound potential consequences for our nation, our people, and our planet. And yet our lives unfold not on the grand scale of history, but in the humility of home. We meet the needs of the day on our own or with our partners, we support our families and friends, and we make countless choices every single day—individually and collectively—that define our communities, our cultures, our ecosystems, our countries, and our trajectory through time.

And now we enter a new year. How will you and I fare in 5785? How will the Jewish people do? What will happen in Israel? Or America? Will the Earth and its inhabitants evolve towards greater harmony and balance, or further apart?

If ever there were a Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur to pour out our hearts in prayer, this is it. The traditional liturgy works for some of us. Others gather and raise our voices in song. Some daven (pray) in quiet meditation, whispering and crying in the corner. Others seek discussion, learning from and with our Rabbis and educators. Embodied practice is essential for many of us: exercise, yoga, and tai chi help us connect. Meditation can help us feel the embodiment of prayer. And there’s always the old-fashioned walkabout, where we take time to go visit and say hello to our home, the earth. Put away the phone and listen to and learn from the trees and flowers, plants and animals, and what they evoke inside of us. Adam and Adamah. People and planet.

Whatever works for you, however you best find a way to open your heart and soul: now’s the time. We need the full soul power of the Jewish people right now, and if we come together maybe somehow, we can help see things to a better place. So, when you feel the weight of sorrow these next few days and weeks, or when you feel that moment of awe, remember you are not alone, but rather spiritually attuned with and strengthened by people from all walks of life, all across the globe, who every day seek tikkun-repair in the world. Know that you are not alone, and that together, somehow, we will get through this.

May peace prevail.

May democracy endure.

May all those suffering find safety and solace.

And may we turn the tide.

L’Shana Tova U’Metukah

A good and sweet year for us all

Jakir Manela
CEO, Adamah

Bring Adamah to Your Rosh Hashanah Table

Download our Seder Guide:

The post A Prayer for 5785 appeared first on Adamah.

“Resilience: the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness“

Tonight, we step into Shavuot, our early summer celebration of the wheat harvest and the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. Both Adamah centers—Pearlstone and Isabella Freedman—are welcoming a diversity of participants for retreats filled with deep learning, soulful singing, and vibrant community. We come together amidst great ongoing trauma in Israel and Gaza, rising antisemitism worldwide, and great uncertainty as to what may happen next.

Two months ago in Israel, I had a profound conversation with a deeply respected partner, sharing together the pain flowing through Israel and the Jewish People right now, and the many challenges facing our people and our planet.  We wondered together: how do we cultivate resilience in this moment? I have been thinking about it a lot lately, and what a Torah of Resilience might be.

Much of the resilience literature focuses on emotional and mental well-being, but as the Jewish philosopher Philo teaches us, “the body is the soul’s house”. At our Pesach at Pearlstone retreat, we learned from our wonderful health and wellness educator, Debra Fertig, that our top priority health practices should be ensuring quality sleep, nutrition, and exercise. The benefits of these practices come about through ongoing choices, patterns, rhythms, and habits—and Jewish tradition overflows with the scaffolding of daily practices that we can choose to leverage into healthy resilience. These past 49 days of Counting the Omer are a powerful example, slowing down to make every day count. At Adamah, these seven weeks have embodied our blossoming spring season, filled with daily resilience practices: prayer and gratitude, hitbodedut– nature meditation, Torah learning, and daily exercise aligned with shmirat haguf- the commandment to care for our bodies.

Beyond physical health, research now clearly shows that strong relationships are the most powerful factor in helping us live longer, happier (more resilient) lives. And on a societal scale, Climate Resilience efforts focus on our infrastructural preparedness for the ongoing planetary changes all around us. For example, how did you and your school-camp-etc respond to last summer’s wildfires and dangerous air quality days? Were you able to access climate resilient indoor air filtration systems? And in that sense, how do we prioritize resilience not only as a health and well-being practice, but also as a public safety and justice issue in the age of climate change?

And what about the question of when we focus on resilience? Depending on whether we are investing in before or after we need it, our resilience perspectives and priorities may be quite different—preventative vs recovery, strengthening vs healing. Surely, we have an obligation to do both now that we see how many forms of resilience we all need, especially our young people. Because as our sense of Polycrisis grows, we must ask ourselves how we can work together to maximize the resilience of the Jewish People—individually and collectively—to find our way through this storm? 

Through the lens of resilience, Torah and Jewish tradition can be seen not only as a gift from G!d, but also as the precious Resilience Toolkit given to the Jewish People. First received at the beginning of our great national liberation journey, we piloted resilience as we found our way through the desert, then more fully implemented the framework in ancient Israel, after which it was radically transformed after exile, and has thereafter continuously evolved through the millennia, tweaked by its rabbinic stewards in response to the resiliency needs of each generation and the challenges of their time.

Now, in our time, the need for resilience calls forth a Torah of the Earth, reconnecting us to the joy and beauty and balance of the physical source of all life, the earth, from where we come and to where we return.

This is the groundbreaking Torah of Resilience we seek to learn and teach at Adamah, that we hope to embody this Shavuot, so that our participants at Pearlstone, Isabella Freedman, and in Adamah Shavuot programs nationwide. Our goal is to help people experience this Torah of the Earth, feel more resilient, connect with our people and our planet, and ground ourselves together in joy, belonging, love, and hope- so that we may help build a more sustainable future for all people.

Wishing you and yours a holiday—and a summer—filled with emotional, physical, individual, and collective resilience.

Chag Sameach, and Happy Shavuot,

Jakir
Chief Executive Officer

The post The Torah of Resilience appeared first on Adamah.

My April Israel trip shook me to my core, partly because our allies there—amazing progressive Israelis building a more just and sustainable society—are as exhausted and somber in their outlook as I’ve ever seen. Israel was in major crisis before October 7th, and it’s now beyond anything we can imagine—truly a nationwide trauma.

From the beginning, nothing about Israel has been easy or simple. But our Israeli allies, both Jewish and Arab—some of which are listed below—are resolute. They are determined. And they embody a grit and resilience that demonstrates just how this country—a miracle of Jewish history—came to be.

It may be that some current Israeli leaders seem like global villains these days, but Israel itself does have a right to exist, and we must not take its existence or its future for granted. It was never inevitable or invincible, and today Israel needs profound change. Many other countries need profound change too, but Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people, and so for all of us who have a sense of—or a belief in—Jewish Peoplehood, we feel called in this moment to support the people of Israel as they try to find their way through this horrific crisis.

At Adamah, we believe in Peoplehood & Planethood: building bridges for the Jewish People, from Israel and the Diaspora, to create a more sustainable future together. Israel has been an important part of our work for over 20 years, and today we are weaving Israel and Jewish Peoplehood into our four core strategies: immersive experiences, Jewish environmental education, leadership development, and climate action. After October 7, this work is more challenging, complicated, and important than ever.

We believe in Israel, we believe in peace, and we know that compassion is a renewable resource. Amidst these holy and traumatic days, we hold empathy and mourning for Israelis and Palestinians. As Leah Solomon writes in the Hartman Institute’s Haggadah supplement:

“Never, until now, were we confronted with the excruciating task of holding another people’s suffering even as our own is so vast and raw, let alone doing so when the perpetrators of the atrocities against us are members of that very people, and when the suffering of that people is being inflicted in large part by our own…Yet, it is not despite this connection, but in profound awareness of it, that we must compel ourselves to see.”

May we find the strength to see.

Yesterday, I discovered this poem about seeing, by Luai Haj, a Palestinian poet and activist living in Acre (northern Israel). He speaks his poem slowly, calmly, first in Arabic and then in Hebrew:

Should compassion cease to beat in my heart
Or love dwell within me
Should hope no longer be found inside me
Despite everything and no matter what
For all human beings. For every person. For every nation
For these two nations
If silence creeps into my voice. Or being silenced
And my soul be gravely afflicted
With rage and consuming vengeance
I’ll know my soul has left me. I’ll know I’ve strayed from the path
Paved with my scars. And mixed with my blood
For then I’ll cease to be myself
I’ll know I’ve been beaten. And I prefer death

May G!d remember all those who have been taken from us. 

May the All-present have mercy upon our people in captivity and bring them forth from darkness into light. 

And may the One who makes peace in the heavens, make peace for us and for all Israel, and for all the world.

Amen

Jakir Manela
Chief Executive Officer

The post Israel needs us now appeared first on Adamah.

Today is Yom HaShoah- Holocaust Remembrance Day.  

And today is Day 213 since October 7th. We pray with all our hearts that the recent news of a ceasefire-hostage release deal comes true.

Yesterday, many communities saw their largest Yom HaShoah gatherings in years; the need to come together and strengthen each other is so clear right now. The agony in Israel and the fury of anti-Israel campus protests nationwide…Never Again feels almost like a question this year.

One month ago, just before I joined our second Adamah Israel Farm Volunteering Mission, I spent Sunday April 7th in the Gaza envelope, visiting Kibbutz Nir Oz, the Nova Festival site, Kibbutz Nir Am, and Sderot. The kibbutzim are mostly empty now, eerily quiet without the sights and sounds of kids and families. At Nir Oz, the IDF arrived an unfathomable eight hours after the kibbutz came under attack; by then Hamas had already come and gone. I met there with Nir Metzger, the Director General of the kibbutz; he and his neighbors lost over a quarter of their community, including Nir’s parents who were both taken hostage. His mother, Tami Metzger, was released on November 28th. His father, Yoram, is still held hostage; Nir’s wife, Ayala, has spoken at recent rallies in Tel Aviv. Nir showed me the destroyed homes, the pictures of the murdered and kidnapped, and told me what happened that day: the horror and the heroism, the lives that were lost and those that were saved. The Nir Oz community is broken, feeling abandoned and betrayed by their government and their country. They continue to fight for the release of their friends, and somehow Nir and his neighbors find the strength to persevere. He told me that sharing their story is part of the healing, rebuilding process.

Part of what happened at Nir Oz, Nir Am, and elsewhere was Hamas’s agricultural terrorism: 

Terrorists targeted farmland, livestock, plants and infrastructure as they made their way across the western Negev, which produces roughly 70% of the country’s vegetables, 20% of its fruit and 6% of its milk. “The attack was designed to intentionally destroy agricultural production, but more than that, it was meant to destroy the identity of the region, to break the community,” says Danielle Abraham, executive director of Volcani International Partnerships, a nonprofit that addresses global hunger using Israeli technological innovation.

Sugar, Rebecca. “Hamas’s Agricultural Terrorism.” Wall Street Journal – Feb 26, 2024

Read the full article; it reveals the ferocious intensity and impact of this attack on farmers, not as collateral damage but as intentional targets, because food and farming are at the heart of Israeli history, culture, and society.

And so is music and celebration, which brought so many young people to the Nova Music Festival before the most horrific massacre in Israel’s history. I walked the site, saw the pictures of all those who died that day, and stopped to see some of the memorials celebrating the lives of those lost—each precious, unique, beloved. I was not alone there that Sunday in April; there were many, many Israelis there who had come to bear witness—including young Israeli soldiers in training. These soldiers are so, so young. To see them there, protecting the country, carrying such heavy burdens at such a young age…is sorrow heaped upon sorrow.

There were moments that day that held a haunting resonance with what I felt 20 years ago during my Holocaust studies and trip to Poland, but at least one thing was viscerally different: while we walked through the Nova site and looked out over the Nir Oz fields on the Gaza border, we felt deep booms in the distance. Because this is not history, this is now. Just over the horizon, shaking us to our core.

My guide that day was Ron Maoz, a nice Israeli guy living in Tel Aviv. After October 7th Ron quit his job and dedicated his life for the past 7 months to volunteering with Brothers and Sisters in Arms, supporting Israeli communities near Gaza who were ravaged on October 7th, with so many people traumatized, displaced, relocated, and with futures uncertain. Ron did not know these people before 10/7, but now they are like his own neighbors.

He writes,
Thank you for being with us, for choosing to come and strengthen these days. I would be very happy to keep in touch and build a better future together for Israel. The most important message to remember is to be grateful for what we have, so please hug your children and family tightly. I am full of hope that the next time you arrive, all the hostages and soldiers will be home safely, and we will meet again in Nir Am and Nir Oz where children run along the paths and we will hear their laughter loudly.

If Ron Maoz and Nir Metzger can hold onto hope, you and I can too. And in that spirit, please join us for a powerful new online Adamah program called Katzir: Harvesting Connections. This weekly program starting Wednesday May 8th is led by Avihay Aharoni, our Pearlstone Shaliach, aiming to cultivate connections, bonds, and bridges between Judaism, ecology and Israel.

Sending strength, love, and hope.

Jakir Manela
Chief Executive Officer

The post Bearing witness and holding onto hope appeared first on Adamah.

Friends,

This week we mark one year since the launch of Adamah- the merger of Hazon and Pearlstone. Together we have built a strong foundation and clear strategy to achieve our mission, with over 120 amazing staff members and over 50 outstanding lay leaders on our national board and plethora of committees and advisory councils guiding our work. Just a few weeks ago we gathered for an immersive staff retreat at Pearlstone, and the energy and inspiration was palpable.

There are moments in this work where I look around and wonder how I got here, and how lucky I am that I get to be in this community. I had 2 of those moments this retreat, singing “One Day” around the campfire and singing about the magnificence of the ocean during our talent show. There is so much power in singing together. 

Staff Retreat Participant

We’ve come a long way and together we will go even farther – because we’re just getting started, and the best is yet to come. 

B’Shalom – In Peace,

Jakir Manela
Chief Executive Officer

The post Happy Birthday Adamah! appeared first on Adamah.

Friends,

This has been a hard year for the Jewish people. We’re all doing what we can in this moment. And, despite it all, we continue to build community, connect with each other in profound ways, and commit to forming a more sustainable world- together. 

Today Adamah is North America’s leading Jewish environmental organization, with unprecedented impact—and more demand for our work than ever.   

This is just the beginning.  We need your help to sustain this holy work. 

Please consider a gift by December 31.  

With the leadership of our amazing staff and support of our board, partners, and funders, we are proud of our 2023 achievements: 

• The Jewish Youth Climate Movement (JYCM) now has 65 chapters! This awesome Gen Z-led movement reaches thousands of Jewish teens through Jewish climate education, action, and community building.  
• Adamah on Campus chapters launched at 8 colleges across North America. Passionate student leaders are pioneering this new phase of our work, and we expect to establish over 30 chapters in 2024. 
• The Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition – now with over 270 organizations signed on – represents an unprecedented mobilization of the Jewish world to reduce our emissions at pace and at scale.   
• Community Impact Hubs engage local partners, funders, and staff to activate Adamah’s Youth Empowerment & Climate Action programs. We are so proud of our growing hubs in Baltimore, Detroit, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New York. 
• Pearlstone is Adamah’s headquarters, and the country’s most active Jewish retreat center and Jewish environmental education center—now featuring our new Retreat Lodge, Farm Village, High Ropes Course, U-Pick Berries, and a gorgeous lakeside amphitheater coming soon!    
• The magic of Isabella Freedman is back. Our beloved Teva day school program relaunched this fall, Adamah fellowships are in full swing, and thousands of participants make the pilgrimage for holiday retreats, synagogue rentals, sustainable simchas, and more. 

May 2024 bring good health, joy, and blessings to you and yours.

Thank you for your support!

B’shalom,

The post Now is the time. appeared first on Adamah.

Friends,

Tonight begins Chanukah, a celebration of the strength of the Jewish people against overwhelming odds, a commitment to light amidst the darkness. These days, we yearn for a time when Chanukah was a distant metaphor from the annals of history.  This year, I’m almost grateful for the escape that the American commercialized Chanukah offers our kids: something simple and sweet and loving amidst this deep darkness. But we dare not look away from this essential truth: that the Jewish people and Jewish history are filled with hearts broken open, filled with the simultaneous experience of both overpowering darkness and stubborn, persistent light. These past two months, we find ourselves here again, in this space at the edge of human experience. Against our will, almost as if we’ve been chosen.

The darkness we all know and dread. It is somehow the moments of light that expand our capacity to feel, to be human: the bnai mitzvah and weddings and britot and baby-namings in the days and weeks since Oct 7^th, the moments when we pull ourselves out of such immense grief and summon our deepest spirit to authentically, fiercely- almost defiantly- celebrate our children and our communities and each other. The countless acts of love and compassion and generosity unfold every day in Israel and across the Jewish world.

The story of Chanukah teaches us to stand tall in who we are, but the light of the candles also beckons us to see and treat each other with warmth and compassion, to listen, to learn, to hope. It’s not easy for us as the Jewish people to balance these teachings, and humanity as a whole is clearly struggling with this as well. So, in that spirit, I want to lift up this ray of hope COP28, the UN Climate Conference happening now in Dubai—where there is plenty of cause for deep concern and intense criticism, but also an ambitious agreement amongst fossil fuel companies to quickly and dramatically reduce methane emissions. 

“If those promises are kept, it’s got the potential to cut temperatures we would otherwise see in within the next decade…more than anything agreed to at prior COPs, more than anything I’ve seen in my entire career over 30 years.” 
– Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund.

Miracles don’t happen by themselves. We kindle these precious delicate lights as an act of faith, as an embodiment of hope, as a steadfast commitment. We will bring the light, no matter the darkness.

Over the next eight nights, we will share some of our brightest lights from Adamah—stories of hope and inspiration from across our network: leaders on campus and in high school, educators and farmers and climate action leaders, Israelis and Americans, Jews bringing love and light to our people and our planet. We hope these Chanukah stories light you up, inside and out, and we ask that you make a gift to support this holy work and enable us to continue our impact moving forward.

Together, we are the light.

The post This Chanukah: Hope, Steadfast appeared first on Adamah.