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Join Rabbi Matt Shapiro and fellow TBA members as we read and discuss our first book, Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler. A New York Times Notable Book: In 2025, with the world descending into madness and anarchy, a young woman living with her family on the outskirts of Los Angeles, begins a fateful journey toward a better future. To obtain the book, head to your local library. Alternatively, you may purchase the book here. Questions? Contact Natalie Weiss
Green Team
Our TBA Green Team has launched, with projects and classes to honor Shemitah year 5782
The Sabbatical Year (Shemitah), as observed in the Land of Israel in biblical times, was a time when our farmer ancestors let the land lie fallow, abandoning ownership so that all could gather food and eat freely, and cancelled all debts. Shemitah provided the opportunity, once every seven years, for people to step back from their usual agricultural and economic labors to reconnect with the natural world and with each other.
All year long, the Green Team will be organizing opportunities for learning and action for our TBA community. If you missed our Green Team launch announcement, with an explanation of how our efforts are connected to the theme of the Torah’s practice of the Sabbatical Year, click here
Upcoming Green Team Events
PODCASTS
SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGE
January Challenge: Gardening/Composting/Food Waste Disposal
The Problem: If we’ve learned anything during the pandemic, it’s that we can grow many of our own fruits and vegetables - which usually taste a lot better, and are better for you, than what we buy in our local supermarket. Backyard Gardening: Grow Your Own Vegetables, Improve Your Health. And it helps the environment: The Environmental Benefits of Gardening.
When thrown into landfills, food waste produces a large amount of methane, a “super pollutant” that has up to 80 times the Earth-warming potency of carbon dioxide. Composting helps keep vegetable matter out of landfills and therefore minimizes the contribution of landfills to climate change. In addition, a new California law (S.B. 1383) will ultimately require all of us to separate organic waste from ordinary trash, and use our green trash cans to dispose of food waste, in addition to garden clippings. What You Need to Know About California's New Composting Law - A Game Changer for Food Waste.
New California Law Will Change How You Sort Trash
California's New Compost Law Starts in January. What Does that Mean for You?
Our Challenge:
Go green by growing some of your own food, wasting less food, and disposing of organic waste properly.
TAKE ACTION: Click here to learn how!
Catch up! It's not too late for the last few month's challenges, Green your Kitchens (September), Eat Less Meat (October), In the Bathroom (November), and Recycle, Reuse, and Reduce (December).
If you make or have made a household or lifestyle change to “go green” as a result of our Sustainability Choices articles, send a photo and/or a short write-up about your efforts to betham@tbala.org, with “Green Team” in the subject line. You may be featured in a future Green Team newsletter!
GREENING OUR TBA CAMPUS
Don Snyder and his Facilities Committee are hard at work looking at options for better management of food waste at TBA, recycling, and use of supplies and equipment.
LEARN MORE!
We have created an archive of interesting articles, webinars, and other learning opportunities (not TBA-related) which is updated on a regular basis. If you are interested in learning more about Green issues in general or Shemitah resources in particular please visit our Green Planet/Shmitah Resources Document.