JNF Partners with Habonim Dror for Green Israel Program

Contact: Shawn Guttman • National Director, Habonim Dror North America • 212-255-1796 • mazkir@habonimdror.org

August 5, 2009—New York, NY—Jewish National Fund (JNF) is proud to sponsor the Habonim Dror North America (HDNA) Green Israel Program.

A joint venture of HDNA, the Habonim Dror Camping Association and Ameinu, the program brings together the values of Judaism, Zionism and social justice through a Zionist-based,environmentally friendly gardening project at HDNA’s seven summer camps located in California, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Toronto, and Vancouver. Its goal is to foster campers’ connections to Judaism and Israel while teaching them to live more environmentally conscious lives.

The main focus of this experiential education project is the gan, or garden. Campers plant and tend to a garden of vegetables typically grown in Israel. Six camps have either a large gan or small chava (farm) on their grounds, while the other makes use of potted plants or local farms.

The Green Israel Program was started at Camp Tavor in Three Rivers, MI three years ago because of a desire to bring more environmental education into HDNA’s camps and create a connection with the land.

Funded by a grant from JNF, the current incarnation of the program was created by Ilan Brandvain, an alumnus of Camp Tavor and a member of Kvutsat Aseef in Ramat Gan, Israel.

“JNF is proud to partner with Habonim Dror on its Green Israel Program,” said Mara Suskauer, JNF’s director of Israel advocacy and education. “This initiative teaches the importance of taking care of our land and how that relates to Zionist values, both of which are concepts that JNF has been teaching for the past 108 years.”

In addition to gardening, the program includes Hebrew lessons, instructions in preparing classic Israeli recipes like shakshuka, zaatar, and Israeli salad “from seed to plate,” and educational activities on topics like Jewish agriculture, Jewish values and the environment, the connection to the land of Israel, JNF’s environmental projects in Israel, and labor as a Zionist ideal.

“In designing the program we wanted to connect campers with environmental issues using Israel and Judaism as our tools,” said Shawn Guttman, national director of HDNA. “Across our camps you can find activities ranging from water reclamation and growing techniques in the Negev to making challah from scratch (including the flour!) to A.D. Gordon’s concept of finding one’s self through working the land. The program has been very successful and we hope that, with
the help of the JNF, it will continue.”

For more information, contact Shawn Guttman at 212-255-1796 or mazkir@habonimdror.org.

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JEWISH NATIONAL FUND (JNF) began in 1901 as a dream and vision to reestablish a homeland in Israel for Jewish people everywhere. Jews the world over collected coins in iconic JNF Blue Boxes, purchasing land and planting trees until ultimately, their dream of a Jewish homeland was a reality. JNF gives all generations of Jews a unique voice in building a prosperous future for the land of Israel and its people.

JNF embodies both heart and action; our work is varied in scope but singular in benefit. We strive to bring an enhanced quality of life to all of Israel’s residents, and translate these advancements to the world beyond. JNF is greening the desert with millions of trees, building thousands of parks, creating new communities and cities for generations of Israelis to call home, bolstering Israel’s water supply, helping develop innovative arid-agriculture techniques, and educating both young and old about the founding and importance of Israel and Zionism.

JNF is a registered 501(c)(3) organization and United Nations NGO, which continuously earns top ratings from charity overseers.

For more information on JNF, call 888-JNF-0099 or visit www.jnf.org.