Many of us know that simple changes, such as using energy efficient light bulbs and adding weather stripping to doors can improve a building’s energy efficiency. Camp Young Judaea at Sprout Lake focused on their water consumption and how they could, with a one-time investment, dramatically reduce their resource use. Sprout Lake's toilets were old [...]
Over the years, Everett Gendler has inspired many people to celebrate holidays in unique and special ways. He does it again with his new take on the traditional Chanukah menorah, as he describes below. Please let us know if you try this and feel free to send pictures! Chanukah lends itself to many emphases, [...]
Camp Shemesh, a summer day camp of the Jewish Community of Amherst (JCA), used their Gendler Grapevine Project grant to expand the JCA’s garden and hire a garden specialist and a stewardship coordinator to assist the camp in developing its environmental programming. Camp Shemesh hired a gan specialist for the summer to run programs and [...]
URJ Camp Coleman, located in Cleveland, GA, has always been committed to being good stewards of the environment, but this past summer they decided to devote a Shabbat each session to looking at what building a sustainable future means by creating a Sustainability Shabbat program. The project was incredibly successful. The campers internalized the concept [...]
The Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center used their Gendler Grapevine Project grant to create the Cycles of Seven Garden in the middle of their 400-acre campus in the Berkshires. The seven raised beds, made of cedar reclaimed from an old water tower, connect guests to Judaism and growing food. Every element in the garden teaches [...]
With warm wishes, here is an autumn greeting from Rabbi Gendler. I hope that these photos of the Annual Jacob’s Lantern Sabbath Evening Service at Temple Emanuel of the Merrimack Valley, celebrated on the last Shabbat Evening each October, will stir memories and add to your joy on this Yom Tov. And if spooks and [...]
Eden Village Camp’s Gendler Grapevine Project called T.I.R.E. (Tire Inflation for the Retrieval of Energy) uses a solar-powered generator and air compressor to inflate the car tires of those visiting the camp with the goal of improving gas mileage. Eden Village Camp staff inflating tires Located in Putnam Valley, NY, Eden Village Camp [...]
We are pleased to share our first of 10 Project Spotlights for 2013. We hope you enjoy reading about the exciting work The Gendler Grapevine Project supported in 2013. Make sure to link to each camp's practical proposal to see how you can implement this project at your camp, organization, or even home. -Emily Loeb [...]
As a high school junior and senior at boarding school, I found Rabbi Gendler to be a most unusual and inspiring leader. Unlike other clergy I'd known, Rabbi Gendler did much of his spiritual work outdoors. Joyfully he built a sukkah every year - joining the students in creating the structure with our own hands. [...]
Please enjoy this post written by Tajlei Levis, former student of Rabbi Gendler and Gendler Grapevine Project Executive Committee member. In my memory, my first Sukkah has a golden glow: not just the afternoon light and dappled autumn leaves, but the warmth of discovering a Jewish community and new friends while participating in an [...]
