January 16, 2009
A great organization called Canfei Nesharim is providing a whole slew of great educational resources on Tu B’Shvat and the Environment. Here is what they have to say:
Tu b’Shevat, the Jewish “New Year of the Trees,” falls this year on February 8-9. It’s a great time to learn and share with your community about Torah teachings on protecting the environment. This year Canfei Nesharim is offering a wealth of NEW resources for this Tu b’Shevat, including FREE colorful haggadot for your Tu b’Shevat seder; synagogue activity suggestions (with resource sheets) for children, teens, adults and communities; FREE “Appreciation for Creation” wallet cards for you to order and give out to your community; “The Trees Sang with Joy,” a new Torah teaching for Tu b’Shevat (available for reprinting); electronic greeting cards to share with your loved ones; and the opportunity to plant a tree in our virtual forest OR in the land of Israel. Don’t miss this great opportunity to learn and educate your community about our Torah-based responsibility to protect the environment. Check it all out at http://canfeinesharim.org/community/shevat.php!
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Social Action Issues, Uncategorized | Tagged: activism, environmentalism, holiday, tu bshvat | 
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Posted by eimatai
December 3, 2008
Are you sick of lame Chanukah presents? Do you think that enough money has been spent on gifts that you just don’t need?
Try something that a lot of people are doing this holiday season: turn presents into charity. Instead of asking family members for new cell phones, sports equipment, or clothing, many people are asking for money to be donated to their charity of choice in their honor.
When families learn to give donations instead of gifts, they understand that their connection to one another isn’t based on the money they spend on each other, but the care they have for one another. Give a card with a personal message along with a card from the organization.
The important thing is to make sure you’re not being a hypocrite! Don’t ask everyone in your family for a present, and then tell them you didn’t buy them presents because you donated money in their honor. Put your money where your mouth is.
But you also don’t have to go Cold Turkey. Declare to all siblings or cousins that you don’t want presents, but allow Grandma and Grandpa to send you some gelt. (I told my grandparents to donate money to my charity of choice instead of sending me a gift, and they insisted on doing both – oh well!)
The really exciting thing is that you will get some people to support your charity who might not otherwise have gotten you a present. So pick a charity (example, example, example, example…) and inform the family!
And because you’ve been so good, here is my (free!) Chanukah gift for all of you: enjoy these 4 free tunes from The Leevees.
And now it’s your turn to give an easy present. Play FreeRice.com‘s vocab challenge, and help send food those who need it most around the world. Who knows, you might learn something while you’re at it!
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Posted by eimatai
October 10, 2008
By now, many of you have heard about what is called “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch.
For those of you who have not, it is an actual lecture, and a subsequent book, by a professor of Computer Science who recently received a prognosis that his pancreatic cancer would leave him with less than one more year on this earth.
Put in this new perspective on life, Randy Pausch wanted to impart a message of life-meaning to the next generation. He spoke in front of a packed crown at Carnegie Mellon University, and answered the following question:
“What wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?”
Listen to this lecture if you get the chance, and think about your goals for the coming year. Listen to Randy’s reflections, and see if anything speaks to you.
Randy passed away on July 25, 2008, and learning from his lecture is a great way to pay him tribute.
Check out this lecture either on YouTube, or as a free download from Itunes.
Another lecture by Randy Pausch on Time Management is great to listen to as well.
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Posted by eimatai
October 10, 2008
Over Yom Kippur, I was struck by one line of the Vidui prayer where we are meant to reflect on sins that we as individuals and as a community have committed over the past year.
“For the sin we have committed before you in throwing off the yoke.”
I never really thought about this line so much in the past – I had always focused on more specific things that I could think of in very practical terms.
What does it mean to throw off the yoke? It means we have shirked responsibility. It means that we had a duty to do something, and we neglected it.
I began to think about some of the major problems facing the world – genocide in Darfur, man-made global climate change, terrorism, hunger, natural disasters – and the list simply didn’t stop.
I started thinking nationally to both America and Israel, wondering what I should be doing to influence the outcome of the upcoming election, and what I could do to work towards peace for Israel and her neighbors.
I thought locally about the community I lived in, and the people who I saw every day who might be in need of help or assistance in some way – my synagogue, my neighbors, my friends and family.
That’s not a yoke, that’s hundreds of yokes! Do we really need forgiveness for not solving every woe in this world? Who is not guilty of throwing of one of these countless yokes?
“It’s not possible to do everything,” I told myself, but it’s imperative that I do something. Throwing off the yoke is unacceptable. We don’t need to carry every yoke, but we need to be thinking about what need there is out there in the world, and how we can best fill it.
Shana Tova.
Leave a Comment » | Parashat HaShavua | Tagged: holiday, torah, yom kippur | Permalink
Posted by eimatai
May 8, 2008
Happy Israel Independence Day!
For some great shiurim and activities about Yom Ha’atzmaut, check out the Yeshiva University Yom Ha’atzmaut To Go packet available for download here.
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Posted by eimatai
April 24, 2008
Happy Passover from the Eimatai Family.
For interesting passover reading, check out the YU Pesach To Go Torah Packets.
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Posted by eimatai
