New Archive:

September 2000 Issue, Volume 2

Hazon Wrap Up: The Final Journal Entry From the Cross-USA Jewish Environmental Bike-Ride

New York, NY

Dear All,

Well, we're home!!

Last Thursday we did our last full day's riding, culminating in a great kosher and vegan picnic supper at the home of Sam and Judge Irma Raker in Bethesda MD; Friday a.m. we rode from Bethesda to George Washington University Hillel. Shabbat we fanned out across the D.C. area: our riders variously spoke or taught at Adas Israel, Kesher, Tiferet Israel, Washington Hebrew, Yedid DC, and the Zoo minyan. (Best-known congregants at Kesher that shabbat were J & H Lieberman: but they came for shacharit and we taught at se'udah shlishit and at the women's tefilla...)

During Friday and Sunday we de-commissioned our gear, a process we began the previous Sunday in Pittsburgh when we cleaned and dried our tents and tarps. Ending an expedition is nearly as messy and time-consuming as beginning one; a final reminder that a/ we have too much stuff and b/ in our generation we often treat it as disposable regardless of its actual status. (Special kudos in this regard to Cecily for mending the rips in our mosquito tent. Question for readers: when was the last time any of us darned a sock? And can the word stay in the language if its referent does not?)

Sunday evening we had a really wonderful finale at the D.C. JCC. The highlight of the evening was each of the riders speaking and sharing their own highlights from the summer. I'm afraid I can't do justice to what people said: how can mere words encompass what it was like when Mike Gross, for instance, stood at the microphone and invited everyone to join him in chanting, "elohai neshama shenatata bi...." [the soul that G-d has given me is pure...]; or Cecily talking about trusting that each person can find their place in the Jewish community; or, in a different musical mode, when Tova sang her post-ride medley. It was an amazing atmosphere overall. I think that each person present got a sense of how remarkable each rider's journey was, physically and existentially.

Monday morning we went to "the White House"--conceptually, if not physically, for we met with Dan Sakura, Chief of Staff of the President's Council on Environmental Quality in his office in an adjacent building. He is part of the White House staff, liaising between the President and the other branches of government on environmental issues. (We gave him a letter for the President.) It was an enjoyable meeting, in which we talked a little about the Ride, and learned from Dan Sakura a little about the administration's environmental agenda. (I found it interesting in that it helped me clarify how complex the relationship is between activism, education and legislation--each element has an important role to play in moving us forwards. One gnawing question through the Ride, for me, has been about overall impact--how do we, as individuals or collectivities of individuals, make a difference legislatively.

Sitting with Dan Sakura--and knowing that we were partly there because both the Reform Religious Action Center and the office of Senator Feingold of Wisconsin had asked that he meet with us--made me realize that the system in some sense works, in that it is responsive to public pressure, and public pressure manifests in various ways. If each person reading this email took the time--and it would be a little time--to contact their elected representatives to ask what they are doing to protect the planet, and to encourage them to do more, that would be one piece in moving us in the right direction. At the least, if you haven't already, go to www.coejl.org and sign up for their advocacy list.)

Present also at the meeting were Jerry Lawson and Dona Canales-Higgins of the EPA's EnergyStar program (and Evonne, who made the original shidduch with them). If you go to www.epa.gov/energystar you'll find various information and support for making your home or office more efficient; and a part of the program specifically relates to environmentalizing religious buildings--you should also be able to help your synagogue or temple save money and be more efficient.

And that was that--save the photos and goodbyes and getting all our gear back to New York, an epic twelve hour journey all-in.

Right now, Janice and I are starting to do clean-up--catching up with bills and boxes and unreplied to emails, unpacking, sorting, trying to get straight. (And Jo and I are once more looking for a place to live in New York--if you know of somewhere, please be in touch.) I feel like I need a little distance to figure out what the summer was really about, what exactly we accomplished. Right now, I think a short-list includes the following:

One: we impacted the lives of all the riders. Most, if not all, are

fitter;
more competent on a bike;
more able to put up and put down a tent, to camp;
able to poop in the woods;
more aware of the environmental resources of Judaism;
more awe-struck at the physical vastness of America;
more sensitive to our inputs and outputs of all sorts;
more impressed by the hospitality of Jewish communities;
more knowledgeable about the variety of Jewish communities out there;
more self-confident Jewishly; more trusting that it is safe to be Jewish in America.

Also: we learned songs; learned about each other and ourselves; learned at least a little about eco-systems, forests, biodiversity, Israel, the ecology of food, global warming, shabbat, bal tashchit, kashrut, eco-kashrut. Also stuff about the media and media-cycles, about group process, about different age-groups. Also how and how not to pack a van. The impact on riders was by no means all positive: parts of the summer were hard and bruising in different ways. Still, the overall result was clearly very positive indeed. Two: we impacted the lives of some of the people we connected with: including those we planned to meet, those whom we met randomly, and those who connected by email. Overall, I could never have dared pray that we would all arrive home unscathed physically in any way and that we would have such a positive impact on so many. This email--like others before it--has gone on way too long. I will save for a second post-ride update, something about the future of Hazon and about future rides. For now: a huge huge huge HUGE thank you to all the people who made this possible. The Nash Family Foundation--Jack Nash and Pamela Rohr, and Executive Director Debbie Niderberg--who have been our primary backers, and without whom none of this would have been possible; Everyone who made contributions, either to Hazon itself or to the Green Pot; All the riders; ALL THE RIDERS!!! All the people who opened their homes to us--fed us, looked after us, schlepped us. (One tiny example. One man--I'm so utterly embarrassed that I can't remember his name--schlepped a total of 110 miles to go look for a bike stand which we thought we'd left at a B&B in Ipswich, S.D. and return it to us.) We were accomodated by Jewish communities on a total of 38 nights. All the shuls and temples and rabbis and JCCs and Hillels who gave us a platform from which to teach, often trusting blindly that we wouldn't embarrass them. We taught in the end in 47 different venues along our journey. All the people along the way who offered ice-cream, rides, help of various sorts, encouragement; The many people who spontaneously rode with us for shorter parts of the way; Special thanks to the people in the Seattle and D.C. Jewish communities for hosting us at the beginning and end, and to Rabbi Dan Bridge and Simon Amiel of the Seattle and George Washington Hillels, respectively, for giving us space to load and unload our gear; A huge thank you to the many people who have spontaneously sent in emails over the summer encouraging us, or telling us how our ride has been inspirational or impactful in some way; also to the many people who were kind to us at the time and said wonderful and encouraging things. I apologize for the fact that I didn't manage to acknowledge or reply to so many of them, but I really appreciated them; To those who came before--teachers and inspirers of various sorts--Jewish, environmental, bicycle; Major thanks to Yossi and JFL for supporting the website, Udi Sabach for designing it, and debi lewis for maintaining it. Thanks finally to Janice, who came on board in November as the first ever Hazon Fellow, and who bore the central professional load of co-ordinating the Ride with tremendous aplomb and patience whilst working with unbearably tight deadlines; And to Jo, who got roped in along the way despite the fact that this was not her vision, who nevertheless plotted virtually the whole route, together with Nicki (big thanks to Nicki!!!) organized most of our accomodation, and was the key person on the ride for making things better in innumerable ways. In the spirit of the month of Elul, I want to apologize to anyone reading this who really deserves a personal thank you and has not received one. I and we really do appreciate the help that everyone gave. :-)) Nigel nigel@hazon.org
www.hazon.org
25 west 45th st, suite 1400
ny ny 10036