Jewish and First Nations teens join force on environment

MONTREAL — Jewish high school students are invited to participate in an environmental project that will be done with their First Nations peers in the province.
Teva Quebec, a Jewish environmental group, is launching the second phase of its Jewish Eco-Leadership Training program this spring for teens in grades 9, 10 and 11 attending Jewish and non-Jewish schools.
The first session culminated with a group of students travelling to New Orleans last year to help restore wetland ecosystems damaged by the BP deepwater oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
This time, the focus will be closer to home. The theme is environmental forestry issues in Quebec.
The students will attend six preparatory sessions looking at the importance of the forests to the ecology and to humans, forest management and policy development, and the relevance of Judaism to these issues.
Speakers will include McGill University professors and representatives of environmental organizations, while rabbis Schachar Orenstein of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue and Yonah Berman of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim will lead the text study and discussions on Jewish law and philosophy.
The program will culminate with a trip to northern Quebec, where students will take part in replanting trees destroyed in forest fires last year. They will also experience a Shabbaton there.
In addition to this volunteer work, students will be involved in an intercultural exchange with students from a First Nations community that was seriously affected by the forest fires.
“The purpose of the exchange is for students from both communities to learn about each other’s cultural and spiritual connection to nature and its protection,” Rabbi Orenstein said.
He hopes that, through a common concern for the environment, bridges will be built between the two communities, meaningful friendships will be developed and students will have “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn about the Earth from a community that continues to live in connection with nature.”
The kids will prepare for the exchange at the Kahnawake Mohawk reserve on the South Shore, where students will participate in environmental volunteer work with high school students from that community.
Jewish Eco-Leadership Training II will be held in April and May, with the northern Quebec trip taking place May 6 to 9. An information session will be held March 23 from 7-8 p.m. at Shaar Hashomayim.
The program is sponsored by Federation CJA’s Gen J, the Mona Elaine Adilman Endowment and the two synagogues.
For more information, contact Teva Quebec co-ordinator Emily Litvack at 514-476-8688 or e-mail [email protected].
The Teva Quebec and Jewish Eco-Leadership Training websites are at, respectively, http://tevaquebec.ca and www.jecotraining.org.