Friends,
This is your captain speaking. Please place your seat backs in their full upright and locked position. We are heading West! Just to recap The Teva Topsy Turvy Climate Change bus in partnership with Hazon has visited communities in New York, Connecticut, New Jersy, Baltimore, Greensboro NC, New Orleans, Houston Tx, San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas. Every community that we have visited so far have welcomed us with open arms and hearts. I can feel the excited energy in people as we talk and share about ideas to make our Jewish communities more sustainable and more connected. Connected to each other and to the land. For example we visited an Orthodox shul in Dallas yesterday. We ate dinner together and then lit Chanukah candles and sang some songs. I called up some of the children to help light a very special menorah that I put together. It was all home made and burned wasted veggie oil from our tank. I mentioned the fact that this may be the first time anyone has lit a menorah using waste veggie oil. As we watched the oil burn and thought about the miracles that happened for our ancestors I offered an idea that maybe what we are witnessing right now is a miracle. Maybe the miracle that we need today in the face of our glogal environmental challenges is one of innovation and creativity in regards to energy and fuel. According to Jewish tradition it is not our responsibility to finish the task but nor are we permitted to disdain from it
As we parted ways at the end of the night and we got ready for our big 1000 mile leg of our journey one man came up to me to give us and our trip a blessing. It was clear after talking to him that the energy that we brought to the community was very different and very needed. Later in the day he sent us an email to express his gratitude every more deeply and clearly. Thank G-d for this amazing opportunity. Thank you Texas and peace out for now!!
Happy Chanukah
Capt’n Redbeard (Jonathan)
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