A Simple Step

What do you like about Hanukkah?

Some possible answers could include 

potato latkes, 

family gatherings, 

lighting candles, 

kindling lights at the darkest time of the year, 

Hanukkah gelt, 

singing, playing dreidle (!), 

giving tzedakah....

....and...oh yes,

giving and receiving gifts.

With full credit to my friend Rabbi Judy Weiss, consider for a moment the impact of deciding NOT to give and receive OBJECTS this holiday season given that about 

two-thirds of our household carbon emissions 

are indirect, through the manufactured items. 

Just think how radically we could reduce our carbon footprints by:

• re-gifting,
• giving donations instead of things, 
• taking kids for an experience (museum, play, etc.), 
• re-purposing unneeded objects (here are a few examples), 

and otherwise refraining from spending money on material goods. 

In addition to helping the planet, we can be helping our pocketbooks and our spirits as well.

Think about it. 

Happy Hanukkah!

Rabbi Katy

Rabbi Katy Allen is a board certified chaplain and serves as an Eco-Chaplain and the Facilitator of One Earth Collaborative, a program of Open Spirit. She is the founder and rabbi of Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope, which holds services outdoors all year long. She is the co-founder and President pro-tem of the Boston-based Jewish Climate Action Network, and a hospice chaplain at CareGroup Parmenter Hospice. She received her ordination from the Academy for Jewish Religion in Yonkers, NY.