or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on wikipedia . see wikipedia s guide to writing better articles for suggestions . july 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message teva learning alliance industry non profit founded 1994 headquarters new york city usa key people nili simhai director alexandra kuperman assistant director website www.tevalearningcenter.org the teva learning alliance formerly teva learning center is a jewish based environmental education 501 c 3 non profit organization that teaches about judaism and the environment at jewish day schools summer camps and hebrew schools . 1 it is the only full time year round program dedicated to innovative experiential jewish education taught through the lens of the natural world . 2 contents 1 history and mission 2 programs 2.1 bring it back to our school 2.2 birkat hachamah 2.3 farm fellowships 2.4 teva seminar 3 references 4 external links history and mission edit the teva learning center was developed in 1994 by the isabella freedman jewish retreat center and surprise lake camp . 3 isabella freedman has been teva s fall home since its founding in 1994 . the teva learning center s educational approach seeks to create awareness among jews about their connection with and dependence upon the natural systems that support life . the center seeks to renew the ecological wisdom inherent in judaism by immersing participants in the natural world . 4 the director is nili simhai who won the 2009 covenant foundation award for excellence in jewish education for making significant marks in their communities and for designing and using innovative educational approaches to achieve dramatic and lasting impact . 5 in 2014 teva and its base the isabella freedman jewish retreat center merged with the jewish environmental organization hazon . 6 programs edit the teva learning center is a jewish education group which engages in environmental education and activism through the context of judaism . 7 teva s education centers on the preservation of the environment through the eyes of judaism . 8 teva frequently though not exclusively caters to the educational needs of children in jewish day schools and provides a hands on approach to environmental education . 9 10 teva also teaches synagogues camps and youth groups . 11 bring it back to our school edit teva provides workshops on the environment and outdoor experiences along the east coast at 45 different schools . 12 they work with about 4 000 students annually . 13 part of this is teaching students that they are shomrei adamah keepers of the earth shomrei adamah keepers of the earth is for fifth and sixth grade day school students who visit a retreat center for four days and make a brit adamah or covenant with the earth to engage in environmental activity . the center also runs a program for junior high students achdoot togetherness in which the teens camp in the wilderness usually a state campground 14 in june 2009 students from the solomon schechter day school of raritan valley in new jersey were presented with the kids for clean communities award for the recycling program they developed at their school after attending the teva program . 13 birkat hachamah edit teva recently purchased a bus previously owned by ben & jerry s founder ben cohen businessman for use in environmental classes . 15 the bus was incorporated into environmental awareness programs related to birkat hachamah or blessing of the sun . 15 however orthodox talmudic scholar rabbi j. david bleich of yeshiva university a specialist in birkat hachamah has been critical of the interpretation of judaism as a notably environmental faith . he argues that environmental problems are issues in and of themselves and are totally unrelated to the blessing of the sun as the blessing is an occasion to acknowledge the wonder of god s creations not a political statement . i suppose you can connect anything he says . you can draw dots and lines ; you don t have to be logical . . 1 farm fellowships edit teva offers a three month fellowship in environmental farming and jewish values . 16 17 teva seminar edit an annual four day program designed to train over 100 participants to develop programs in their home institutions . 18 references edit a b wiener julie 3 april 2009 . love the earth bless the sun . wall street journal . westchester jewish conference organizations and synagogues directory 2009 2010 isabella freedman jewish retreat center . isabellafreedman.org . 2009 04 20 . retrieved 2011 08 17 . d.c. news & views faith goes green . muslim public affairs committee . 27 june 2008 . archived from the original on july 23 2009 . retrieved 2009 07 24 . the teva learning center for example seeks to create awareness among jews about their connection with and dependence upon the natural systems that support life . the center seeks to renew the ecological wisdom inherent in judaism by immersing participants in the natural world . news article the covenant foundation . covenantfn.org . retrieved 2011 08 17 . http hazon.org isabella freedman history retreat mixes spirit with love of nature . new jersey jewish news . 13 november 2007 . retrieved 2009 07 24 . they took part in the program at the teva learning center in falls village conn. which integrates outdoor environmental education with jewish concepts and values . https web.archive.org web 20090501235316 http www.thejewishweek.com viewarticle c227 a15272 special sections celebrate.html . archived from the original on may 1 2009 . retrieved july 24 2009 . missing or empty title help site map hadassah the women s zionist org of america . hadassah.org . retrieved 2011 08 17 . ben tepfer . using religion to save the planet . jvibe . retrieved 2011 08 17 . digging deep on tu b shevat . forward.com . retrieved 2011 08 17 . 1 archived september 23 2008 at the wayback machine . a b school recycling effort earns state recognition new jersey jewish news . njjewishnews.com . 2009 06 23 . retrieved 2011 08 17 . 2 archived november 20 2008 at the wayback machine . a b blessing of the sun a teachable moment . forward.com . retrieved 2011 08 17 . farm school brings students back to their roots . forward.com . retrieved 2011 08 17 . fishkoff sue 2008 12 30 . jewish food movement comes of age jta jewish & israel news . jta . retrieved 2011 08 17 . organization teva learning center . wiserearth.org . retrieved 2011 08 17 . external links edit teva learning center v t e american jewish environmental organizations aytzim ecological judaism hazon coalition on the environment and jewish life teva learning center retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title teva learning center & oldid 739054607 categories organizations based in new yorkenvironmental organizations based in the united statesjewish educational organizationshidden categories pages with citations lacking titlespages with citations having bare urlsarticles with wayback machine linkswikipedia articles needing style editing from july 2009all articles needing style editing navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 12 september 2016 at 14 44 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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