We mark Eco Shabbat 2021 by planting Spring and Summer flowers in our Kehillah Garden
For this year’s Eco Shabbat, on 6th November, we had loads of fun getting messy in our Kehillah Garden – planting Spring bulbs and wildflower seeds – led by our Garden Team and ably assisted by our Beiteinu students.
Eco Shabbat is an initiative organised by Eco Synagogue – a project run in partnership with the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Its aim is to ensure that, with attention to synagogue buildings and practices, Jewish communities can move towards a net zero carbon future. This year, Eco Shabbat was timed to conicide with the COP26 summit.
It was important for us to fully involve our Beiteinu students in our activities so our Garden Team planned a number of projects. The children helped plant Spring bulbs in pots. They also made their own seed pots from old newspaper, and planted wildflower seeds in each. And they got stuck in with the garden tidying and weeding.
In doing so, they learnt that seeds and bulbs need compost, water, sunlight – and patience! To them, next Spring probably seems a long way off but we all look forward to sharing with them the results of their hard work when the bulbs and flowers grow.
Speaking at the end of the morning, Rabbi René Pfertzel said, “A huge thanks to our Garden team and our Beiteinu students for all their hard work this morning. It was great fun – all the children really got stuck in and enjoyed learning about gardening and getting messy in the process! Now we look forward to next year when we’ll be able to enjoy the beautiful flowers that they have planted….a postive and forward-looking way to mark Eco Shabbat. To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow!”