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| | Email this article • Print this article | A local guide to giving green parties
by Suzanne Pollak
Special to WJW
When Joyce Rosenthal began making plans for her son's bar mitzvah celebration, she envisioned balloons filling the party room.
But that was before she read Green & Just Celebrations and learned that balloons "were not eco-friendly," the Rockville resident explained.
That's exactly the response members of Jews United for Justice were seeking when they published this guide last year. Their goal is to help people celebrate life-cycle events while still being mindful of the environment and helping make the world a better place.
"Your dollars can go to work in the world in ways that are both green and just," states this 40-plus page guide.
"The fact that the guide was about the environment, and the fact that it's Jewish made it all the better," Rosenthal said, adding that she used locally grown plants for center pieces at her son's May 23 bar mitzvah celebration.
She also set up a Web site for guests to obtain directions, thereby using less paper in the invitations.
"It made me really conscious of so much. I think it's a wonderful idea. I think it goes along with tikkun olam [repairing the world], to leave the world a better place."
That clearly was the reaction that Robin Metalitz, JUFJ's development and communications manager, wanted.
"We all celebrate these life celebrations," she said, adding, "It's easy to get carried away."
So the guide, in great detail with plenty of specifics, explains how to make any celebration one that will be better for the world. Some of the ideas will save money; others will end up costing more. But overall, there are so many suggestions and actual store names and phone numbers that many families easily can adopt a few, if they are so inclined.
Use less paper, only patronize labor-friendly establishments, reuse dresses and buy locally are among the many suggestions.
When looking for a place to hold a party, the guide suggests synagogues or nonprofits. In other words, people should use a place where they wouldn't mind spending money. Buy kippot from Israel applies to the same principle.
Think about donating extra food to a food pantry or at least composting it, the guide notes. Ask friends and relatives to donate to a charity rather than bring gifts.
There is even theme-related advice. If the bar mitzvah boy is into sports, use a sneaker for the centerpiece and then donate all the sneakers to disadvantage children.
Former D.C. resident Julie Appel is trying to incorporate as many of these ideas as she can for her wedding later this month. To her, most of the suggestions "are so obvious, it's kind of like a 'duh' moment. If we are giving money to people, we want it to be for things we can stand by," she said.
"I might as well spend my money on things I believe in and won't hurt the earth," said Appel, a third-year rabbinical student at Hebrew College in Boston.
She was impressed with the idea that money spent on a hall can also be a donation to a good cause. She therefore began checking out local museums and a botanical garden before deciding to have her wedding party at a synagogue.
Not only is Appel using in-season flowers from a local shop for her centerpieces, she also will be "giving those flowers to a Jewish nursing home afterwards to brighten up their rooms," she said. Her extra food will go to a shelter.
Her gift registry includes her and her fiance's favorite charities. "We wanted our wedding to make the world a better place."
Appel, who was a JUFJ volunteer, also set up a ride share and chose a location close to the airport and accessible by public transportation "to reduce our carbon footprint," she noted.
Metalitz said 1,200 copies of the guide were printed, and more are needed
"We give it away for free" to synagogues, bar and bat mitzvah classes, people attending JUFJ events and anyone who asks. It also can be downloaded at www.jufj.org.
"We have been getting lots of great feedback," she said. She credits its popularity to its "concrete examples. People really appreciate that. It starts with the values, but then goes on to list actual vendors who we know respect" those values.
Filled with illustrations and quotes from both Jewish text and people who share the group's values, the guide includes a take-off on the Passover seder, using the "Dayeinu" refrain several times - as in "if you are able to choose a venue where workers have a voice on the job - dayeinu, that would be enough."
The idea for the guide was a natural for this nonprofit whose mission, according to Metalitz is, "to lead Washington-area Jews to act on our shared Jewish values by pursuing justice and equality in our local community."
It was "probably about a year in planning and production. We wanted to make it comprehensive and complete," she said.
While the group only has a full time staff of three, it has lots of volunteers, many of whom were involved in some way in the production of the guide.
"Our volunteers are central to everything we do," she noted.
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