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Sustainability Initiatives

Sustainability and environmental stewardship are core values at BAI. We actively take responsibility to care of our earth. Here are just a few ways we practice tikkun olam (repair of the world) at Beth Am.

When we relaunched our Kiddush program in March 2022, we made a commitment to doing so with compostable plates, cups and utensils. So now, when we celebrate Shabbat as a community, we can also celebrate knowing that the waste from our meal is going back to nourish the earth. We partnered with Mother Compost to handle our community compost. You can sign up here to compost in your home too!

All of the energy used at BAI is powered by the wind! We made the choice to go renewable so that we could provide programs with a clean conscious, knowing we were doing something in our power to impact climate change and decrease our use of fossil fuels.

One more way we are infusing nature into our prayer space is with our solar-powered Ner Tamid (eternal light).

You can now drop off your small hand held electronics whenever you need to because BAI is a drop-off site!  A collection box is located on the porch located along the driveway.

During 2021, we began the building of a sustainable outdoor learning and prayer space in our backyard. With the guidance of Refugia Design, we transformed out outdoor space into one that is usable and sustainable. Learn about our Ya’ar/Woodlands work here.

The work is still ongoing! Contact Lori if you’d like to be involved.

Sustainability is a communal responsibility and we need your help to have an impact. Here are some ways to get involved.

The Green Team at Beth Am Israel extends a hand to our physical world!

The Green Team is part of the Love Your Neighbor committee dedicated to the mitzvahs of caring for the earth and the environment in the spirit of tikkun olam. The Green Team coordinated Beth Am’s adoption of nearby Flat Rock Park through Lower Merion Township’s Adopt-A-Park program, and runs service days in the park three times per year. The Green Team is also involved with projects in the areas of renewable energy, recycling, sustainability, and climate change, and has hosted speakers and events at the synagogue on related topics.  The Green Team is always looking for new members interested in protecting the environment and greening the synagogue – please join us!  For more information please contact our co-chairs, Mira and Liz at greenteam@bethamisrael.org.

The Jewish Youth Climate Movement, founded in 2019, is a Gen Z-led movement dedicated to combating climate change and environmental injustice from a Jewish lens. Our goal is to make taking collective action towards climate justice a central, defining feature of what it means to be Jewish over the next decade, empowering the next generation of Jewish youth to be leaders in our fight to build a sustainable and equitable world for all. JYCM is supported by Hazon, the largest faith-based environmental organization in the U.S.

Learn more about our teen chapter here.

Our sustainability work is on-going.

We are in the process of installing electric vehicle chargers in our parking lot to encourage the use of non-fossil fuel dependent vehicles. Donate to the Building Fund here to help us in this effort!

And we are in the process of converting all of our lightbulbs to more energy-efficient LED bulbs. Donate to the Building Fund here to help us in this effort.

MAZAL TOV TO our Green Team who won Lower Merion Township Borough of Narberth’s 2021 Go for the Green Award for our environmental stewardship and advocacy initiatives!