When the Jewish environmental activism organization Hazon was born in 2000, the first thing the group did was organize a cross-country bicycle ride from Seattle, Wash., to Washington, D.C.
The group of riders really “tested pluralism,” said executive director Nigel Savage said. They were ultra-Orthodox to anti-religious, married and single, ranged in age from 20 to 47, came from three countries — and all in 11 riders.
But one thing they did not have a chance to do then was see much of Wisconsin — although apparently they did stop at Beth Hillel Temple in Kenosha.
It has been 12 years, and the organization — which is supported by individual donors, foundations, and Jewish federations — apparently has grown tremendously. Among other achievements, it has raised more than $2 million for Israeli environmental groups, Savage said.
But it has only been this year, beginning June 7, that it has mounted a second “Cross-USA Ride” from Seattle to Washington.
And this year, the plans definitely called for a view of Wisconsin. The riders, including Savage, spent the Sabbath of July 20-21 in Madison, the night of July 22 at the Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute in Oconomowoc, and the day and evening of July 23 in Milwaukee.
On July 23, the riders had dinner and gave a public presentation at Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun in River Hills. Then riders stayed overnight as houseguests before setting off for the Illinois portion of the trip. They are scheduled to end in Washington on Aug. 16.
According to the literature made available on July 23, the ride has seven goals:
• “Encourage and enable participants to cycle frequently and eat healthily.”
• “Raise money and awareness in support of sustainable food systems.”
• “Raise awareness about transportation alternatives.”
• “Build community and establish friendships.”
• “Introduce the work of Hazon to participants and communities across the country.”
• “Learn, teach, volunteer, and otherwise engage people across the country about sustainable food systems.”
• “Strengthen participants understanding of the relationship between Jewish tradition, the natural world, and contemporary environmental issues.”
Savage told The Chronicle that 14 people are participating in the full-length ride, but others join parts of it. He also said one of the ride’s goals is to raise, through sponsorships of riders, $100,000 toward Hazon’s work “around sustainable food systems,” and that the ride had raised $88,000 by the time it reached Milwaukee.
In his presentation at Emanu-El, Savage explained that the word “hazon” is Hebrew for vision, and the organization was born out of his sense that the Jewish community needed to expand its vision.
“I felt that as a community we’re too united about what we’re against” — anti-Semitism and attacks against Israel — but not so united at saying “what we are for,” he said.
“We play Jewish tradition too small and too narrow,” when its focus is much broader, and Judaism has much to say “about the most important issues of the day,” he said.
He illustrated this during his presentation with discussion of a text from the Babylonian Talmud (Baba Kama 50b): “Our sages taught: A man should not move stones from his ground to public ground.”
The Talmud illustrates the principle with a parable: A man was moving stones from his land onto public land, when a pious passerby asked him, “Fool, why do you move stones from ground which is not yours to ground which is yours?”
The first man laughed. But some days later, he had to sell his field, and then when he walked through the public ground, he stumbled on the stones he had dumped there, and realized the wisdom of what the first man said.
The booklet accompanying the ride contains many such texts that illustrate what Savage said is one of the organization’s main themes: that “The Torah is a commentary on the world, and the world is a commentary on the Torah.”
And by applying these texts and principles, Hazon is “really changing what it means to be Jewish in this country,” Savage said.
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