Mitzvah Project

My Bar-mitzvah project is about helping wildlife and wildlife habitat. I am doing this by raising money for the Arava Institute and the World Wildlife Fund. 

I am raising money for the WWF by participating in a fundraiser called Panda Paddle where people around the world will be raising money by kayaking, paddle boarding, and canoeing. I have a goal of 600 dollars (the age of Noah when the Earth started flooding) for Panda Paddle and though I’m not doing the Arava Institute bike ride, I’m raising money for a specific thing called the Shelter Garden. 

To thank you for donating to the Panda Paddle fundraiser and/or the Arava Institute, donors will receive origami gifts in accordance with the donations.

People have made a mess of the world, partly by hunting animals, and partly by destroying the habitats they live in. By building cities in places that were previously wild, and by using the resources of nature for human purposes people impact the environment for all living things. This is a problem for the plants and trees that are destroyed, the animals that live in and live on the plants, and the animals that have been hunted. It is also a problem for people, because we also rely on these things. The WWF helps because it can make a better place for animals to live. The Arava institute helps because it can protect the whole desert ecosystem, making sure that the food the animals eat there doesn’t go away.  

I chose to raise money for the WWF and the Arava Institute’s shelter garden because it had to do with Parshat Noach. One thing these two organizations have in common is helping the environment. One way of thinking about taking care of the environment is the Jewish mitzvah bal tashchit which means not to ruin. In Parshat Noach the root shachat comes up many times.

וַיַּ֧רְא אֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶת־הָאָ֖רֶץ וְהִנֵּ֣ה נִשְׁחָ֑תָה כִּֽי־הִשְׁחִ֧ית כׇּל־בָּשָׂ֛ר אֶת־דַּרְכּ֖וֹ עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃                                            When God saw how corrupt the earth was, for all flesh had corrupted its ways on earth

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֜ים לְנֹ֗חַ קֵ֤ץ כׇּל־בָּשָׂר֙ בָּ֣א לְפָנַ֔י כִּֽי־מָלְאָ֥ה הָאָ֛רֶץ חָמָ֖ס מִפְּנֵיהֶ֑ם וְהִנְנִ֥י מַשְׁחִיתָ֖ם אֶת־הָאָֽרֶץ׃                  God said to Noah, “I have decided to put an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with lawlessness. Because of them: I am about to destroy them with the earth

In the first pasuk, Shachat comes up when God's talking about the state of the world, meaning how corrupt the world is and then it comes up again saying that people ruined it. Then in the next pasuk it comes up again when God tells Noach about how God’s going to destroy the world. It is interesting because maybe what people did and what God did (i.e. the flood) was similar because of the use of the same word. And that means all the more reason not to ruin and destroy things, one of those things being the habitat. God destroyed the world but then made it better so since we destroyed habitat it’s our responsibility to make it better. And back then, humans were partially fixing their mistakes. Noach, a human, took on the responsibility to have all animals survive. And together we will, with other boats, be raising money to save the animals and fix our mistakes. And after that let’s try not to ruin it again like God promised with the rainbow. 

To encourage you to help raise money for these important causes, I am making origami thank you gifts. You can choose as many as you want up to the value of your donation. 

You can help by donating to my Panda Paddle Page (preferably the team page rather than the individual) or to the Arava Institute Shelter Garden. After you have donated please fill out the form below for thank you gifts.