Teva Learning Center
| Industry | Non-profit |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1994 |
| Headquarters | New York City, USA |
|
Key people
|
Nili Simhai (Director) Alexandra Kuperman (Assistant Director) |
| Website | www.tevalearningcenter.org |
The Teva Learning Alliance (formerly Teva Learning Center) is a Jewish-based environmental education 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that teaches about Judaism and the environment at Jewish day schools, summer camps and Hebrew schools. It is the only full-time year-round program dedicated to innovative, experiential Jewish education taught through the lens of the natural world.
The Teva Learning Center was developed in 1994 by the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center and Surprise Lake Camp. Isabella Freedman has been Teva’s fall home since its founding in 1994.
The Teva Learning Center's educational approach,
seeks to create awareness among Jews about their connection with and dependence upon the natural systems that support life. The Center seeks “to renew the ecological wisdom inherent in Judaism” by “immersing participants in the natural world.”
The director is Nili Simhai, who won the 2009 Covenant Foundation award for Excellence in Jewish Education "for making significant marks in their communities, and for designing and using innovative educational approaches to achieve dramatic and lasting impact." In 2014, Teva and its base, the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, merged with the Jewish environmental organization Hazon.
The Teva Learning Center is a Jewish education group which engages in environmental education and activism through the context of Judaism. Teva's education centers on the preservation of the environment through the eyes of Judaism. Teva frequently, though not exclusively, caters to the educational needs of children in Jewish day schools and provides a hands on approach to environmental education. Teva also teaches synagogues, camps and youth groups.
Teva provides workshops on the environment and outdoor experiences along the East Coast at 45 different schools. They work with about 4,000 students annually.
Part of this is teaching students that they are Shomrei Adamah ("Keepers of the Earth"):
Shomrei Adamah (“Keepers of the Earth”), is for fifth- and sixth-grade day-school students who visit a retreat center for four days and make a “brit adamah,” or covenant with the earth, to engage in environmental activity. The Center also runs a program for junior-high students, Achdoot (“Togetherness”), in which the teens camp in the wilderness, usually a state campground
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