SHMITA ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION PARK

The Shmita Environmental Park is located adjacent to the Australian section within the JBG at Hebrew University. Visitors learn about the social and environmental values intrinsic in the commandment to leave the land fallow. These values are taught through a unique curriculum which consists of a film, experiential navigation, and group discussions. Visitors’ shmita experience begins with a short film which explores the meaning of shmita in the modern world.

The park offers groups of youth and adults from Israel and all over the world an opportunity to deeply contemplate the issues of sustainability, conservation, and social justice, ecology, caring for others, and connecting to the land of Israel. The navigation tour raises people’s consciousness regarding how they treat the earth, and each station in the navigation connects different shmita values to the beautiful ecology in the park. At the park, visitors are encouraged to visit the Tree of Good Deeds, where they have the opportunity to write a shimta-inspired ecological pledge and insert it into a see-through bauble hanging from the beautiful tree. Goals are written in Hebrew, English, French, Arabic, as well as other languages, indicating the wide range of visitors who are attracted to the park.