Jewish Contributions to Humanity

#1 in a series

Billy and Jerry Ann Hebron, owners of the
Oakland Avenue Farm

Opening day of the Farmers Market, Oakland
Avenue Farm

and outdoor engagement. She runs
It is a considerable commitment to
Hazon’s Seal of Sustainability pro-
change behaviors and patterns and
gram, which currently has 13 Jewish
start composting but not impossible,
organizations participating in a wide
especially for organizations. When
range of environmental sus-
done correctly, there is no
tainability projects.
odor and it does not attract
While doing research
rodents.
for Hazon’s Seal program,
“The composting initiative
Feldman found participants
is a welcome opportunity
frequently asked about com-
for us, as it is just one more
posting. “I learned there are
piece in Congregation Shir
no municipal composting
Tikvah’s commitment to
options in Metro Detroit,” she
reducing food waste and
Brittany Feldman
said. “My Detroit friends who
repurposing food to have a
compost told me they were
useful and positive impact in
taking it to local farms.”
the world,” said Lorelei Berg,
That led Feldman to reach
Congregation Shir Tikvah’s
out to Midtown Composting,
executive director. “Our
headed by owner Tim
Sisterhood’s Tikkun Olam
Campbell, who has a back-
Soup Making Group uses all
ground in environmental sci-
our leftovers weekly to make
ence and renewable energy.
soup and casseroles for the
Feldman asked if Midtown
homeless. Now, with the
Lorelei Berg
would be willing to pick up
ability to turn many cooking
compost in the suburbs and
scraps into compost, there
fill an important void.
will be very little food coming
The plan is for the Hazon Seal of
through our doors that doesn’t serve a
Sustainability sites to put their raw
greater purpose.”
veggie and fruit scraps, eggshells and
And, according to Salinger and
coffee grinds into a special 5-gallon
Campbell, it’s not just about com-
bucket that Midtown Composting will posting; it’s about creating a systems
pick up regularly. Midtown will let the
approach to our lives. When we exam-
scraps become compost — and then
ine an interest in eating healthy, we
deliver it to the Oakland Avenue Farm, begin to ask where we get our food
creating a virtuous cycle of life. “What and how it’s grown and fertilized, and
is appealing about Tim’s business
then start to question where we put
model is he is making composting
our waste.
more accessible to people,” Feldman
“Once we commit to getting as close
said.
to zero waste as we can, our ecosys-
According to Salinger, “Bottom line, tems are happy,” Salinger said. “And by
we are creating a program that takes
rebuilding relationships and nourish-
oneg, simchah and Jewish school food ing the historic black-Jewish bonds
scraps out of the waste stream, and
over meals and interracial and inter-
we are turning it into rich, fertile soil
generational events, we’re strengthen-
that will feed our Detroit neighbors.
ing our social ecosystem.”
Bonus: And by repairing the Earth,
And bridging that gap between
tikkun olam, we know composting is
social and environmental problems is
very Jewish!”
what sustainability is all about. Happy
Participating organizations thus far
Earth Day, composters! •
include Detroit Jews for Justice, Repair
Karen Couf Cohen is a freelance writer and public
the World Detroit, Congregation B’nai
relations consultant, living and composting in
Moshe, Congregation Shaarey Zedek,
Congregation Shir Tikvah and Temple Franklin, Mich.
Beth El — and more are invited.

How These
Jewish Scientists
Helped Us
See the World.

GABRIEL LIPPMANN (1845-1921).
b. Hollerich, Luxembourg. d. Atlantic Ocean (sea voyage).
A friend of cardiologists and photographers.
A late bloomer, physicist Gabriel Lippman’s first
major contribution to the world of science didn’t
come until 1883, at the age of 37, when he creat-
ed the capillary electrometer (or the Lippman elec-
trometer), which could detect miniscule amounts of
electric current and was used in the first ever ECG
(electrocardiography) machine, an invaluable tool for
cardiologists. His two other major contributions paid
off enormously for the field of photography. The coe-
lostat, which Lippman invented in 1895, allowed for
long-exposure photograph of the sky, making it par-
ticularly useful for capturing images of stars. And in
1908, Lippman won a Nobel Prize in physics for his
theory on how to photographically reproduce color.

EDWIN LAND (1909-1991).

b. Bridgeport, Connecticut. d. Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Photography delivered instantly.
A hero of and model for Steve Jobs, the late
creator of the Apple computer and iPhone, Edwin
Land did for photography what Jobs did for tech-
nology—he revolutionized it. A self-taught chemist
and a two-time college dropout (from Harvard),
Land was the co-founder of Polaroid Corporation
and the inventor of the Polaroid camera, the first
ever camera to produce—with the help of millions
of polarizing crystals—a photograph instantly after
taking a picture.

DENNIS GABOR (1900-1979).
b. Budapest, Hungary. d. London, United Kingdom.
Using light to create image.
An electrical engineer and a physicist, Dennis Ga-
bor was born in Hungary, but in 1933 fled his home
in Germany after Hitler’s rise to power. Settling in
England, Gabor’s most impactful scientific achieve-
ment was his invention of holography, which, very
simply, uses light to create three-dimensional im-
ages. Holography is used today for commercial,
medical, and military purposes. Gabor also helped
advance the technology of electron microscopes,
with the goal of being able to see individual atoms.

Original Research by Walter L. Field Sponsored by Irwin S. Field Written by Jared Sichel

jn

April 19 • 2018

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