DECEMBER 19 • 2024 | 27

1. Buy fair trade Chanukah gelt 
from companies like Divine 
and Equal Exchange (and 
talk about what fair trade and 
other food labels mean).

2. Use locally grown potatoes 
and onions in your latke 
recipe. Shop the farmers 
market (Detroit’s Eastern 
Market, Ann Arbor’s 
Kerrytown, for example).

3. Switch up your latke recipes 
to incorporate more veggies, 
like carrots, kale and sweet 
potato.

4. Fry your Chanukah goodies 
in organic oil.

5. Make your own gifts: Frame 
a child’s art project, bake a 
special treat to share, create 
a signature family beeswax 
candle.

6. Reuse gift wrap and bags 
when possible. Turn kids’ 
artwork into homemade 
wrapping paper, too!

7. Green your decorations: 
Try crafting a dreidel or 
chanukiah using recycled 
materials you find around 
your house. 

8. Participate in 8 Days of 
Action: After lighting your 
menorah each evening, 
dedicate yourself to being 
more environmentally 
sustainable and enacting 
food justice when possible. 
Volunteer at your local 
emergency food provider 
one night, cook a meal for 
someone recovering from 
surgery the next night, and 
screen a movie relating to 
food justice another night. 

can trying to buy fair-trade gelt and thinking about the pack-
aging that comes along with it. 
“This is part of the whole message of the greater miracles of 
Chanukah,” he says. “Realizing what we can do with limited 
resources — sometimes the resources are limited not by our 
own choosing, and other times we choose to limit our own 
resources because we think it’s the most responsible decision 
to make.”
Rabbi Natalie Shribman of Temple Kol Ami helped run a session at a 
recent Adamah Detroit conference targeting Jewish educators. It show-
cased making beeswax candles as a traditional candle alternative and 
explored Jewish values that also incorporated Chanukah. 
Families can grab a bunch of index cards with holes in the corner and 
binder ring clips to clip them together, then write messages 
that remind them of their dedication to the Earth and the 
importance of rebuilding the world together, she says. 
“Chanukah is about more than just consumerism. There’s 
a whole story behind it, about resilience, about rebuilding, 
about light and dedication,” she says. “I think the idea of 
rebuilding something is really nice, especially in this season 
of winter; and Chanukah falls around the shortest day of the 
year and the light is starting to come back.”
It’s nice to receive gifts, but even more important to think of 
the gift of oil discovered in the Temple or the gift of light you give some-
one else when offering them a present, she says. 
“With this holiday, we try to become totally assimilated into American 
culture, which makes sense. We’re in this culture, but we also make sure 
we keep the real story and traditions of Chanukah alive.” 

Download Adamah’s Guide to Greening Your Holiday at thejewishnews.com.

Ari Cohen

Rabbi 
Natalie 
Shribman

8 Eco-Conscious Ideas for 
8 nights of Chanukah

Donation Now

 Hosting Eliza’s 
 Bat Mitzvah at the 
Franklin Athletic Club
was such a positive
experience. The facility
had all the amenities 
we needed for our
special occasion and 
the staff alleviated a lot 
of the stress associated
with planning our
celebration. We truly
appreciated their hard
work and attention to
every detail in making
Eliza’s night so special.

Hope & Jason Brown
Beverly Hills, MI

Your
Celebration

Book your event!

Destination

Learn more:

franklinclub.com/parties

Call:

+248.352.8000 EXT. 216

Visit:
29350 Northwstern Hwy
Southfield, MI 48034

