For Immediate Release

Contact: Rabbi Elie Weissman

Phone: (516) 433-4811 ext. 103

Email: rabbi@yiplainview.com

YOUNG ISRAEL OF PLAINVIEW BRANCHES OUT FOR JEWISH ARBOR DAY

Synagogue to Hold Green Community Event Honoring Tree Festival That Has Ancient Roots

Plainview, NY, January 11, 2014:  The Young Israel of Plainview, in honor of the Jewish Holiday of Tu B’Shevat is hosting a community wide Kiddush, where eco-friendly refreshments will be served and all are invited. The event, to be held after synagogue services on Saturday January 11^th at 132 Southern Parkway in Plainview, has been planned for some time and has created an air of excitement in the local community. Tu B’Shevat is translated literally as 15^th of Shevat, and essentially signifies the New Year for the trees.

To honor the holiday, in a way commensurate with its historical origins, the synagogue is planning the Kiddush with an environmental focus. All products served will be from local vendors, thereby bypassing the wasted energy and inherit damage to the earth caused by importing goods from other areas. The vegetarian offerings, selected in a way to highlight gifts from earth, will be as diverse as they will be eclectic, with a special spotlight on sustainability.

Event organizer Tina Ardito reflected on the happening saying “people often ask me how they themselves could possibly have any positive impact on the environment. I always bring up one of my favorite gifts from nature, the shade from a majestic oak tree. If only one or two leaves were there to help, the result would be essentially nil. But if, collectively, all the leaves work together for the cause, the result is nothing short of spectacular.”

The official motto of the event will be Educate, Demonstrate & Inspire. Atara Marzouk, who has also been involved with the planning of the occasion, was hoping that the project would be a contagious one, adding, “as happy as we are to put on this event, it would be that much more satisfying if other communities were motivated by our efforts and, accordingly, become themselves ‘green’ with envy.”

The Young Israel of Plainview is a vibrant Modern Orthodox Jewish Congregation in Plainview New York. For more information on this and our other programs and events please visit our website at ww.yiplainview.com or contact Rabbi Elie Weissman at rabbi@yiplainview.com