Teva Learning Alliance

Teva Learning Alliance, formerly known as the Teva Learning Center, is a United States-based Jewish environmental-education nonprofit organization. Founded in 1994, it developed a year-round model that combines Jewish learning, outdoor experience, ecological awareness, and practical environmental action. Rather than treating environmental education as a separate technical subject, Teva frames ecological responsibility through Jewish texts, traditions, communal practice, and the concept of stewardship of the earth. The organization was founded at and based through the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center and Surprise Lake Camp. Its programs have served Jewish day schools, Hebrew schools, synagogues, summer camps, youth groups, and other communal institutions. Teva's approach is experiential: participants learn outdoors, engage in camping and nature-based activities, examine environmental questions through a Jewish lens, and are encouraged to translate learning into action in their schools and communities. A central educational idea associated with Teva is that people can become Shomrei Adamah, or keepers of the earth. The organization has worked with elementary and secondary students as well as adult educators. Its Bring It Back To Our School program provided environmental workshops and outdoor experiences for schools along the East Coast, while the Shomrei Adamah program brought fifth- and sixth-grade day-school students to a retreat center for an extended residential experience. Participants created a brit adamah, or covenant with the earth, committing themselves to environmental activity. Achdoot, a program for junior-high students, used wilderness camping and group learning to explore togetherness, Jewish identity, and environmental responsibility. Teva also offered a Farm Fellowship, described as a three-month experience focused on environmental farming and Jewish values, and the Teva Seminar, an annual four-day professional-development program intended to help participants create environmental and Jewish programs in their home institutions. These offerings extended Teva's work beyond children and made educator training and communal capacity-building part of its model. The organization attracted attention for linking Jewish education with practical environmental activism. In 2009, students from Solomon Schechter Day School of Raritan Valley received a Kids for Clean Communities Award for a recycling program developed after participating in Teva's programming. Teva director Nili Simhai received the Covenant Foundation Award for Excellence in Jewish Education in 2009. In 2014, Teva and the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center merged with Hazon, a Jewish environmental organization. This merger placed Teva's educational work within a broader Jewish environmental network. The organization is therefore best understood historically as a specialist educational program and nonprofit initiative rather than as a conventional consumer brand. The supplied website and the historical reference material do not establish the present legal or operational status of the standalone Teva Learning Center name.

The Teva Learning Center was established in 1994 as a Jewish environmental-education initiative associated with the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center and Surprise Lake Camp. Its founding premise was that Jewish education could help renew ecological awareness by placing participants directly in the natural world. The organization developed a distinctive educational model in which outdoor immersion, Jewish learning, community experience, and environmental action reinforced one another. Teva's work addressed children, teenagers, educators, and Jewish communal institutions. It taught in Jewish day schools, Hebrew schools, synagogues, camps, and youth groups, using hands-on activities rather than relying solely on classroom instruction. Its educational philosophy presented environmental responsibility as compatible with, and informed by, Jewish tradition. The concept of Shomrei Adamah, commonly translated as keepers of the earth, became an important framework for encouraging participants to take responsibility for ecological conditions in their own communities. One of the organization's school-focused initiatives was Bring It Back To Our School. Through workshops and outdoor experiences, Teva worked with schools along the East Coast and connected nature-based learning with follow-up environmental projects. The Shomrei Adamah program served fifth- and sixth-grade Jewish day-school students through a multi-day retreat-center experience. Students participated in outdoor learning and created a brit adamah, or covenant with the earth, intended to support continuing environmental engagement after returning to school. Teva also operated Achdoot for junior-high students; this program used wilderness camping and group activities to explore cooperation, Jewish identity, and ecological responsibility. The organization expanded its reach through educator and leadership programs. Its Farm Fellowship offered a three-month experience centered on environmental farming and Jewish values. The Teva Seminar was an annual four-day training program designed to help more than 100 participants develop environmental and Jewish programming for their home institutions. These activities reflected Teva's broader objective of building environmental capacity throughout Jewish communal life rather than limiting its work to short-term student visits. Teva received public recognition for the effects of its educational model. In 2009, its director Nili Simhai received the Covenant Foundation Award for Excellence in Jewish Education. That same year, students from Solomon Schechter Day School of Raritan Valley received a Kids for Clean Communities Award for creating a recycling program after taking part in Teva's programming. In 2014, Teva purchased a bus formerly owned by Ben Cohen, a founder of Ben & Jerry's, and incorporated it into environmental classes. The bus was used in programming related to Birkat HaChamah, a Jewish blessing connected with the sun. This interpretation drew criticism from Rabbi J. David Bleich, an Orthodox Talmudic scholar associated with Yeshiva University, who argued that the blessing should not be treated as an environmental or political statement. The disagreement illustrated the interpretive questions raised when traditional religious observances are connected to contemporary ecological concerns. Also in 2014, Teva and the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center merged with Hazon, a Jewish environmental organization. The transaction marked a major institutional turning point by placing Teva's educational programs within Hazon's larger Jewish environmental platform. The available reference material does not clarify whether Teva Learning Alliance continues as an independent legal entity, a program within Hazon, or primarily a historical name. Accordingly, the current standalone status of the brand requires review.

1. 2014Merger with Hazon

   Teva and the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center merged with Hazon.

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2. 2014Environmental education bus acquired

   Teva acquired a bus previously owned by Ben Cohen for use in environmental education and Birkat HaChamah-related programming.

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3. 2009Nili Simhai receives Covenant Foundation award

   Director Nili Simhai received the Covenant Foundation Award for Excellence in Jewish Education.

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4. 2009Student recycling project receives recognition

   Students from Solomon Schechter Day School of Raritan Valley received a Kids for Clean Communities Award for a recycling initiative developed after Teva participation.

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5. 1994Teva Learning Center founded

   The Teva Learning Center was founded as a Jewish environmental-education organization associated with the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center and Surprise Lake Camp.

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A Jewish environmental-education organization positioned around immersive, nature-based learning and the practical application of Jewish ecological values.

• Bring It Back To Our SchoolSchool environmental education

  A school-based program combining environmental workshops with outdoor experiences. It supported Jewish schools in connecting ecological learning to practical projects and community action, including recycling and other efforts carried forward by students after the formal program.

• Shomrei AdamahResidential Jewish environmental education

  A multi-day retreat-center experience for fifth- and sixth-grade Jewish day-school students. The program used outdoor immersion, Jewish learning, and group activities to develop the idea that participants are Shomrei Adamah, or keepers of the earth, and concluded with a brit adamah, a covenant committing participants to environmental activity.

• AchdootTeen wilderness education

  A program for junior-high students that used wilderness camping, generally at a state campground, to combine Jewish identity, group cohesion, outdoor education, and environmental responsibility.

• Farm FellowshipFellowship and professional development

  A three-month fellowship focused on environmental farming and Jewish values. It extended Teva's educational mission into food systems, agriculture, and the development of participants' practical understanding of ecological stewardship.

• Teva SeminarEducator training

  An annual four-day training program for more than 100 participants. The seminar helped educators and communal professionals design Jewish environmental programs for their own schools, camps, congregations, or other home institutions.

• 2014Birkat HaChamah environmental-awareness programming

  United States

  Teva used a bus acquired from Ben Cohen in environmental classes connected with Birkat HaChamah, presenting a Jewish religious observance through an environmental-education framework.

  Outcome. The programming generated public discussion about how far environmental interpretations of Jewish ritual should extend.

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• 2014Merge with HazonM&A

  Teva and the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center were combined with Hazon as part of a broader Jewish environmental-organization merger.

  What changed. Teva's educational work was brought into Hazon's organizational structure.

  Aftermath. The merger expanded the institutional setting for Teva's programs, while the available material does not establish the continuing legal status of the standalone Teva name.

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• 2014Adopt an environmental interpretation of Birkat HaChamahOther

  Teva sought to use Birkat HaChamah-related programming to connect Jewish tradition with environmental awareness.

  What changed. The organization incorporated a former Ben Cohen bus into environmental education activities associated with the blessing.

  Aftermath. Rabbi J. David Bleich publicly challenged the interpretation, arguing that Birkat HaChamah should not be treated as an environmental or political statement.

  Source

• 2014Teva merges with Hazon and the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center

  Teva and the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center merged with Hazon, bringing Teva's Jewish environmental education work into Hazon's wider organizational structure.

  M&A
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• 2014Teva incorporates a former Ben & Jerry's bus into environmental education

  Teva purchased a bus previously owned by Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's, and used it in environmental classes and programming associated with Birkat HaChamah.

  Campaign
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• 2014Rabbi J. David Bleich criticizes Teva's interpretation of Birkat HaChamah

  Rabbi J. David Bleich criticized the presentation of Birkat HaChamah as an environmental message, arguing that the blessing concerns recognition of divine creation rather than environmental politics.

  Other
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• 2009Teva director Nili Simhai receives Covenant Foundation award

  Nili Simhai, identified as Teva's director, received the Covenant Foundation Award for Excellence in Jewish Education.

  Other
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• 2009Solomon Schechter students receive Kids for Clean Communities Award

  Students from Solomon Schechter Day School of Raritan Valley were recognized for a recycling program they developed after attending Teva programming.

  Other
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1. Teva Learning Alliance
2. Teva Learning Center