Dear Friends,
As Chanukah’s light lingers and a new year dawns, we look back at the year behind us with both gratitude and grief—especially in the wake of the Bondi Beach shooting. Our partners at the Jewish Climate Network in Sydney were there that day, and had unveiled their new Sunnukiah (a solar and battery-powered sculptural Menorah created by Australian Jewish artist Joel Adler) just a half hour before the shooting began. This tragedy reminds us how deeply connected we are across borders and continents, because Peoplehood and Planethood is real. We need each other now more than ever.
This past year Adamah has grown into our potential as the largest Jewish environmental organization in North America, leading a burgeoning movement in Jewish life. Our 2025 at a glance:
✔️ 45,000+ total participants in Adamah programming including 21,000+ at Isabella Freedman and Pearlstone retreat centers.
✔️ 8,860 young leaders engaged in our Jewish Youth Climate Movement and Adamah on Campus programs.
✔️ Launched Community Impact Hubs in Los Angeles and San Francisco, while welcoming Wilderness Torah to the Adamah Family, joining Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, and New York.
✔️ 700+ members joined the newly launched Jewish Green Business Network, strengthening Jewish peoplehood and accelerating climate solutions through community building, leadership development, and strategic partnerships.
✔️ Over 60 Jewish organizations and 1,000+ volunteers took part in ROOTED, a Jewish Day of Service at 20+ sites to kick-off Climate Week NYC, thanks to the UJA Federation of New York.
✔️ The Myerberg Stage at The Greenwald Amphitheater opened to the public at Pearlstone with the inaugural Harvest Music Festival supported by the Meyerhoff New Jewish Family Innovation Fund, an endowment fund of The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore.
✔️ 28 member organizations of our Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition were awarded $559,047 from Climate Action Fund loans and grants. These projects include solar installations, energy-efficient windows, heat pumps, pool pumps, and more, preventing a total of 1,124 tons of carbon emissions and saving $461,486 on energy bills annually.
This dramatic growth reflects the urgency of our time. In an era of polycrisis—spiritual and ecological crisis, antisemitism and polarization, social fragmentation and mental health epidemics—Adamah meets a deep human and societal need.
So thank you. Thank you for believing in all of us at Adamah. Thank you for believing that Jewish life must be a force for healing and joy in the world. Thank you for investing your time, resources, and energy into this movement.
And please join me in thanking our amazing staff, board, partners, and supporters who make this movement possible. Together, we step into 2026, doing our very best—as Jews, as human beings, as leaders of our own lives, families, and communities—as sacred stewards of life on this shared planet.
May these last few days of 2025 bring us closer: to each other, to Creation, and to ourselves. And may change come, bringing abundant blessings for our people and our planet.
Happy New Year,
Jakir Manela
CEO, Adamah