Asphalt Green

Photos by Michael Datikash

by Doug Chandler
Special to the Jewish Week

A Shabbat table in the middle of Broadway? Palm trees and a kiddie pool on 88th Street?

Both sound like surrealistic scenes from a Fellini movie, but both scenes were real and both took place in Manhattan last Friday.

Hazon, the Jewish environmental organization devoted to building a healthier, more sustainable planet, planted the table in a single, metered parking place on Broadway between 73rd and 74th streets. Covered by a yellow tablecloth, the table included a bottle of Manischewitz wine, challah bread, and a tray with apples and honey — along with literature from Hazon.

The scene on West 88th Street, between Broadway and West End Avenue, occupied a parking spot in front of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun. But instead of concrete, passersby saw

sod, potted palm trees, the kiddie pool and canvas chairs. Members of BJ’s Environmental Action Hevra stood by, inviting visitors to juggle, play Frisbee or create music on a pair of darbukas, a type of drum.

Both scenes were part of Park(ing) Day, a global event created two years ago by a San Francisco art collective and organized locally by Transportation Alternatives. The two Jewish organizations were among 50 community groups, architects and designers who reclaimed parking spots for the day, transforming them into mini-parks. Hazon called its park “An Island of Being in a World of Doing,” a title that organizers believe could just as easily refer to Shabbat, while B’nai Jeshurun named its space “Oasis in the Asphalt Desert.”

As explained by Gil Kulick, coordinator of the synagogue’s effort, the day is aimed at drawing attention “in a light-hearted, fanciful way” to a number of serious issues, including an “over-reliance” on cars.

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