An initiative to get Jews on their bikes has won the support of London's best-known cyclist, Boris Johnson.

On Tu Bishvat, the Jewish Social Action Forum's Big Green Jewish campaign will launch the Year of the Bicycle.

It follows the food-themed Year of the Bagel, where the focus included promoting community spaces to grow food and using eco-friendly produce and crockery at Jewish organisati

Volunteers who helped adults with learning disabilities to lead and participate in Limmud conference activities say the initiative is an important example of giving those with special needs greater involvement in community events.

Limmud 2011 co-chair and Norwood Jewish cultural manager Shoshana Bloom organised a day-long Limmud experience for 15 adults with learning disabilities, most from Nor

When Dan Berelowitz was appointed Tzedek director four years ago, he was the international development charity's first paid employee, despite Tzedek having been operational since 1990.

He leaves the charity with a staff of 10, ready to move into their own offices, having raised more than £700,000 over three years.

Carrying vats of homemade tomato soup and hundreds of rolls, soup run volunteers head out into some of London's most expensive streets to feed the capital's poorest people.

Concern for his grandchildren's generation motivated retired solicitor Howard Zetter to use his winter fuel allowance payment - and those of others - to do something positive for disadvantaged young people.

After retiring in April, the 65-year-old Edgware Masorti member set up the Fuel Our Youth charity to encourage over-60s who can manage without their government winter heating assistance to d

Strict discipline, a love of dance and creative ways to use small spaces were the key impressions brought back by three Jewish teachers from a week working in Ghanaian schools.

The trio went to West Africa with international development charity, Tzedek, which runs twinning programmes between Ghanaian schools and their British-Jewish counterparts.

It was the first time Tzedek had taken Britis

The first director of the United Synagogue's social action division Project Chesed, is to leave after eight years at the organisation.

Candice Woolfson, who started at the US with the Community Development group, was credited by US chief executive Jeremy Jacobs with "having placed the Chesed agenda at the forefront of the US strategy for the future".

Ms Woolfson said that taking on the new p

A new cookery class run by education charity Tikun will see all produce from the lesson distributed to the homeless and those in poverty.

Tikun's Jo Hyams, who co-ordinates the monthly sessions with Hayley Greenspan, said the aim was to combine volunteering with an enjoyable social occasion.

When organising a simcha, eco considerations might not have the same priority as hiring a venue, booking a caterer, choosing a band or selecting an outfit.

But "ethical" simchas need not require much addition to the "to do list", says United Synagogue Chesed director Candice Woolfson.

Synagogues, Jewish schools and charities could next year be decorating their succah with homegrown fruit and vegetables, even in the most populated inner city boroughs.

That is the goal of Capital Growth, a scheme to find 2,012 community food growing spaces by the end of the Olympic year.

Which business owners may have less to repent at Yom Kippur? Maybe these four company bosses, who have found that going green and prioritising social responsibility is good for profits.

But it's possible to keep environmentally responsible at work, whatever your business. The Big Green Jewish website has a range of resources for firms looking to improve their social responsibility.

London's Jewish Community Centre is doing its bit to ensure a sweet new year with a campaign to promote urban Jewish beekeeping.

Community members are being encouraged to run their own hives to combat a dramatic decline in honey bee populations.

The northern provinces of Thailand are a long away from Rabbi Jamie Cowland's Bournemouth roots. But he says that working with some of the planet's most damaged children in Chang Mai province has helped him to appreciate the values of Jewish leadership and social justice activism.

Many of the children have been victims of sex traffickers.

Around £170,000 has been raised to help those affected by the famine in East Africa through a World Jewish Relief campaign.

WJR launched a fundraising drive last month in response to reports of draught and malnutrition in Somalia.

Jews have a responsibility to campaign for the rights of gypsies and travellers because of a historical kinship, maintains the director of a Jewish human rights charity.

René Cassin's Simone Abel has put travellers' rights at the forefront of her organisation's campaigning since joining the charity last year.