Press Double the Amount of Jews Found in Portland, OR on JTA The Right to Eat Well: Access to Healthy Food Options is Berkeley Native’s Dream in JWeekly Will Travel for Food (Justice): Meet Me at the Hazon Food Conference on Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism Live Stream of Jewish Tech Meet Up in The Jewish Week Stewards of the Earth on CBS News Nourishing Children, Nourishing Families in The Jewish Week S.F Jewish Community Federation Unveils New Model For Grantmaking on eJewish Philanthropy Blogs A New Food Justice Series: “Chewing on Food Justice” on Jewschool Jewish Vegetarians of North America Newsletter Intergenerational Reflections on Lifestyle, Food Security, and Jewish Activism (Part 1) on Pursue Go to Hazon’s Food Conference This Summer with Pursue on Repair The World
Author Archive | Hazon
Nigel Savage Teaches How to Create a Great Tu B’Shvat Seder
In this video, Nigel Savage, Executive Director of Hazon, teaches a session on “How to Create a Great Tu B’Shvat Seder” at the 2010 Food Conference West. Learn more about Tu B’Shvat and download Hazon’s free resources.
Growing Jewish Institutions
by Naomi Rabkin Around the country, a number of synagogues, JCCs, day schools, and other Jewish institutions are doing inspiring work to integrate the physical spaces of gardens and farms into their core work of transmitting Jewish ideas and values. Last month, I highlighted the increased popularity of school and community gardens and pointed out some of the necessary measures needed to maintain them properly and maximize their impact. Innovative Jewish institutions from synagogues to JCC’s and educational farms around the country are also taking broad steps to engage members, students and teachers in Jewish garden programming. Agudas Achim a Conservative synagogue in Columbus, Ohio had installed a garden about a year ago, but as with many synagogue garden projects, the enthusiasm around it waned. When synagogue leaders heard about their congregant Ariel Kohane’s experiences in the Adamah program, they hired her as an Environmental Scholar in Residence. They saw the potential beyond offering a few “green” programs. With her experience, Kohane could develop a program that would inspire younger Jews to connect to the synagogue community through environmental ethics, food and spirituality. A new and exciting culture could grow from its garden. (more…)
Kosher Chickens and You
Bob Goldman, Food Conference alum, recently coordinated a day of hands-on chicken schechting for a group of folks in Denver. It was an amazingly profound experience for the participants and an event a year in the making; they spent a lot of time finding a source for chickens that met their standards for an ethical upbringing. Rabbi Bruce Dollin of Hebrew Educational Alliance, their rabbi, gave his sermon on it last week. I bring up the following topic because it is Rivka Cohen’s Bat Mitzvah and Rivka comes from a famous family who feeds us just about every week. Rikva is the daughter of Cohen’s Cuisine, that is, Albert and Marla Cohen who are superb members of our Shabbat community. I have known them from my first days at HEA: they had just gotten married and were looking for their place in the Jewish community and they found us and we have been the beneficiaries. We love the Cohens and celebrate with them and Rivka today. So I feel it appropriate today to talk about food. In particular, I want to speak about chickens. I have been dreaming about chickens, lately. Let me tell you why. (more…)
Food Conference Presenter Spotlight: Aaron Gross, Farmed Animal Welfare Advocate and CEO, Farm Forward
Aaron S. Gross, Ph.D. is the CEO of Farm Forward and has played a leadership role in a wide variety of national and international farmed animal welfare campaigns in the Americas, South Asia, and the Middle East since the mid-1990s. Gross also serves as a professor of Jewish Studies at the University of San Diego and co-chairs the American Academy of Religion’s Animals and Religion Consultation. Seeing the need for an organization devoted specifically to creating alternatives to factory farming, Gross founded Farm Forward in 2006. Farm Forward has played a leading role in the promotion of alternative models of poultry production based on heritage genetics and its newsletter, facebook site, and twitter feed are followed by more than 15,000 individauls. John Mackey, Founder and CEO of Whole Foods, hails Farm Forward as “an important force for social change.” Bestselling Novelist Jonathan Safran Foer describes Gross as “a visionary—his founding of Farm Forward will be looked at by future generations as a turning point in the fight to end factory farming.” (more…)
This Book Might Change Your Life
By Judith Belasco, Director of Food Programs, Hazon My first Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) pick up of fresh, local, organic veggies is a few days away. In mid-winter, I plunked down $550, signed up for my volunteer slots, and felt good that I was voting with my fork for a healthier, more sustainable food system. During the 2011 growing season, I’m joined by a network of 56 Hazon CSAs and thousands more CSAs in communities across the country. While I am excited for the East Coast season to begin, I’m aware of the many people who are unable to access CSA shares and those who are unable to access healthy food at all. Our food system is broken. Joining a CSA is a great first step, and there is more we can do in order to fix it. Enter Fair Food: Growing a Healthy, Sustainable Food System for All, a practical guide to changing not only what we eat, but how our food is grown, packaged, delivered, marketed and sold. Author and founder of the Fair Food Network, Oran B. Hesterman, shows how our food system’s dysfunctions are the unintended consequences of our emphasis on efficiency, centralization, higher yields, profit, […]
Hazon in the News-May 2011
Press The Count: Things You Should Know About on Alef: The Next Conversation B’nai B’rith Camp Promotes Healthy Body Image for Adolescent Girls on B’nai B’right Camp Jewish Techs Meet Face to Face in The Jewish Week Pickling Pro Will Talk About Kraut Local Tour on Jweekly.com 36 Under 36: Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster, 32 in The Jewish Week Slice & Dice, Schmooze & Dave, Sing & Dine: Hazon’s Food Conference on Boulder Jewish News Farmers, Rabbis, Chefs, Vegans, Omnivores and You on Boulder Jewish News Four Biblical Voices on our Relationship to Creation in The Huffington Post Three Jewish Communal Actions with Impact on Jewcology Siach Press The Israel-Diaspora Gap, Up Close in The Jewish Week. Starting the ‘Global Conversation’ on The Jewish Chronicle Online A Sustainable Jewish Nation on Jewcology The Reawakening of the Jewish Social Justice Movement in The Guardian Siach: A Cross-Cultural Conversation in The Jewish Week
Food Conference Presenter Highlight: Hazon Meets Mazon
Abby Leibman, President & CEO, MAZON Apart from having names that are routinely confused for each other, Hazon and MAZON are on the same page when it comes to food justice and inspiring the Jewish community to work towards healthier and more sustainable communities. We’re thrilled that Abby Leibman, the new President and CEO of MAZON, will be one of our Food Conference presenters this year. MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing and alleviating hunger among people of all faiths and backgrounds. “I love that so many teens donate to MAZON as part of their Bar and Bat Mitzvahs,” Ms. Leibman told Hazon recently. “I want to make sure that they understand why their efforts are so important. How is it that we have so many food-insecure people in the wealthiest country in the world? The first steps are finding a way to understand who is hungry in America, the magnitude of the situation and its causes. Then, community organizing and people teaching each other about the causes of hunger can help to bring about meaningful change. This is something I’m really excited to bring to my work at MAZON and my […]
Kayam Leader’s Kollel 2011
Kayam Farm’s Leaders Kollel aims to provide an in-depth learning experience of Jewish agriculture, sustainability, and pluralistic Jewish community. We ask that participants bring their full and honest selves to the program, including your passions and expertise as well as your challenges and imperfections. We hope this experience will strengthen your knowledge, understanding, and commitment to Jewish tradition as it relates to sustainability. Upon leaving the Leaders Kollel, we ask you to take on a new/continued leadership responsibility to empower your Jewish community to live in greater balance with all of G!d’s Creation. DATES: July 12, 2011 – July 24, 2011. TUITION: Tuition covers room & board, program supplies, and staff time. Before June 1, 2011: $800 Before July 1, 2011: $900 After July 1, 2011: $1,000 APPLICATION AND INTERVIEW: The 2011 Kayam Farm Leaders Kollel is limited to 20 participants. Please review the below materials and send in your application as soon as possible. We look forward to speaking with you! Please be in touch with any questions, and hopefully we’ll see you this summer! Jessy Gross, Kayam Leaders Kollel Director jessygross@gmail.com Jakir Manela, Founding Director, Kayam Farm jakir@pearlstonecenter.com Learn more about the 2011 Karam Farm Leaders Kollel [PDF]
Ride with Hazon in Celebrate Israel Parade
Last year over 40 riders joined Hazon in the Celebrate Israel Parade up 5th Avenue in Manhattan. Join us this year! Sunday, June 5th, 11 AM, New York, NY RSVP for a spot in the parade up Fifth Avenue – on a bike! Learn more about the parade. Parade meeting point: 53rd St between Madison and Park Avenue Parade starts: 11:00 Assembly Time: 11:45 Estimated Step off time: 12:30 This is a FREE event!
The 17th Annual Teva Seminar
Engage with experiential Jewish education at its source! May 31 – June 3, 2011 The Teva Seminar is an innovative professional development opportunity for Jewish educators, environmentalists, camp staff, farmers, rabbis, lay leaders and students. Engage in a three thousand year old dialogue about the connection between God, earth, and humanity within a dynamic learning community. Gain the skills you need to bring inspiration and vibrancy to your camp, synagogue, school, youth group and college campus. More Information and Registration for the Teva Seminar
The Sustainable Food Guidelines at First Narayever, Toronto, Canada
First Narayever Congregation in Toronto, CA, recently passed a resolution regarding the food served at synagogue events. The resolution was the culmination of over a year of committee work, targeted outreach, and education. Andrea Most, project coordinator, reflects on the process of passing this resolution: “So how did we get here? First, we approached and got support from the President of the Board who agreed to chair the Ad Hoc committee. We then spent over a year studying our own practices, and also outside practices (such as reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma and watching Food, Inc.). We then put together a more formal committee, and started drafting recommendations. For a committee of 10 people, we identified 9 important areas to work on. Our final presentation to the Board was received very positively, and they voted unanimously to approve it. In the process, we decided that the words ‘to the extent possible’ were important to get the motion passed. But we feel confident that once we begin to implement these principles (and to educate people about them), they will quickly become ‘the new normal.’” The resolution reads: Moved that the Food Committee (formerly the Kiddush Committee) oversee the delivery of all food […]
Three (Jewish) Communal Actions with Impact!
Fair Food Network is excited to be partnering with Hazon on the following three calls to action. You can learn more about all of these issues by reading Oran Hesterman’s Fair Food: Growing a Healthy, Sustainable Food System for All. Together, we can move from being conscious consumers to engaged citizens and transform our food system! The first call to action is in your kitchen. Make a commitment to spend an additional $10 per week on food the source of which you can trace and trust. It may be $10 at the farmers’ market where you’ve just had a discussion with the grower; it may be $10 toward a buying club or a CSA. This $10 is not just for you and your satiation. It is a transformative $10 spent with intention, or kavannah, toward a fair food system. The second call takes place in YOUR Jewish community, whether it be a synagogue, havura, Hebrew school or even where you volunteer. Make a commitment to engage the leadership of that institution (maybe it’s you!) to view food as a critical issue in the development of your community (because it is). Find one way you can make a change in the […]
Celebrating Tzedek/Justice: A Conversation with Changemakers from Israel and America
Sixty-three years after the signing of Israel’s Declaration of Independence, the New Israel Fund invites you to celebrate the social justice values enshrined in that document.
Hazon in the News- April 2011
Video Nigel’s session at the University of Michigan Paper Press Mirele had an inspiring opinion piece published in the Forward Nice Country for Camping, Not Fracking Celebrating Freedom in the Big Apple in The Jerusalem Post Jewcology: A Clearninghouse for Jewish Environmental Awareness in the Forward To Honor Its Past and Future, JCF Gives Donors a Present on JWeekly Earth Day 2011: Local Jewish Communities Think Green in the Jewish Ledger A piece I wrote was in the Forward: Beyond Bal Tashchit Brownstone Brooklyn’s ‘Get ‘Em In Early’ Ethic in The Jewish Week Blogs Rabbi Larry Troster, our Rabbinic Advisor, is writing regularly now with Huffington Post. His first piece is 10 Teachings on Judaism and the Environment Jewish Environmentalism in the Next Decade on Boulder Jewish News Let All Who Are Hungry Come and Eat on Pursue Celebrate Earth Day and Passover on Repair The World Passover Seder Focused on Ensuring Justice in U.S. Food Chain on JSpot. Hazon’s 5th Question on Alefnext Counting the Omer on Alefnext A Food Justice Centered Sedar on A Spoonful of Shauna Collaboration at Your Service in PresenTense Nice Country for Camping, Not for Fracking in the Forward A Season of RENEWAL in the RJ Blog Let if Flow in Boulder Jewish News NY Food Justice Seder on Jewschool Bringing […]
