Author Archive | Hazon

Hazon Food Conference: Take 2. The Next Step in the Right Direction

Originally posted on Raw-9 January 12, 2011 by Julie Auerbach, 2009 and 2010 Hazon Food Conference Alumna After attending the Hazon Food Conference in Asilomar, CA December of 2009, my life had changed. I became inspired, enlightened, and awe-struck by the amazing New Jewish Food Movement. After last year’s conference, I packed up my bags in Denver, CO., closed my meat business, (the Denver Kosher Shuk), and drove out to Los Angeles, the city I pictured with a large, vibrant, colorful Jewish Community, and a more health conscious environment. I am beyond happy to say, I have found everything I was searching for. Most people like to look at Rosh Hashanah, or New Years as their reference of time, and while I love using Rosh Hashanah as a time for reflection and decision making, I enjoy using the Hazon Food Conference as my marker for direction. For a multitude of reasons, which I will explain further, Hazon has inspired me to dream big, have faith, and believe. Prior to attending my first Hazon Food Conference, my life had taken a turn. I learned I had alopecia, (an auto-immune disease that causes one’s body to have an allergic reaction to their […]

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Hazon in the News-February 2011

Press Hazon launching ‘Home for Dinner’ program in Bay Area on JWeekly.com Awe Was My First Religion on Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism Future Farmers on the St. Louis Jewish Light Backyard Chickens, Part I: Animals in My House on The Jew and The Carrot More Nigel Savage Events on Boulder Jewish News Video Question of the Week #10 on Jewcology Question of the Week #11 on Jewcology

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zinkows

Riding for Peace and the Environment

by Misha Zinkow, Israel Rider, November 2010 On October 25, after bicycling from Jerusalem some 300 miles into the Negev and Sinai Deserts, 120 Hazon riders were rewarded with a stunning descent into Eilat, Israel’s southernmost point. Although the ride, the preparatory day and debriefing day spanned only 8 days, my journey in Israel included three Torah portions, Lech-lecha, Vayera and Chaye Sarah, and each parsha offered me a gift and an insight for the ride. Lech-lecha is the story of God’s challenge to Abraham to leave his hometown in Mesopotamia, embrace the radical theological notion that God is one, and to take that message west, all the way to the shores of the Mediterranean. The Torah portion begins with the words “Lech-lecha,” an unusual alliterative phraseology. (more…)

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Hazon in the News-January 2011

Blogs and Articles Food Conference Back at the Ranch: My Experience at the Hazon Food Conference on Pursue Hazon Food Conference Take 2 on Raw 9 Hazon: You Know It’s Crunchy When I’m the Cleanest Dude There on Frum Satire More from the Hazon Food Conference West on Jewschool From The Hazon Food Conference West Coast on Jewschool Hazon Food Conference 2010 on Jewish Food Alliance (reposted on Emory Hillel’s blog and on The Great Schnoz) Hazon Food Conference 2010 – Drash for Beshalach on Evenewra Brainsite Dan’s Refelections on the Food Conference: Making a Home on the Mountain on Ramah Outdoors Hazon Conference Focuses on Food and Torah in The Jewish Press [PDF] Tu B’Shvat Tu B’Shvat InterfaithFamily.com Tu B’Shvat: An Ancient Jewish Holy Day for Modern Environmentalists on The Huffington Post Tu B’Shvat and the Environment on the Makom blog at Haaretz Hazon Launches Tu B’Shvat Resource Website on Jewschool General What’s Cooking, Kosher-Wise? on Jewish Exponent Hazon: Organizational Values Reflected in Office Plans on Jewschool An eternal song: Debbie Friedman’s remarkable life and work remembered by Bay Area friends on JWeekly Canadian Co-Founds Jewish Environmental Web Portal on The Canadian Jewish News Jewcology.com- A New Online Hub for Jewish Environmentalists on Shalomlife Hazon’s Suggested Reading List at the Jewish Book Council Week in Review on Boulder Jewish News Growth Spurt: […]

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2011haggadahcover

Tu B’Shvat: From the 1600s to Today

As the largest Jewish environmental organization in the country, Hazon hopes you will celebrate the holiday of Tu B’Shvat as a Jewish Earth Day and use our website resources to rekindle or deepen your feelings of gratitude for the bounty of the earth and take more steps towards preserving our world. Tu B’Shvat begins sundown January 19th and we encourage you to hold a seder! In the Middle Ages, Tu B’Shvat was celebrated with a feast of fruits in keeping with the Mishnaic description of the holiday as a “New Year.” In the 1600s, the mystic kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria of Tzfat and his disciples instituted a Tu B’Shvat seder in which the fruits and trees of Israel were given symbolic meaning. The main idea was that eating ten specific fruits and drinking four cups of wine in a specific order while reciting the appropriate blessings would bring human beings, and the world, closer to spiritual perfection. The mystical kabbalistic Tu B’Shvat seder has been revived and is now celebrated by many Jews, religious and secular. Special haggadot have been written for this purpose, including our own. (more…)

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Hazon in the News-December 2011

Press Sustainability and Jewish Dietary Laws Presentation in Brandeis in Hillel Day School News Making Sustainable, DIY Hanukkah Lamps in The Olympian Sign Up Now For Local, Organic, Nutritious Vegetables at the J in Jewish St. Louis Hazon’s Guide to Healthy, Sustainable Chanukah Resources on JWeekly.com Registration Open for Hazon Bike Ride on JWeekly.com Registration Begins for 2012 Season of Hazon, JCC’s Organic Produce Program in St. Louis Jewish Light OKY Transitions into the New Year on Camp Newman Blog Osakis Is Stop on Cross-Country Bike Tour in Osakis Review Blogs Biking for the Environment in the Negev Desert in Travelujah Israel on Two Wheels on Jewschool CSA Webinar: A Delectable Success on Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism 8 Nights of Service: Green Your Hanukkah Celebration on Repair the World Add Meaning to Hanukkah This Year on Big Tent Judaism Healthy, Sustainable Hanukkah Resources on Temple Israel   Video How To Keep Your Tuchus Happy While Cycling

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Ramah Outdoor Adventure

‘Green From the Ground Up’: Changing Food at Jewish Summer Camp

Originally posted on The Jew and the Carrot By Eliav Bock In the spring of 2010, I wrote a blog about the food we would be serving at the new Ramah Outdoor Adventure, Camp Ramah in Colorado. As the only Kosher shomer Shabbat outdoor adventure camp in the county, and one of the few camps committed to being green from the ground up, we believe that it is imperative to make the food we eat fit in with the broader mission of our camp community. Several months after our inaugural summer and well into planning our next summer, we have had a chance to take a step back and evaluate the food program in the broader context of the mission of our camp. We were warned that many campers might not be willing to eat the healthy meals provided so our staff reached beyond the standard meals of kale and brown rice to dishes that you might find in a high-end vegetarian restaurant. The menu featured fresh, unprocessed, whole grain and organic food. We ate meals like carrot pancakes and yogurt for breakfast, vegetarian tacos with a tomato and tofu filling for lunch and wheat macaroni and cheese for dinner […]

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From the Daughter’s Perspective

For the past 38 years, my dad, Alan Finkelstein, has been an avid bicyclist. While I can’t say I share his passion for bicycling, I certainly look up to him not only for his athletic ability, but also for his ability to use his passion as a vehicle for charity. The first charity bike ride that he ever did was the MS 150: City to Shore, a 2-day bike ride supporting the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, in 1999. Prior to that, bicycling was just something he considered a hobby, but the minute he learned about the MS150 he not only signed up for the ride but researched how he could be further involved in the event.

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marcsoloway

Eat, Ride, Love – How It All Connects

Rabbi Marc Soloway recently completed the 300 mile bike ride from Jerusalem to Eilat as a participant in the 2010 Arava Institute & Hazon Israel Ride this past October. This year, he also serves as co-chair of the 2010 Hazon Food Conference West in December. He explains how they are both part of a greater movement and how that movement ties to our community. The exhilaration of riding 300 miles on a bike through the dramatically changing landscape of Israel, a region so full of depth, beauty, history, complexity and instability, has been one of the richest and most challenging experiences of my life. I have recently completed my second Hazon-Arava Israel Ride and the impact of this great adventure continues to stir me in so many ways. Beyond the physical demand and sense of achievement that comes with pedaling an average of 60 miles a day for five days, there is such a sense of awe and elation to being a participant in this tremendous partnership between two such inspirational institutions – Hazon and The Arava Institute. The magnificently managed ride is run by a combination of Hazon’s staff, and students, alumni and faculty from the Arava Institute. The […]

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Stretching Before Your Ride

Did you know that you can make your rides easier by stretching before you get on a bike? Stretching for 1-2 minutes for shorter rides and 5-10 for longer ones can help prevent injury as well as increase your efficiency.

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Rider Spotlight: Kristi Wivagg

While most of the riders had two wheels under them, one very special cyclist had three. Kristi Wivagg completed the 2010 Israel Ride on her recumbent trike. You could tell Kristi was coming from a mile away, not only because of her super-bike, but also her beaming smile–especially after descending into Makhtesh Ramon at 42 mph! At Kibbutz Ketura, after our fourth day of riding, I sat down with Kristi to talk about her motivation for coming on the Ride and more. Tell us about yourself. I’m coming from Boston. I have a husband, a 23 year old daughter, Sara, and a 16 year old son, Jesse. During the school year I’m a teacher at LaSalle College teaching writing and speech and drama, but of course not this fall. (more…)

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From Roosevelt Islander: Doctor Jack Resnick on the Ride

Roosevelt Island’s Doctor Jack Resnick is participating in his third 300-mile bicycle trek across Israel together with 130 other people. They are raising money to support the Arava Institute, an ecological educational institution in the Israeli desert that works to promote peace between Arabs and Jews. The Arava students are drawn from both populations and they spend a year living and studying together about protecting the environment. Doctor Resnick says that most importantly, the students learn how to live together.

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266 Miles Later: a Post-ride update

All in all, I did 266 miles, on my bike every step of the way that they had us do. I saw every kind of desert Israel has to offer–flat, hilly, mountainous; red, white, black; vegetated, bare–as well as the Mediterranean and Red Seas. If I had to offer some kind of concluding sentiment, it would be awe at the human body–the splendid machine that it is, and the way it can be pushed to do what might have otherwise seemed impossible.

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