Topic: Bay Area

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Hazon Bay Area: Thank you

We want to thank you and our incredible Bay Area community for supporting our regional office over the years. From 2006 – 2015, Hazon Bay Area has provided Jewish Outdoor Environmental Education (JOFEE) programs, thought leadership, and community partnerships to organizations and individuals in the region. Our work has included six annual Ride and Retreat weekends that welcomed over 340 riders and raised $560,000 to support our vision, mission and our mini-grant program, three Bay Area Food Conferences that reached more than 1,400 participants, piloted Home for Dinner, a synagogue-based family meals initiative, and much more. Over the past year, among other projects, we’ve developed and published Fit to Eat – Food Security and Justice Resource and Action Guide, a resource for Jewish institutions to self-organize actions that deepen and broaden efforts to create a more just, fair food system; launched and implemented a Shmita-inspired Do-It-Yourself (DIY) series for young adults; mobilized collaborative conversations around food security among area partner organizations, and provided seed funding for several food justice-inspired projects. Most recently, we held our 3rd annual Jewish Food Festival, Farm to Table: Eating for a Sustainable Future, at the Oshman Family JCC (OFJCC), a fun-filled afternoon of learning and […]

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Why I Ride

by “Super” Ben Rosenthal Reflections from a Golden Gate Rider The year was 1988. Long story short, I entered the Jewish environmental movement at an early age. Growing up in Takoma Park, Maryland, I rode frequently for pleasure, often with friends. In summer 1993, the year before I became Bar Mitzvah, my family rode in Cycle Across Maryland, a six-day, 300-mile adventure. Fast forward to 2000 when Hazon’s Cross-USA Ride arrived in D.C. My mom, De Fischler Herman, who has been the leading influence in my life of bicycling, was there to greet the riders. She then rode in the first New York Ride in 2001 and we both started riding with Hazon two years later. Why do I ride? Today, as much as possible, my bicycle is how I get around. It’s my primary form of transportation. I have not driven a car in over 15 years. In addition, it’s how I lend support to my community and show my commitment to the sustainable world we are building together. Falling in Love It was 2003, shortly after I graduated from Ithaca College, that Mom and I started participating in Hazon New York Rides together. So began a new generation […]

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Hazon Bay Area Awards Food Justice Mini Grants

The United States’ industrial-based food system does not give equal access to healthy, nourishing food. Jewish tradition, firmly rooted in texts from the Torah, sees a direct connection between social justice, sustainable agriculture, and a call to action by interfaith partners. Hazon stands at the forefront of the New Jewish Food Movement, which incorporates multiple entries into the food justice movement through a Jewish lens. Hazon is expanding our impact on the entire Jewish sustainable food movement, bringing issues of affordability, labor practices, and access to healthy, sustainable food to the forefront of the consciousness of all who are working to improve our food systems. As part of Hazon’s capacity-building efforts, supporting great people and projects in North America and Israel, Hazon is pleased to announce Mini Grant awards to five Bay Area non-profit organizations who participated in Hazon Bay Area’s Interfaith Food Justice Convening held in October 2013. Thanks to the generous support of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, Hazon Bay Area has allocated a total of $7500 to projects that seek to develop innovative approaches to increasing healthy food access while expanding opportunities for faith communities to engage with food justice advocacy, organizing, and education. ​Food Justice […]

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