D’var Torah: Tu B’Shevat 5773 – Assiyah
January 30, 2013
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The following is a brief D'var Torah I gave at Anshei S'fard Kehillat Torah's Tu B'Shevat Seder in Milwaukee.
The following is a brief D'var Torah I gave at Anshei S'fard Kehillat Torah's Tu B'Shevat Seder in Milwaukee.
What would you do? What lessons are you teaching/ role modeling? 1. The magic of a bonfire in a fire pit? and carbon emissions or 2. Visit a solar panel energy factory? and carbon emissions from the bus getting you there? Please share your thoughts! Pam
Chaverim, I'm reaching out to all of you who are engaged successfully with Jews in their late 20's and early 30's. Please share what is enticing to this group in terms of Jewish environmental learning, action and activism? What works? What doesn't work? Thanks so much! Pam
As a child at Sukkot I recall my beloved Zaide Shaya Yosef Z”L eating meals and sleeping in the simple Sukkah behind his house. Zaide was a pious Jew who left his Polish shtetl, Checiny, in order to bring his wife and children to a better life in Canada. Stories my mother tells about Checiny describe a home not much more secure than Zaide’s fragile Sukkah. Access to food, especially fresh produce, was limited. The family was often hungry and malnourished. I wonder what Zaide thought and felt as he celebrated Z’man Simchateinu, the “season of our rejoicing,” and the harvest festival Chag Ha-Asif, the “festival of the ingathering,” in his sukkah. Did Sukkot also remind him of his family’s struggle to survive in Poland? Did he think of the times when he did not have the means to secure sufficient food for his family? Was he reassured that he had made the correct decision to bring stability to his family in a new country? Was this Zaide’s way of bridging the gap between the historical and the agricultural observance of Sukkot and his present reality? How can we bring a modern contextual observance to our experience of Sukkot? Fifty-two million Americans, or almost twice the population of Canada, live food insecure lives. They do not have access to adequate nutrition to meet their basic food needs due to a lack of financial resources. How can we make meaning of our sense of insecurity dwelling in temporary shelters during the Sukkot harvest festival? We can start by helping to reduce food insecurity experienced by one in six who live amongst us. Donate your surplus garden harvest, excess food, a portion of your groceries, or the harvest of your apple picking to a local food bank, meal site, or food pantry. Volunteer to bring and serve food at a meal site. Sukkot provides an ideal opportunity to rally as a community to reduce food insecurity in our midst. As we wave the Four Species or Arba’at Ha-Minim, this Sukkot, may we open our hearts represented by the Etrog, or citron, and be righteous as the Lulav, or date palm frond, in order to create a more just food system. Zaide would remind us of Leviticus 19:16: “Do not stand idly by while your neighbor bleeds.” Pam Frydman-Roza is food justice coordinator of TIkkun Ha-Ir of Milwaukee. This growing season its Surplus Garden Harvest project collected and donated over 5,000 pounds of organic produce to Milwaukee food banks, meal sites and food pantries.
I am at the halfway point of the one week Fighting Poverty with Faith Food Stamp Challenge. My personal challenge has been to spend the allotted $1.50/meal but with a twist: to eat organically. There is method to my madness. My understanding is that 46 million Americans live on Food Stamps to ‘supplement’ their nutritional needs. I imagine that many of these 15% of Americans live food insecure lives. This means that the availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or the ability to acquire acceptable food in socially acceptable ways are limited or uncertain. My goals in taking the challenge were to raise awareness about and advocate for those who must live on Food Stamps. Have I moved towards meeting those goals in a short 4 days? Yes. Why eat organic? It is much healthier than a typical high carb food stamp diet. Eating organically also supports the sustainability of our earth. Fortunately there are national projects that support this thinking. Will Allen’s Growing Power in Milwaukee promotes food security in the middle of an urban desert. Fair Food Network’s Double Up Food Bucks allows Detroit SNAP recipients to double the value of their benefits by simply buying Michigan-grown fruits and veggies at local farmer’s markets. (Visit the USDA Farmers Market Search to find farmer’s markets that accept SNAP benefits!) NYC based Snap Gardens.org helps those on SNAP purchase food-producing plants and seeds so they can grow their own food. Advocacy? Our national Farm Bill which is put into law every five years affects dairy policy, farm subsidies and nutrition programs like SNAP. According to recent media reports, the next Farm Bill is presently being deliberated by the House and Senate agriculture committees behind closed doors. Why is this the case? Why is it apparently being decided as quickly as possible? Contact your local legislative members to find out more and advocate on behalf of a fair Farm Bill that benefits your region! “If you offer your compassion to the hungry and satisfy the famished creature, then shall your light shine in darkness.” – Isaiah 58:10 (Pam is Food Justice Coordinator of Tikkun Ha-Ir of Milwaukee. This season we have donated over 5,000 pounds of organic produce to local food banks, meal sites and food pantries.)
Join me for the 4th annual Fighting Poverty with Faith mobilization this week by taking the Food Stamp Challenge from Thursday, October 27th through Thursday November 3rd. The challenge is to limit yourself to a food budget of $31.50/week, $4.50/day or $1.50/meal. This is the average amount allotted a person who qualifies to receive food stamps. Almost 46 million or 15% of Americans live on food stamps or SNAP. I imagine that many are hungry, undernourished and live food insecure lives. Food insecurity exists when the availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or the ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways is limited or uncertain. Living on food stamps forces people to make unhealthy food choices (cheap carbs rather than more expensive fresh fruits and veggies). Poor food choices often lead to serious health problems like obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. How does this affect learning in schools and productivity in the workplace? I don’t need to live on SNAP or food stamps. By making this choice for just one week and inviting others to join, I hope to raise awareness and advocate for those who have no choice. How can we change a food system that is clearly not working for 15% of our population? How do we create food security or having enough food to lead an active, healthy life where food insecurity presently exists? How do we right what is not just? Experience, even as brief as a week can raise awareness and lead to advocacy. Please join me and invite others to take the Food Stamp Challenge this week! Babylonian Talmud, Hagigah 12b Rabbi Yossi said: Alas for people who see but know not what they see and for people who stand but know not on what they stand.
Jewcology's intensive one day "Connecting to the Heart Public Narrative Training" in June helped me formulate the following narrative to share my ideas, emotions and move others to act. "My mother Rose immigrated to Canada in the 1930's from a shtetl called Checiny. As a child in Poland she was often hungry and malnourished. She did however remember with delight receiving an apple as a special treat at Chanukah. 'Poor mom,' I must have thought. 'I get Gelt, chocolate and all kinds of stuff to help celebrate the Festival of Lights and she just got an apple.' An apple or any nutritious food was something I took for granted as a child. What did Rose mean when she said she was hungry and malnourished? I was hungry when I had a craving for something sweet like ice cream or when dinner was a little late. Perhaps the closest I get to being 'hungry' today is when I fast at Yom Kippur. But is that really hunger? Let's fast forward to the present. Rose is a lucid, feisty centenarian living in a world abounding in fresh fruits and vegetables – for some but not all. Sadly because of denture issues she can no longer bite into the flesh of a crisp apple. But Rose never forgot the sweet Chanukah apple or that she was once hungry. Today at the nursing home where she lives she advocates for the other residents. She is angry when others are not treated with dignity, especially at mealtimes when they have difficulty feeding themselves. Rose also cares about the birds she shares her morning carrot muffin with in the garden outside. She's convinced that they prefer muffins over plain bread because they are sweeter. Who am I to disagree? Rose practiced Baal Tashchit (do not waste) especially with regard to food when I was a child and this embarrassed me. I lived in a culture of abundance so why did she have to worry about wasted food? But now I admire and try to emulate her behavior. I think I finally 'get' the apple story she used to tell me. Perhaps this is why I have a vegetable garden, am a member of a CSA, love to eat and share nutritious food and coordinate a successful food justice program that provides fresh produce for those in need. One in six people in the US are hungry. Imagine if everyone reading this blog were to donate an apple a day for a month or a year to a local food pantry starting this Rosh Hashanah! By performing this simple act of Tikkun Olam we help reduce hunger in our communities.Better yet, why not teach a person in need to grow their own food? This year as we fast at Yom Kippur let's reflect on the Roses in our communities. Let's say a bracha when we end our fast before we take that first bite of food that nourishes our body and soul. Consider what we can do as individuals and communities to alleviate hunger in our midst this coming New Year and every year!" (The next Jewcology Narrative Leadership Training takes place at Hazon's Food Conference on August 21st. See Evonne's post for details.)
