368 results for tag: Food Justice

Connections Between Chanukah and Vegetarianism

Chanukah and Vegetarianism While few people associate Chanukah with vegetarianism, there are many connections between plant-based diets and the Festival of Lights: Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D. 1. According to the Book of Maccabees, some Maccabees lived on plant foods to "avoid being polluted like the rest" by eating non-kosher foods, when they hid in the mountains to avoid capture. 2. The foods associated with Channukah, latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (fried donuts) are vegetarian foods, and the oils that are used in their preparation are a reminder of the oil used in the lighting of the Menorah in the rededication of the ...

The Torah Verse That Turned Two Meat-Eaters into Beet-Eaters

You don’t need to unfurl the Torah scroll too much, or turn too many pages in your Bible, to find the foundational verses of religion-based vegetarianism. It’s right there in the opening chapter of Genesis. Discovering this changed The Beet-Eating Heeb’s life and the life of Wife of BEH, too. Their discovery occurred on Rosh Hashanah morning, 5766, when The Beet-Eating Heebs were still meat-eating Heebs. The morning’s service had plodded along for two hours or so when the Torah was taken from the Ark to be read. At this point, many of our fellow congregants weighed two options: Head to the ...

MIRACULOUSLY STRETCHING THE OIL: CHANUKAH AND VEGETARIANISM

The Jewish festival of Chanukah commemorates the miracle of the oil that was enough for only one day, but miraculously lasted for eight days in the liberated Temple in Jerusalem. Hence, this holiday is a good time to consider our own use of fuel and other resources. Like Chanukah’s miraculous extension of scarce resources, vegetarianism also allows the increasingly scarce resources of our contemporary world to go much further. This is no trivial matter, since it is expected that many future conflicts between nations will involve scarcities of oil, water and other resources. Seeing that the Hebrew words for bread (lechem) and war (milchamah) come ...

Jacob’s Lentil Stew MMMMM…..

Winter is around the corner. Along with it comes the relatively colder air (we are in Beersheba), and relative rain (again, Beersheba). Nonetheless, the winter plantings have begun. It is a fantastic time of year where the Earth somehow can tell; you are really craving a warm bowl of veggie soup. Of course there are all of the tubers and roots, like potatoes, carrots, radish , onions, and garlic. Then there are the leaves and stalk such as celery, parsley, and cilantro. Don’t forget beans and lentils are also winter crop varieties. The Torah is also in line with the natural rhythms of life including the seasons of the year. In the Parsha ...

Seed Sovereignty, Tikkun Olam, and Gardening at Home

And God said: "Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree that has seed-yielding fruit — to you it shall be for food." Gen. 1:29 So, this is our (Pushing the Envelope Farm’s) first posting on Jewcology. Woo-hoo! In honor of this, I thought that I would begin at the beginning: a seed. This month at the farm, we’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be food independent. There was a talk at the Great Lakes Bioneers by Dr. Vandana Shiva. She’s a remarkable woman who has received the alternate Noble Peace Prize (the Right Livelihood ...

Meet and Greet The Beet-Eating Heeb

The Beet-Eating Heeb is here to save the day! Or at least to fill a void. Blogs devoted to vegan and vegetarian Judaism have all but vanished. Consider: Heeb ‘n’ Vegan, once a thriving place in cyberspace, hung an “out-of-business” on its door in 2010. Shalom Veg, another favorite of meat-abstaining Jews, has gone months without posting new content. The last thing the world needs is another blog. Except in this case. As interest in all things vegan and vegetarian continues to grow, the Beet-Eating Heeb (BEH for short) has plenty of information to share, issues to discuss, and people to intervi...

Darkness Upon the Face of the Deep

Darkness upon the Face of the Deep –חשך על פני תהום Rabbi Ed Rosenthal “In the Beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was null and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God hovered on the surface of the water.” (Gen.1:1-2). While we are taught that God is omnipresent and there is no place where the Divine presence does not dwell; there are few places that evoke a spiritual experience or a connection with the Divine more surely than the surface of water. Stand on a beach and look out to the endless expanse of the sea, and we feel ...

New Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment Materials Released!

The thirteenth topic in the Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment, We are How We Eat: A Jewish Approach to Food and Sustainability released! Rebbe Nachman of Breslov identifies the desire for food and drink as the central desire of the human being, and the one from which other desires emanate. In Rabbi Tzadok Hacohen’s “A Treatise on Eating,” he cites the mystical book of theZohar, which calls the moment of eating “the time of combat.” This is because in eating a Jew must engage in the spiritual fight to ensure the act is aholy one. See all We are How We Eat: A Jewish Approach to ...

Immediate Action Required! Call your Senator for a Just Farm Bill!

As we speak, the Senate is debating the contents of the Farm Bill, which will substantially affect the next five years of US food policy. It is upon us to call our Senators and let them know that as Jews, we and our organizations support Farm Bill legislation that: reduces hunger and improves nutrition in the United States. promotes conservation and proper stewardship of the land. enables farmers in both the United States and the developing world to earn sustainable livelihoods. Every call makes a tremendous difference! The Jewish Farm Bill Working Group just delivered a petition of 18,000 signatures for a ...

Jewish Farm School Launches College Accredited Experiential Learning

The Jewish Farm School and Hebrew College are partnering to offer you a weeklong, intensive course exploring the intersection of Judaism, agriculture and contemporary food justice. In this week-long, service learning experience, participants will explore the relationship between Judaism, agriculture and contemporary food justice issues. This unique seminar will include farm work, text study and meetings with activists, community leaders, and business people. On the farm, you will gain hands-on experience in sustainable agriculture techniques such as planting, harvesting and soil building. In the bet midrash (study hall), you will explore a ...

Genetically Modified Plants To Resist Intense Drought

By David Allouche, NoCamels Photo by Gates Foundation Israeli agro-biotechnology company, Rosetta Green, has developed a new technology to develop plants that are better able to withstand prolonged periods of severe drought. The company aims to develop new plant varieties resistant to harsh climatic condition, maintaining an increased yield. The company, based in Rehovot, Israel, experimented on tobacco plants that were irrigated with seawater instead of freshwater. The genetically modified plants created by the company were able to grow under seawater irrigation, as opposed to the control group of plants. According to the company...

Third Annual MLK Weekend Food Justice Symposium “From Plant to Plate – Grow Local As Social Action”

After a year in which the KAM Isaiah Israel Congregation Social Justice Committee grew, harvested and donated over a ton of organic produce and garnered three awards, they will honor the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. with a weekend long education and advocacy program focused on food justice and sustainability January 13th - 15th, 2012. Among the highlights are a Friday night service, a Saturday panel discussion and Sunday workshops on local food production and urban ecology. All events are held at KAMII at 1100 East Hyde Park Boulevard and are free and open to the public. Leading off the weekend, during services ...

Jewish Urban Farming Internship

Urban Adamah, based in Berkeley, CA, is a three-month intensive residential leadership training program for young adults ages 20-29, that integrates urban organic farming, social justice work and progressive Jewish living and learning. Twelve Urban Adamah Fellows are selected each season to operate an organic farm and educational center, intern with community organizations addressing issues at the intersection of poverty, food security and environmental stewardship, and learn an approach to Jewish tradition that opens the heart and builds joyful community. Applicants do not need any farming for Jewish knowledge to participate. Fellows come from a ...

Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment

Core teachings on 18 topics linking Torah and the environment were released between Tu b'Shevat 5772 and Tu b'Shevat 5773 as part of Jewcology's Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment, in partnership with Canfei Nesharim and a host of other organizations who shared materials across the Jewish community. The materials were shared at least 145 times on the web, in at least 99 social media postings, and reached over 51,000 people during the course of the year, as part of a Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment. The materials comprise the most comprehensive set of learning materials on Torah and the environment ever created, and are intended ...

My Zaide, Sukkot and Food Insecurity

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 ...

Halfway Through the Food Stamp Challenge

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 ...

Take the Food Stamp Challenge!

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 ...

Where Is Our Revolution? A Call for a North American Sustainable Spring!

Spring is in the air. The youth and working class of Egypt and Tunisia have overthrown their repressive regimes while Syria, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and other Arab nations are experiencing civil unrest. In Europe, a focus on economic austerity at the expense of the youth and working class has led to clashes in France and Greece. Indigenous peoples of Bolivia, Peru and other South American countries have been working to block mining, drilling and transportation across the Andes and Amazon basin. In these parts of the world, citizens have begun to recognize their collective power, and they are showing their deep distress at the status quo. ...

Hazon’s Kosher Meat Survey: We Want to Hear from You!

At the 2006 Hazon Food Conference, we posed two key questions: 1. If you’re a meat eater, would you continue to eat meat if you had to kill it yourself? And 2. If you don’t currently eat meat, but could be involved in the process of raising and slaughtering the animal, would you? People's responses varied, but it was clear that the issue was important to nearly everyone in the room. Since 2006, the world of kosher sustainable meat has seen the Agriprocessors scandal, the rise of several kosher sustainable meat businesses and hands-on kosher slaugher educational events across the country, and Hazon has worked steadily to support ...

Environmental Tip of the Week: Buy organic food!

Cross posted on Foodiscovery and Environmental Tip of the Week Yes, it tends to be more expensive but organic growing practices are much better for the environment, and for health as well. Of course, the environment and health are connected. Folks, I just learned that workers at non-organic ("conventional") farms have died due to constant exposure to chemicals! Have a look at this discussion on Facebook for more information, websites to look at, etc. Where to buy organic food? A lot of regular grocery stores, like my QFC at University Village, now carry some. You can also check out Whole Foods if there's one near you. ...