2014 fc program book spreads

Hazon and the New Jewish Food Movement

Welcome to the Food Conference!

As Jews, we’ve been thinking about kashrut – about what is “fit” to eat – for nearly 3,000 years. And a growing number of people today realize that our food choices have significant ramifications – for ourselves, our families, and the world around us.

Hazon stands at the forefront of a new Jewish Food Movement, leading Jews to think more broadly and deeply about our food choices. We’re using food as a platform to create innovative Jewish educational programs to touch people’s lives directly, to strengthen Jewish institutions, and, in the broadest sense, to create healthier, richer and more sustainable Jewish communities.

We invite you to learn more about the programs we offer, and we encourage you to learn about the other great organizations in this field, many of whom are represented at this conference.

Hazon CSA Program Community-Supported Agriculture connects communities to a local farm, providing seasonal produce to members and steady income to the farmer. Now at 68 sites.

Home for Dinner Middle-school program that uses family dinners as a strategy to reclaim and strengthen Jewish family life. Piloting in 17 schools in New York City, Boulder, Denver, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Adamah An organic farming fellowship for Jews in their 20s to early 30s, Adamah cultivates the soil and the soul to produce food, to build and transform identities, and to gather a community of people changing the world.

Hazon Shmita Sourcebook A 60-page sourcebook tracking the evolution of shmita through Jewish texts from ancient times to today.

Israel Sustainable Food Tour A week-long tour to explore the food movement in Israel, held in conjunction with the Heschel Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership.

Hazon Food Conference The annual gathering of the New Jewish Food Movement!

Join chefs, educators, rabbis, and foodies to learn about social justice, food ethics, Jewish values, and more.

Jewish Greening Fellowship The Jewish Greening Fellowship strengthens Jewish education and identity through mobilizing responses to climate change.

Informed by Jewish values of stewardship, JGF organizations engage in Jewish environmental education, reduce waste, and become more energy efficient.

Fit to Eat: Food Security & Justice Resource Action Guide Fit to Eat is a resource for Jewish institutions to self-organize actions that deepen and broaden hunger-relief efforts in order to create a more just, fair food system, all through a Jewish lens.

Food for Thought A 130-page sourcebook that draws on texts from within and beyond Jewish traditions to explore a range of topics relating to Jews and food.

Healthy and Sustainable Shabbat and Holiday Guides Celebrate the Jewish holidays in line with your values. Inspire a theme for a holiday, an activity for your family, or an event for your community.

Tu B’Shvat Seder and Sourcebook We have completely reimagined the Tu B’Shvat haggadah, bringing in new texts, discussion questions, and activities to bring this ancient holiday into your home.

Setting the Table Cooking classes for new and expectant parents that gives parents tools to strengthen Jewish life as their family grows.

Min Ha’Aretz Curriculum for students grades 5-9 to explore the relationship between Jewish texts, traditions, and practices and the food we eat. Includes classroom and family programs.

Jewish Food Education Network A portal for educators to connect, share, and learn from each other with the help of Hazon’s innovative food education resources and support.

Teva Shomrei Adamah (Guardians of the Earth) is Teva’s flagship program. Designed for fifth and sixth grade students, it integrates outdoor environmental education with Jewish concepts and values through exciting hands-on activities in a cooperative residential setting.

Hazon Food Guide and Audit A 7-chapter, easy-to-use assessment tool that helps you to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your institution’s food practices and develop an action plan to make your institution healthier and more sustainable.

Institutional Food Values We have developed a list of food values that we strive to reach when we are planning food at all Hazon events, programs, and meetings. We hope that these values and reports of putting the values in action will inspire your community to take further steps to make healthier and more sustainable choices.

Kosher Sustainable Meat What should “Kosher Meat” mean in the 21st century? Where is the intersection between kashrut laws, Jewish business ethics, and our modern, Jewish, environmental values? Find resources and purveyors on our website.

Shmita Project Shmita is the Biblically mandated ‘Sabbatical Year’ of rest and release, when agriculture and commerce were simultaneously re-adjusted to enable a more equitable, just and healthy society, economy and environment. Learn about Shmita and how to take action in your community.

Growing the Field Hazon is involved in supporting a review of the impact of Jewish outdoor food and environmental education programs.

This study, acronym, and the JOFEE itself, are helping to raise awareness about this work in the broader community.

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Dear Friends, In late summer of 2003, I quit my job in Manhattan to move to Isabella Freedman and work as as a Jewish environmental educator with Teva. We taught about spiritual connection in nature, the interconnectedness of life, and the Jewish value of bal tashchit, not wasting. At each meal, we were careful to only take what we thought we could eat and we weighed what was left. While we occasionally talked about using less packaging and growing organically, we knew that it was only a matter of time that we would need to take the big next step.

In order to really think carefully about the source of our food, we would need to start to grow our own vegetables and raise our own chickens, right here at Isabella Freedman.

Seven years later, I returned to Falls Village as the Adamah Associate Director. As a Jewish food educator, I am always surprised to see how a people with such strong values for social justice still haven’t fully investigated the source of their food. The Hazon Food Conference – now taking place annually here at Isabella Freedman, the home of Adamah farm – is the ultimate gateway toward deeper understanding about our food.

here’s the vision: Poultry, Pollinators & Policy are three essential aspects of our food system that most of us take for granted – and know very little about. And yet these three things have major impacts on our food sourcing, quality, pricing... everything.

At this year’s conference, you’ll be making vegan challah one minute and rich chocolate mousse with egg yolks the next. You’ll get to see inside a beehive and taste honey with a honey sommelier. You’ll taste the most old-fashioned chicken soup since before World War II and even acquire health secrets of bone broth. Activists and farmers will tell true stories about working conditions on farms, corporate social responsibility, and current campaigns that you can join in on. And of course, we’ll discover how ancient Jewish texts inform our modern values at every step of the way.

Plus, as we count down to New Year’s Eve, you’ll contra dance the night away with a new partner every round, while sipping sweet fruit mead or a crisp local beer. I look forward to swinging with you on the dance floor and toasting at midnight!

Blessings for the new year,

So many have asked, why this theme? How do “Poultry, Pollinators and Policy” make a food conference? (And what about pickles? Pickles start with a “p”!)

First of all, don’t worry! We will be having pickling as part of the DIY fair on Monday night and of course many jars of pickles to purchase on your way home. Second,

Sarah Chandler Director of Earth-Based Spiritual Practice Food Conference Program Director

The goals of the Food Conference are to: ✓ Think: Encourage participants to think more deeply

and broadly about their food choices, food systems –including issues of food access and affordability– and the connection of contemporary food issues to Jewish tradition and texts.

✓ Connect: Build a Jewish community and a Jewish

food movement by providing a model of a vibrant, joyful Jewish life that connects Jewish tradition, learning and spirituality with sustainable, healthful food practices.

✓ Inspire: Convey a sense of energy, importance and

enjoyment to inspire positive change around food issues and Jewish tradition so that participants who

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are more familiar with contemporary food issues see the Jewish connections, and Jewishly-knowledgeable participants explore contemporary food issues locally and nationally. ✓ Strengthen: Build leadership capacity by

supporting volunteers to help create change in their own communities.

✓ Act: Create change agents to speed the velocity of

best practices and action in Jewish homes, institutions, and communities, and the world as a whole.

✓ Dig in: Join this powerful Jewish Food Movement

that works to create healthy and sustainable communities in the Jewish world and beyond.

December 29, 2014 – January 1, 2015 • 3

About Hazon As we enter 2015, these are some of the current foci of our work:

JEWISH INSPIRATION. SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES.

Transformative Experiences • Retreats at Isabella Freedman, on all of the Jewish holidays, plus silent meditation retreats, Blues For Challah, LGBT programming, and others.

• Multi-day food programs, including the Hazon Food Conference and the Hazon Israel Sustainable Food Tour

The word hazon means vision.

We work to create a healthier and more sustainable Jewish community, and a healthier and more sustainable world for all.

Our motto is “the Torah is a commentary on the world, and the world is a commentary on the Torah,” which reflects our determination to apply Jewish thought to some of the greatest challenges of our time – and our belief that the act of doing so is good not only for the world, but also for the renewal of Jewish life itself.

We effect change in three ways: Through transformative experiences such as immersive multi-day programs that directly touch people’s lives in powerful ways; Through thought-leadership that is changing the world through the power of new ideas and fresh thinking. We include in this category writing, teaching, curriculum-development and advocacy, amongst other things; And through capacity-building, which means not just working with people as individuals, but explicitly supporting and networking great projects and partners in North America and Israel.

We were founded in 2000 and we have grown every year since, by pretty much all metrics. We are based in New York City and at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Falls Village, CT, and we have staff in San Francisco, San Diego, Boulder, Denver and Philadelphia. We welcome participants of all religious backgrounds and none, and we work closely with a wide range of institutions and leaders across the Jewish world. If you’re interested in talking to us about how we might work together in the future – and especially about how we might be of use in your community – please be in touch.

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• Multi-day bike rides, including our New York, California, and Israel Rides • Teva Retreats for middle-schoolers • The 3-month Adamah program, for 20-somethings • Our Intentional Communities Conference

Thought–Leadership • The JOFEE Report. JOFEE stands for “Jewish Outdoor, Food, and Environmental Education.” The JOFEE Report – which came out in 2014 – is intended to foster a conversation about how we strengthen Jewish life, and create a more sustainable world for all, by developing the JOFEE field in the next decade and beyond

including curricula materials for adults and kids and JFEN, the Jewish Food Education Network • Our blog, the Jew and the Carrot

• Resources on Jews, Food, and Contemporary Issues,

• Weekly emails and speaking and teaching that we do throughout the year

• New resources on shmita – the sabbatical year in Jewish life

Capacity–Building • Our local and regional staff are working closely with a range of institutions and leaders to support and strengthen Jewish life, including by launching a series of one-day Jewish Food Festivals around the country, and by utilizing our Food Audit Toolkit and Food Guide in Jewish institutions • The Hazon CSA Network is the largest faith-based network of Community-Supported Agriculture projects in North America • We give out mini-grants to support the JOFEE field

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• We’re planning to do more work to develop a JOFEE network, and we’re particularly interested in supporting and networking alumni of Adamah, Teva, Urban Adamah and other immersive JOFEE programs • Our Siach network helps to strengthen Israel-diaspora working relationships in relation to shmita, intentional communities, and sustainable food systems • Through fiscal sponsorship and Makom Hadash we help to incubate, house, and network great young organizations in the Jewish world

December 29, 2014 – January 1, 2015 • 5

2022 Vision: 7-Year Goals for the Jewish Food Movement Looking Back and Looking Forward Leading up to our second Jewish Food Conference, in December 2007, a few of us wrote a first-draft of “7-year goals for the Jewish Food Movement.” These were then publicly amended, and they were published in the fall of 2008 – at the start of the 7-year shmita cycle in Jewish life. One of the original goals was indeed that we would “consciously prepare for the next shmita year.” Now we’re in that seventh year, and so it’s now time to look back at the last cycle, and time also to start visioning for the next seven years. Below is a brief synopsis of where we are 7 years later and a draft of the next “7-year goals for the Jewish Food Movement September 2022”. Please email your comments, questions, or suggestions to foodeducation@hazon.org.

Looking Back – 2007 In 2007 there were fewer than 10 Jewish CSAs; today there are more than 60 in Hazon’s CSA network alone, now the largest faith-based CSA network in North America. Our very first – the Tuv Ha’Aretz at Ansche Chesed in Manhattan, launched in 2004 - is still going strong, and the farm we partnered with for what was their first CSA is now supported by a large number of CSAs in the region.

In 2007 we were hosting only our second Jewish Food Conference. Our vision for 2014 was that 2,000 people would be attending it. We failed in that goal – but in a very fascinating way. It gradually became clear that the barriers to entry in relation to the Jewish Food Conference were not inconsiderable, in time and money and location – and halfway through the cycle we decided also to launch a series of local Jewish Food Festivals. We were inspired by Gefiltefest, in London; they, in turn, had been inspired by our Food Conference. Today we’re going into our 11th Jewish Food Conference; and there are also now Jewish Food Festivals in Boston, Denver, London, Palo Alto, Philadelphia and San Diego.

In 2007, the year when we first schechted [slaughtered] three goats at our Food Conference, the Agriprocessors plant in Postville Iowa was still open – and Grow & Behold, KOL Foods and other local ethical kosher meat producers had not yet been envisaged.

In 2007 Adamah was just three years old. Urban Adamah hadn’t been founded. Kosher Nation and Soil and Sacrament hadn’t been published. Artisanal and sustainability-focused Jewish food businesses and restaurants weren’t yet launched. That was the year we first talked about putting the Farm Bill on the agenda of the Jewish community - the Jewish Working Group on the Farm Bill was a few years away. We hadn’t yet produced – or imagined – an Israel Sustainable Food Tour.

The story of the last seven years is a fascinating study in the interplay between ideas and action; between organizations and individuals (and individuals within organizations); between planning and serendipity. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? It is an endless regression backwards, but it plays forwards with choice and volition: what do I decide to do or not do, this coming year? Which book do I read, which conference do I attend, which vision do I choose to try to bring to fruition?

These are some of the key framing questions: How, by September 2022, will our relationship to food have helped to create a more sustainable world for all?

How will our relationship to food have strengthened Jewish life,

or deepened the relationship between Israeli and diaspora Jews, or helped to build interfaith partnerships in this country?

Which existing ideas or projects need to be strengthened?

What new ideas or projects need to come to fruition?

2022 Vision: Draft 7-Year Goals for the Jewish Food Movement for September 2022, at the end of the next shmita cycle in Jewish life.

By 2022, we hope for – and intend to work for • An American Jewish community that is measurably healthier and more sustainable; • An American Jewish community that is demonstrably playing a role in making the world healthier and more sustainable for all; • An American Jewish community in which Jewish life has been strengthened and renewed by the work of the Jewish food movement; And these are some specific goals. Note that some of these represent building on what is clearly already underway; some represent new focus or inflection; and one or two are quite new.

By 2022, there should be: Stronger relationships connecting the food system to Jewish life, and vice versa. We need to build connections and relationships between farmers, farm workers, consumers, distributors, rabbis, Jewish leaders, business leaders and other faith leaders, among others. There should be more Jewish farmers, more Jewish CSAs, farmers markets at our synagogues and JCCs, local food sourced by Jewish summer camps should all continue to expand.

Deeper and more extensive interfaith work. This is a time of friction in American life; and also a time of great opportunity. What we first conceived as “the Jewish food movement” has gradually taken its place – to some extent a leading or pathbreaking place – in what may now be thought of as “the faith-based food movement.” The next seven years offers an opportunity to build relationships with other faith communities through the prism of food, both nationally and locally. Wouldn’t it be cool if, by 2022, it were clear that a/ food was strengthening the relationships between different faith and ethnic communities? b/ that faith communities and ethnic communities were strengthening food systems in this country?

And c/ that the Jewish Food Movement had played a significant and catalytic role in helping all of this to happen?

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Clear recognition that JOFEE – Jewish Outdoor, Food & Environmental Education – is a vital discipline in strengthening Jewish life. That in turn will involve a strong and growing network of JOFEE- certified educators and JOFEE program alumni, and mechanisms for JOFEE leaders to interact with each other and with other key Jewish institutional leaders. There should be a growing number of JOFEE educators working with schools, synagogues, JCCs, and camps to integrate teachings about food in relation to health, ethics, Jewish tradition, and Jewish history. That in turn should lead to more synagogue gardens; taking students out of the classroom and into the forest; baking challah in Hebrew school; students conducting Food Audits at their synagogues; and so on. These activities should be seen not as niche programs but as core to how we transmit Jewish values into practice. JOFEE leaders should have a significant voice at major annual or biennial gatherings of the American Jewish community – the GA, JFN Conference, RA, RRA, URJ, etc.

More Jewish farmers and more sharing of Jewish farming wisdom. By 2022 Adamah, Urban Adamah, Pearlstone, Amir, the Jewish Farm School and other equivalent programs should continue to grow and strengthen - providing handson knowledge about food, farming and Jewish tradition, and equipping young adults to move on to become leaders and role models within American Jewish life and in the wider Food Movement.

Taking on sugar as an issue. Sugar consumption has grown immeasurably in the last 40 years, and this is doing immense damage to our health. Here’s a factsheet from the Harvard School of Public Health providing some stark statistics. By 2022 we should have started to take on sugar as a significant issue in Jewish life: raising questions about the sugar we serve in Jewish institutions; connecting diabetes campaigns in Israel and the US; and having the Jewish community take a lead-role in allying with other faith-communities to start to challenge the ubiquity of sugar.

A related topic: Healthier choices should become the easier choices in Jewish life. By reducing the amount of sugar, processed food and heavily packaged food that we serve during kiddush or at our organization’s meetings, by removing bottles of soda and other sweetened beverages from our tables, and by increasing the selection of seasonal, fresh fruit and vegetables we serve at our functions, we should be making it easier for everyone to fuel their body and minds for health and wellness. Our motto should simply be “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” (Michael Pollan.)

American Jews will eat less meat and fewer animal products generally. The meat that we do eat should be from animals that have lived animal-like lives; animals that have eaten foods those animals traditionally eat; animals that have lived within mixed-use farms; and animals whose deaths have been consonant with the highest standards of shechitah and of Jewish ethics. Sales of ethical, local kosher meat should continue to grow as a proportion of kosher meat sales.

American Jews will engage seriously in issues of food security and hunger. The Jewish Working Group on the Farm Bill could/should become a platform for a wider and more sustained push for civic advocacy. As a community we should #foodconference

be supporting organizations like AJWS, Challah for Hunger and Mazon, so that American Jews are raising and donating more dollars to help people directly in need. And programs like Double Up Bucks should get the support of the Jewish community so that more low-income people can use their SNAP dollars to access more local produce. As a community we should be working with others to support those whose disadvantage is invisibly connected to our own food choices: low-wage farm workers, processing/packing house workers, truckers, hospitality/restaurant/hotel workers, etc.

We will re-learn the old rhythms of simplicity and feasting.

If we’re successful, we hope that American Jews will be a role model to other communities in celebrating Shabbat and holidays – Jewish and secular, national and personal – with great joy, gatherings, song and wonderful feasts; and that during the other six days of the week we’ll eat more lightly and more simply.

This movement will exemplify celebration and inclusion.

We’ll do this work with joy, with good humor, and delight that people are different and legitimately make different choices in their lives. The Jewish food movement is about ethics, justice and environmental sustainability. It’s also about family, memory, kashrut, culture, cooking, baking, davenning, food-writing, food photography, Israel, education, holidays, halacha… and the ancient rivalry of latkes and hamentaschen.

The Jewish Food Conferences and Festivals will grow significantly. These are significant and powerful events that enable local and national leaders within the Jewish food movement to inspire and to build relationships that will sustain this work throughout the year. By 2029 there should be an annual Jewish Food Festival in most American Jewish communities; and by 2022 we should be well on-track towards that goal. And individual Jewish Food Festivals should be growing in size – not just a significant event on a Sunday, but the local rabbis speaking on food-related topics the Shabbat before, and other events taking place before or after the main day itself.

Connecting to students. Teva works with a number of Jewish day schools – but only a minority of Jewish day schools, nationally, have clear JOFEE progams. Similarly there have been a few college initiatives, but no systematic connections between Hillels and the Jewish Food Movement. By 2022 there should be systemic work going on in and with colleges, dayschools and Hebrew schools. A clear majority of Jewish summer camps should be growing food and integrating that work into their core programs.

Building on the momentum of 5775, we will consciously prepare for the next shmita year 5782. The head of the American Academy of Religion recently told 9,000 AAR members at their annual conference that they should not meet in 2021 - because of the shmita year. (And the NY Times article explaining her argument linked to Hazon’s website to explain what shmita is.) This next seven year period in American Jewish life should be the first one in which a consciousness of shmita permeates all seven years of the cycle, and thus in which the period from 2015 to 2021 represents an extensive conversation and planning process for how the next shmita year – in 2021’22 – could or should be honored across the community.

December 29, 2014 – January 1, 2015 • 7

Monday, December 29, 2014 When

What

1:00 3:00 - 4:15

Arrival Snack Great Hall Save the Pollinators...From Your Backyard!

Sabrina Mallach Lounge Concerned about the bees and the monarchs and all of the other pollinators whose populations are declining? Whether you live in the city or the suburbs, you can help by creating a pollinator garden. Join pollinator advocate and urban farmer Sabrina Malach to learn simple, best practices for creating a native pollinator oasis in your backyard, community garden or on your balcony. If you plant it, they will come.

Our Evolving Diets & Food Rules Moderated by Jeffrey Yoskowitz, Synagogue featuring Paul Shapiro, Ruhi Sophia Motzkin Rubenstein and Shamu Sadeh As our values, our food systems, and our health changes over time, many of us take on new sets of “food rules” for our diet.

Whether we are diagnosed with an allergy or we choose to limit a category of food, our diets evolve thoughout our lifetime.

Hear from three individuals whose personal stories have woven in and out of dietary choices including vegetarian, kosher, locavore, fair trade, organic, and more.

Citrus Marmalade Jamming Arthur Siller Cultural Center Do you want to enjoy local foods like tomatoes and cherries year round? Are you interested in canning, but have a fear of not doing it safely? In this workshop, you’ll learn the basic skills for preserving the local harvest in simple and delicious ways.

Camp Teva Orientation Jason Long Arts & Crafts Get to know the Teva Educators, learn about all of the fun activities at Camp Teva, get a detailed schedule for the conference, and sign up for evening babysitting. This session is required for all Camp Teva participants and their families. Learn more about Camp Teva on the bottom of page 9.

Mechitza Minyan: Mincha and Maariv Lounge (afternoon and evening services) Traditional liturgy service with men leading, and separate seating for men and women.

Traditional-Egalitarian Mincha and Maariv Synagogue (afternoon and evening services) Men and women take equal roles in this mostly Hebrew-language service.

Opening Program: Welcome to the Food Conference! Poultry, Pollinators and Policy & Visioning Great Hall the 7 Year Food Goals of the Jewish Food Movement

3:30 – 4:30

4:15 – 4:45

5:00 - 6:00 6:00 – 7:30 7:30 – 9:30

Where

Dinner

Dining Hall and Lounge DIY Extravaganza Great Hall Roll up your sleeves for the annual Food Conference DIY Extravaganza! Try your hand at new cooking techniques and homesteading skills at this round-robin event. This year’s Monday evening program features: • • • • • • • •

8:30 - 10:15

Presenters

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Chicken Feather Earrings and Hair Extensions Beeswax & Coconut Oil Salve with Essential Oils Goat Cheese Pickling Sheep to Shawl (processing raw wool into yarn) Quill Cutting Corn Meal Grinding Pollinator Wildflower Seed Balls

What

Mechitza Shacharit (morning prayers) Arts & Crafts Join us for uplifting, spiritual, and transcendent morning prayers as we use traditional liturgy to bring ourselves closer to one another and Hashem. This service has separate seating for men and women.

Traditional-Egalitarian Shacharit (morning prayers) Rav Sarah Bracha Gershuny Synagogue Join this service to feel fulfilled through prayer and community as together we lift our spirits to welcome the morning.

This service has mixed seating for all people and uses the traditional liturgy in prayer.

Yoga: Meditative Hatha Flow Claire Lipson Red Yurt Breakfast Dining Hall and Lounge Sharing the Abundance: Excess Food Distribution Janna Siller, Leon Vehaba, Lounge Wyatt Barnes and Eliot Fiks At all sizes and budgets, farmers and restaurateurs always produce more than they can sell. Hear from three farmers and a chef about a variety of the creative and substantial ways they distribute excess food to their local communities.

History of Honey: How Nature’s First Sweetener Kirsten S. Traynor Synagogue Became a Global Commodity and Michael J. Traynor How is it that honey was used to appease Egyptian gods, pay taxes in the Middle Ages, and disposed by the advent of antibiotics from the medicine cabinet, but is slowly regaining medical use today? Food products often tout honey while containing mainly other sweeteners. Unfortunately the USDA no longer regulates the definition of honey, but a state by state initiative started in Florida by Nancy Gentry has taken off to stop false packing and marketing of honey. Discover honey’s rich history and modern complexity through an informative conversation with two honey experts. This session will guide you through the modern honey market, leaving plenty of time to answer questions about nature’s first sweetener.

It’s Light, It’s Fluffy; It’s Vegan Challah Ruhi Sophia Motzkin Rubenstein Cultural Center Come to this part demo, part hands-on session to learn how to mix, knead, and braid your own delicious vegan challah. If you don’t believe that fluffy vegan challah is possible, just wait ‘til the taste test at the end! See page 27 for a recipe you can use at home!

The Life and Death of the Chicken on your Plate: Yadidya Greenberg and Jacob Siegel Beige Yurt A Live Shechita Demonstration Join certified shochtim Yadidya Greenberg and Jacob Siegel to witness a respectful kosher chicken slaughter. Watch the entire process of transforming live animals into meat ready for your table. Attendees will learn about the practices of the modern day poultry and meat industry, discuss the emotional and ethical ramifications of killing animals for food and have the opportunity to help with plucking feathers and kashering and butchering of the birds. This is a 3-hour session; participants are encouraged but not required to stay for the entire morning. Please dress for outdoor weather. While we plan to have an area to warm up, the majority of this session takes place outdoors.

8:00 – 9:00 9:00 – 10:15

9:00 – 12:00

Presenters

Where

Camp Teva: Kids and Family Programming Throughout the conference our wonderful Teva educators will be leading Camp Teva.

Movie Night: Food Chains

Emmanuelle “Neza” Leal-Santillan, Synagogue Salem Pearce and Wyatt Barnes There is more interest in food these days than ever, yet there is very little interest in the hands that pick it. Farmworkers, the foundation of our fresh food industry, are routinely abused and robbed of wages. In extreme cases they can be beaten, sexually harassed or even enslaved – all within the borders of the United States. Food Chains reveals the human cost in our food supply and the complicity of large buyers of produce like fast food and supermarkets. Brief discussion to follow the film. Follow-up session “Who Grew Your Food?” on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.

Movie Night: Burt’s Buzz Lounge Burt’s Buzz takes an intimate look at the world of Burt Shavitz, the face and co-founder of Burt’s Bees, exploring his fascinating and utterly unique life. Wise and wry, ornery and opinionated, the reclusive Shavitz is committed to living off the land and keeping true to his humble beginnings despite his celebrity status. The film chronicles Burt’s life as a photographer, beekeeper, and brand spokesman, following his complicated relationship with the company, his fans, and the world around him. Exposing the collision between business and personal values, Burt’s Buzz is a compelling portrait of this highly idiosyncratic pioneer, and a revealing study of what it means to be a living icon.

8 • Hazon Food Conference

When 7:15 – 8:15 a.m.

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About Camp Teva: Hazon strives to create a community that is multi-generational and family-friendly. We have put together what we think is a fun, educational program for kids and families. Camp Teva is open to children aged 5 - 12. Children aged 0 - 4 are welcome to enjoy Camp Teva with their parents. Programming will include a mix of indoor and outdoor activities – please drop off your children with plenty of warm clothing ready to spend time on the trails and with the animals on the farm.

Camp Teva runs throughout the day so that parents can fully attend the majority of daytime sessions.

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Monday: Camp Teva orientation is from 3:30–4:30 p.m.

Parents are encouraged to come by with their kids to meet the educators & see the detailed schedule. Kids can stay and play until getting picked up for dinner at 6pm.

Mornings: Dropoff on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday is by 8:45 a.m. and pickup is at noon, just in time for lunch.

Afternoon family-friendly activities: On Monday and Tuesday after lunch (1-2 p.m.), we will have an outdoor allages activity. Adults and kids of all ages should bundle up and join us on the farm and on the trails.

Afternoon Camp Teva (Tuesday and Wednesday): At 3 p.m., drop the kids back off in the Arts & Crafts building for more activities until pickup by 6:10 p.m. after your late afternoon sessions.

December 29, 2014 – January 1, 2015 • 9

Tuesday, December 30, 2014 When

What

Presenters

What

2:15 – 3:45

Noshland: The Culinary Adventures of a Rural Jew Julia Braun Great Hall A Jewish food journey in three parts: Part 1. Schmaltz. Part 2. The Knish. Part 3. Chicken Liver. Incorporating her background growing up as the only child of the only Jewish family in a small town on the Oregon coast, kosher chef and culinary artist Julia Braun will tell the story of how she found herself when she began studying the art of Jewish food, how she ended up starting a knish business in Berkeley and ultimately studying kosher food in Brooklyn. Beginning with a demonstration of rendering chicken fat into schmaltz, using the schmaltz to make classic knishes, and finally cooking the much beloved and feared chicken liver pate, we will explore how reclaiming and modernizing these foods can lead to an empowering and deeper understanding of who we are as a people, and where the future of Jewish food is headed. See page 28 for a recipe you can use at home!

Sweet Medicine: Enhancing Human & Ecological Health Cara Silverberg Cultural Center With Herbs & Honey Raw honey has been used as medicine for thousands of years. In this session, we will learn about some of the health benefits of honey as well as some common, native and perennial plants that are allies to both pollinators and human health. Specifically, we will make elderberry syrup and herb infused honeys. Through discussion and hands-on medicine making, you will leave this session with a grounded sense of how and why to return health care to our gardens – and with some take-home goodies to kick that winter bug. This class is limited to 15 participants.

Snack Great Hall Mechitza Minyan Mincha and Maariv (afternoon and evening services) Arts & Crafts Traditional-Egalitarian Minyan Mincha and Maariv (afternoon and evening services) Synagogue What’s the Matter with Ronald? McDonald’s, Food Justice, Ari Rubenstein Lounge and Reclaiming our Food System and Sriram Madhusoodanan McDonald’s and the fast food industry are at the very rotten core of our broken food system and health crisis. For more than 60 years, the burger giant has shaped an unsustainable and unjust food system where it is cheaper and easier to buy burgers, fries, and soda than fresh produce. McDonald’s ability to do this is centered around its predatory practice of targeting children with a harmful junk food brand – and its practice of siting its restaurants in and targeting its advertising at communities that already bear the largest burden of childhood diet-related disease. Come learn concrete strategies and skills to plug your community and congregation into the growing movement to Retire Ronald, hold McDonald’s and the fast food industry accountable for its abuses, and shift the needle toward a food system that nurtures people and the planet.

Food is Medicine: Bone Broth – Donna Simons Great Hall The Newest Old Fashioned Food Trend Donna Simons, Chef-Owner of Pound Ridge Organics, will teach how to make a basic Soup Stock and Demi-Glace like the pros – with a focus on the nutritional and healing benefits of using organic meat and poultry bones. Soup Stock techniques can be easily adapted to the Vegetarian Cook.

Ethical Beekeeping: An Odyssey to 700 Hives on Amalia Haas Synagogue the Arizona-Mexico Border and the Treatment-Free Beekeeping of Dee Lusby Amalia Haas began keeping bees when after years of teaching organic gardening, the teachings of conventional pest, disease, and feeding management taught through local beekeeping groups didn’t sit right with her. Amalia shares the story of her first nail-biting week on the Arizona-Mexico border rangelands with Dee Lusby, and highlights Dee’s approach to “working with nature” in beekeeping. The class describes Dee’s observance of “tza’ar ba’alei chayim,” - the prohibition of cruelty to animals - and what Dee calls “putting your animals first.” She contrasts Dee’s approach with those of conventional commercial management. (No beekeeping background is necessary for this class.)

Gefilte Fish Your Way: MaNishtana Cultural Center Questioning the “Jewish” of “Jewish Food” In this session, MaNishtana will travel with you through time visiting a variety of cultures, continuing to ask ourselves the question: What does “Jewish Food” really mean, and does it even exist? Participants will experiment with gefilte fish and design their own unique dish.

What Does the Torah Say About Veganism?

Rachel Skupsky Red Yurt How can one be both an Orthodox Jew and a vegan? How is being vegan sustainable to the earth? Is being a vegan healthy?

And what the heck does halacha have to do with a person’s eating habits? This session with explore Jewish texts and will also leave people with an open mind to understand veganism. Additionally, it is not meant to convince anyone to change their minds, but rather, it will help explain why people are shifting toward veganism, and how it is possible to be a halachiclyobservant vegan.

Dinner Dining Hall and Lounge

Where

10:30 – 11:45 Honey Tasting Workshop Marina Marchese Great Hall Join honey expert Marina Marchese and learn how to use all of your senses to taste and identify flavor profiles and floral sources of single-source American honeys. The art of consciously tasting honey combined with knowledge of the sensory analysis make it possible for one to learn how to identify a flavor profiles by using a Honey Aroma and Tasting Wheel to establish its repertoire of flavors in order to identify botanical sources. Participants will learn everything about honey from flower, to bee, crystallization, fermentation, defects and how terroir affects its sensory qualities. This workshop is limited to 30 participants.

Stop Talking and Start Listening: Moderated by Joaquin Sanchez, Synagogue Models of How Jews Can Be Accountable Change Makers featuring Salem Pearce, Ari Hart, in the Fight for Food Justice Tracy Lerman and Eitan Sussman From mistreatment of farm and restaurant workers to neighborhoods with high rates of food insecurity, injustice in our food system is vast. It is easy to feel overwhelmed and want to move into action right away, based on how we individually determine it best to act. But what happens when we listen to and follow the leadership of those most affected by food injustice and move collectively? How does it impact the effectiveness of our work? How do we begin to visibilize and hear the voices of those experiencing food injustice in our own communities? In this workshop moderated by long time community organizer Joaquin Sanchez, presenters will share stories and lessons based on their experiences being allies in the struggle for food justice.

The Dirt Cure: How Food and Nature Heal Us Maya Shetreat-Klein Lounge Straight From Soil We’ve all heard of food as medicine. Food is filled with macronutrients, vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, bacteria and more elements that give our bodies what we need to heal. But what we sometimes forget is to go a little deeper into knowing the source of that medicine – to remember that food is a physical manifestation of the healing powers of nature: sunshine, water, wind... and soil. Come join Dr. Maya Shetreat-Klein discuss ideas from her forthcoming book to learn how dirt – through food, plants and the green world around us – is our real medicine.

Asheh Reshteh: A Persian Slow-Food for Shabbat Nili Simhai Cultural Center Asheh Reshteh (noodle stew) is one of the most ancient foods of Iran. This traditionally vegetarian dish is easily adapted to be a shabbat afternoon meal for the masses that is nutritionally dense, fun to eat and delicious! Come learn about how the Jewish community of Iran eats, and why and how the Persians gave us pasta.

12 – 1 p.m.

Lunch Dining Hall and Lounge 1:00 - 2:00 Open Beit Midrash: Jacob Siegel Synagogue Poultry, Pollinators & Policy in Text and Tradition How have Jewish communities dealt with food and environmental policy in the past? Where does the midrash compare humans to tiny insects? What questions have rabbis asked about mechanized kosher slaughter? Delve into Jewish texts, ancient and modern, on the topic of Poultry, Pollinators, and Policy. Our team of scholars, rabbis, and rabbinical students will teach in small groups or connect you with a partner for chevruta (paired) study. We will provide texts at a variety of levels. No previous Hebrew or text study experience necessary.

Sensory Walk and Tea from Trees (Family Friendly) Sonia Wilk Meet at Arts & Crafts There aren’t any trees blooming at this time of year, but there is still plenty to see, hear, smell, and taste on our forest trails. Whether you’re looking for a leisurely walk or silly forest games, everyone will be glad they stepped into the woods. Bundle up and join us in the fresh air! We’ll gather some pine needles and make a yummy tea high in Vitamin C! Colorado Cohort Meetup Becky O’Brien Lounge San Diego Cohort Meetup Gabi Scher Red Yurt 2:15 - 3:45 Pollinators in Peril: What’s Killing the Bees Kirsten S. Traynor & Michael J. Traynor Synagogue Every third bite we eat is due to pollination, but honey bees and native bees are disappearing. Changing landscapes, modern agriculture, climate change and globalization all play a role in pollinator decline. Learn what steps we can take to ensure our food security and help bees thrive in today’s challenging environment.

Chickens in your Backyard, Eggs in your frying pan (and Anna Hanau and Shamu Sadeh Red Yurt maybe an old hen in your stew pot?)

Think you'd like to have some laying hens for eggs? Already have hens but just can't get them to (choose one) lay eggs? Stop eating their eggs? Crow at dawn? Shamu and Anna keep hens in the city and in the country: come learn about how to choose breeds and coops and care for your flock. The secret of how hens are naturally shomer-shabbat will also be revealed...

Animal Welfare as a Jewish Issue: Animals in the 7-Year Aaron Saul Gross, Sarah Chandler, Lounge Goals for the Jewish Food Movement Paul Shapiro and Yadidya Greenberg How do the pleasures and pains of farmed animals figure in the goals of the Jewish food movement? Among the many competing goods in the debates about ethical eating – sustainability, health, safety, buying local, animal welfare – just how important are the lives of animals and why is animal welfare a Jewish issue? Hear responses from the Vice President of the 11 million-member strong Humane Society of the United States and other panelists – and join the discussion!

10 • Hazon Food Conference

When

#foodconference

4:00 – 4:30 4:10 – 4:40 4:45 – 6:00

6:00 – 7:00

“

Presenters

Where

Every time we sit down to eat, we make choices about what kind of world we want to live in.

I’m excited to discuss these powerful opportunities to repair the world at the conference.

#foodconference

— Paul Shapiro, Vice President, Farm Animal Protection, The Humane Society of the United States December 29, 2014 – January 1, 2015 • 11

Tuesday, December 30, 2014 When 7:15 – 8:45

9:00 – 10:30

“

What

Presenters

Wednesday, December 31, 2014 Where

Keynote Panel: 2022 Vision: Moderated by Nigel Savage, featuring Great Hall Envisioning the Next Seven Years Maya Shetreat-Klein, Salem Pearce, of the Jewish Food Movement Noam Kimelman, Adam SaNogueira Leading up to our second Jewish Food Conference, in December 2007, a few of us wrote a first-draft of “7-year goals for the Jewish Food Movement.” One of the original goals was indeed that we would “consciously prepare for the next shmita year.”

Now we’re in that seventh year, and so it’s now time to look back at the last cycle, and time also to start visioning for the next seven years. Join us for a diverse panel in what’s meant to be an interactive key-note. We look forward to hearing your ideas about what the Jewish Food Movement world could and should look like in 2022.

Ma’aseh Bereishit: Hosted by David Arfa with stories from Synagogue Beginning Stories of Hope, Health and Inspired Activism Laura Bellows, Yadidya Greenberg, Ariel Vegosen and Jeffrey Yoskowitz Come and listen to this The Moth-style event featuring beginning true stories that changed lives and anchored visions. We’ll start with polished stories from the field that range from the comedic to the soulful, with dashes of horror, rage and wide-openheartedness that carry us beyond the merely human. Next, we’ll all have a chance as we move into small story circles that will help us find, share and listen to these kinds of stories in our own lives. We’ll end the night by coming back together and sharing our favorite stories with each other.

The Hazon Food Conference is about collaborating with other food professionals, getting creative in the kitchen and thinking in new, creative ways about traditional foods and the system of which they’re a part.

-—Jeffrey Yoskowitz, Co-owner of The Gefilteria and Author of The Gefilte Manifesto (Flatiron Books, 2016)

Wednesday, December 31, 2014 When

What

Presenters

Where

Mechitza Shacharit Arts & Crafts Join us for uplifting, spiritual, and transcendent morning prayers as we use traditional liturgy to bring ourselves closer to one another and Hashem. This service has separate seating for men and women.

Avodat Lev Shacharit Angie Murdukhayeva, Elana Brody and Synagogue Anna Schuman Morning Adamah-style services with Hebrew chant and meditation Yoga: Meditative Hatha Flow Claire Lipson Red Yurt 8:00 – 9:00 Breakfast Dining Hall and Lounge 9:00 – 10:15 Beekeeping and Honey Harvesting 101 Jaime Sadeh Red Yurt Honeybees can be a low-maintenance and beneficial addition to your backyard or rooftop garden. You will increase the rate of pollination in the surrounding flora, resulting in more abundant crops and ample seed for propagation. And then, of course, you get to harvest your own raw honey! In this workshop, you will learn about the resources and equipment to get started, as well as techniques for harvesting your honey.

Why Place Matters: Detroit as a Case Study Moderated by AJ Aaron, featuring Synagogue for Jewish Food Justice Noam Kimelman, Blair Nosan, Jen Rusciano, Eitan Sussman, Carly Sugar What does food justice work look like for Jews in one of America’s most racially segregated cities? Join members of the Detroit Cohort as they unpack this question.

The 21st Century Meat Business: Naftali Hanau, Donna Simons, Lounge Balancing Sustainable, Local, and Kosher Robert Friedman and Jerry Schwartz As Jewish farmers and consumers who care about sustainability, animal welfare, and human health, how do we produce and distribute meat that best meets our values? Hear from four individuals whose daily work is to produce, procure, or distribute the best meat for their customers. Whether you are looking to bring pasture-raised kosher meat to your household, add a meat share to your CSA or are considering raising animals for meat in your region, this session is for you.

10:30 – 11:45 Who Grew Your Food?

Salem Pearce, Emmanuelle “Neza” Leal- Synagogue From Farmworkers to Farming Cooperatives Santillan, Heriberto Gonzalez, Amy Tisdale and Darya Mattes There is more interest in food these days than ever. Yet, as the Food Chains movie reminds us, there is very little interest in the hands that pick it. Learn about the struggle of farmworkers as well as how farmers and farmworkers are taking matters into their own hands to build a more just food system.

7:15 – 8:15 a.m.

12 • Hazon Food Conference

When

#foodconference

What

Presenters

Where

10:30 – 11:45 DIY: Top Bar Hive Bee Boxes For Your Backyard Jaime Sadeh and Todd Shear Red Yurt In this hands-on session, participants will learn how to make a top bar hive. All participants will see how they are made and take home blueprints for building their own. All a participants will receive detailed instructions for hive building. Completed hives will be auctioned off at our New Year’s Eve party. No woodworking experience necessary! Facilitators will also present about the variety of hives recommended for backyard and rooftop beekeeping.

What do I do with all those egg yolks? Great Passover Donna Simons Great Hall desserts that will impress Donna Simons, Chef-Owner of Pound Ridge Organics, will share creative and delicious (gluten-free) Passover Dessert ideas that utilize the whites AND yolks, including Crème Brûlée and Chocolate Mousse. Even the leftover egg shells can be useful in this class that will make a beginner look like a pro.

Environmentalism vs. Animal Rights: Ramban vs.

David Seidenberg Lounge Rambam on Shiluach Hakein Maimonides (Rambam) teaches in the Guide for the Perplexed that the reason for shluach hakein, sending away the mother bird if you want the eggs, is because it will cause her great pain if she sees her young taken away. But Nachmanides (Ramban) says this can’t be right, and that the reason is to preserve species and to make us morally sensitive. The same disagreement exists nowadays between animal rights activists, who are concerned with the well-being of individual animals, and environmentalists, who focus on the well-being of whole ecosystems. Come study the debate between Rambam and Ramban about shiluach hakein, and apply what we learn to our own lives, to Judaism, and to issues in the world today.

12:00 –1:00 Lunch Dining Hall and Lounge 12:00 – 1:00 Food Council Meeting Arts & Crafts 1:00 – 2:00 Open Beit Midrash: Poultry, Pollinators & Policy in Text Jacob Siegel Synagogue and Tradition (See listing at 1:00 p.m. on page 10 for details)

2:15 – 3:45

Get to Know our Goats Barnyard Tour and Q&A about dairy goats Detroit Cohort Meetup

Meredith Cohen

Meet at Arts & Crafts

AJ Aaron

Lounge

Young Farmers Cohort Meetup

Shamu Sadeh

Red Yurt

Eating as an Eco-System: The Whole Experience Natan Margalit Red Yurt Healthy eating isn’t an isolated event. It isn’t just about the nutrients your body takes in. Healthy eating is about a set of physical, emotional, and spiritual relationships. The physical labor of farming or gardening, the emotions of the social setting of your meal, the spiritual connection of thanking the Source of Blessings, are only a few examples. The more we are involved in those relationships and aware of them the more we get out of eating. Together we’ll explore Jewish and modern sources, discuss our own experience and delve into the whole eco-system of eating.

Natural Egg Dyeing for Purim or Pesach Nili Simhai Arts & Crafts Did you know that there are several Jewish communities with a tradition of dyeing eggs around Purim or Passover? We will be using all natural dyeing materials (mostly scraps from the kitchen!) to create a beautiful rainbow of eggs. We will also be learning the basics of making designs and prints on eggs, and, of course, trying to trace the history of this tradition. #BlackLivesMatter, Food Justice and Shmita: Helen Bennett and Julie Aronowitz Lounge How Are They All Connected?

What issues inspire you to take action? Which issues inspired your grandparents? In this session, we will explore Jews’ role, historically and overtime, in social movements (including foodie ones!). Join us for a series of participatory and creative group activities that illuminate story-based community organizing basics and tools. Together we will examine the role of our personal and community narratives in shaping our individual and collective identities as social justice-inspired Jews, and talk about how to help create change on food justice and other issues we care about. You’ll walk away with tools for making change.

So You Want to Bee a Jewish Beekeeper?

Amalia Haas Synagogue Did you know that archeologists uncovered an large-scale urban apiary in ancient Israel? Jews have been keeping bees for a long time and there’s a growing number of Jewish beekeepers today. Join Amalia Haas, the founder of The Devorah Project to learn the uncanny parallels that exist between the narrative of the Jewish people and that of the honey bees. This session will include an overview of The Devorah Project which examines the survival and adaptability of the bees to niche climates across the globe and draws out parallels between “Devorah’s story” and the story and survival of the Jewish people, and a brainstorming session for us to better articulate the relationship between being Jewish and being a beekeeper.

Chef’s Playground: Noveua Traditional Food Adam SaNogueira Great Hall and Jeffrey Yoskowitz How do we honor our religious and culinary traditions while also respecting the environment? Chef Adam SaNogueira and Gefilteria co-founder Jeffrey Yoskowitz discuss three classic Jewish dishes and explore how to prepare them using different, more environmentally conscientious base ingredients. Each dish will be presented and tasted.

#foodconference

December 29, 2014 – January 1, 2015 • 13

Wednesday, December 31, 2014 When

What

4:00 – 6:30 4:10 – 4:40

Program Fair, Shuk & Snacks Great Hall Mechitza Minyan Mincha and Maariv (afternoon and evening services) Arts & Crafts Traditional-Egalitarian Minyan Mincha and Maariv (afternoon and evening services) Synagogue Why is this Chicken Different from all Other Chickens?

Yadidya Greenberg Lounge A Heritage Poultry Tasting and Exposition In the 1940s scientists used cutting edge breeding techniques to create a new type of chicken, the Cornish cross. It grew faster and on far less feed than the standard bred birds of the time but it also tasted bland and boring. Despite its flavor, over time the Cornish cross has taken over nearly 100% of the worldwide chicken market and people have forgotten how a true bird looks, tastes and cooks. Today those standard bred birds are referred to as heritage and the flavor of each one changes dramatically depending on its age and breed. Join this session to learn about the amazing diversity offered by heritage poultry while enjoying a sampling of recipes using the world’s only USDA certified kosher and heritage chicken. See page 29 for a recipe you can use at home!

Community Gardens: Samantha Rothman Red Yurt How to Get Started and How to Take It to the Next Level Across the country, community gardens are being created. These special places allow for individuals to grow their own produce, meet new people, and often transform underutilized areas into thriving, productive green spaces. This workshop will take you through the fundamentals of starting your own community garden, as well as provide ideas and inspiration to take your existing community garden to the next level. We’ll talk about how enhanced programming, landscape design, and improved management can help your garden better serve the members and the public.

Growing Food, Reclaiming Tradition, Evolving Culture Shamu Sadeh, Joaquín Sánchez and Synagogue Emmanuelle “Neza” Leal-Santillan Modern society has led many of us to feel disconnected from land and the traditional practices of our ancestors. This has a profound impact on how we relate to and care for our surroundings and connect to our histories. Join a conversation between two communities – Adamah, based out of Isabella Freedman, and Los Jardines (The Gardens) Institute, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico – that are growing food as a way to reclaim tradition, connect to the land, and pass down knowledge through the generations.

Dinner: Open Space Dining Hall and Choose a table according to your topic of interest.

Lounge Topics will be brainstormed throughout the conference and voted on during the Program Fair.

Contra Dance Intro Lessons Rachel Gall and Debra Tyler Great Hall All ages and levels welcome!

Heart Meditation Maya Shetreat-Klein Red Yurt Cooperative Management: Alex Lyon Red Yurt The Key to Our Broken Food System Cooperative businesses are taking the nation by storm, creating hubs for food justice, local commerce, and purchasing power. This session will cover what cooperatives are, how they operate, and how food cooperatives create change in a society dominated by policy and large corporations. Alex Lyon is a co-manager from Earthfoods Café at UMass Amherst and will share experiences from the co-op world, as well as highlight co-ops in the northeast and globally. Participants will engage with the cooperative concept from the Jewish lens, and will be asked to create a mock cooperative business collectively. Come find out how cooperatives could change your community!

On the Farm, In the Schools, Around the Table: Samantha Rothman, Yoni Stadlin, Arts & Crafts Garden Education for Kids Erin Taylor and Nili Simhai How are schools, camps and local communities integrating gardening and farming into their outdoor activities, the food they serve and their curricular objectives? Hear from our panelists about the blessings and challenges of gardening at school, camp, and even at synagogue.

Jewish Theology and Factory Farming Dr. Aaron Saul Gross Synagogue Jewish theology needs to be embodied, lived daily, and perhaps its most important question is: what should I eat? But what does it mean to eat ethically and as a Jew in the long shadow of Postville and the factory farm? Drawing from his new book on Postville, The Question of the Animal and Religion, Dr. Aaron Saul Gross turns to both secular Jewish thinkers like Jacques Derrida and classical rabbinic texts to ask: how might Jewish thought respond? Come join the conversation!

Get Ready to Party!

Drum Circle: Grounding for the New Year Synagogue New Year’s Eve Butterfly Masquerade Great Hall & Lounge

4:45 – 6:00

6:00 – 7:00

7:00 – 7:30

7:30 – 9:00

9:00 – 10:00 9:15 – 10:00 10:00 p.m. – 12:30 a.m.

Presenters

Thursday, January 1, 2015 Where

(entrance by synagogue)

When

What

Presenters

Where

7:30 – 8:30 a.m.

8:00 – 10:30

Yoga: Waking Up to the New Year

Claire Lipson

Red Yurt

8:30 – 9:15

9:45 – 11:00

Breakfast / Brunch

Dining Hall and Lounge Mechitza Shacharit (morning prayers) Arts & Crafts Join us for uplifting, spiritual, and transcendent morning prayers as we use traditional liturgy to bring ourselves closer to one another and Hashem. This service has separate seating for men and women.

Traditional-Egalitarian Shacharit (morning prayers) Synagogue Join this service to feel fulfilled through prayer and community as together we lift our spirits to welcome the morning. This service has mixed seating for all people and uses the traditional liturgy in prayer.

Rotten Milk and Moldy Bread: Foods of the Talmud Eliezer Lev Israel Lounge Many of the foods mentioned in the Talmud are rather mysterious. Even some foods that underpin the laws of Kashrut are remembered in name only; it’s difficult to figure out what they were or how they were made. We’ll dig deep into one of them – Bablyonian Kutah – and go on a wander through rotten food, fermentation dances, and perhaps the original chicken soup.

Growing Up to Be Farmers

Moderated by Janna Siller, Red Yurt featuring Shemariah Blum-Evitts, Ben Harris and Devin Hickman In light of the fact that the average age of farmers in the U.S. is 57, our 2022 food goals include “More Jewish farmers.” While many strong young entrepreneurs envision themselves starting their own farm, are we ready to let our own children make the choice to go into a field as challenging and risky as farming? Hear from a variety of young farmers about the real life challenges and blessings of farming in the 21st century.

Behind the Veil: The True Secret Life of Bees & Beekeepers Kirsten S. Traynor & Michael J. Traynor Synagogue We’ve trotted the globe in search of bees and beekeepers. Join us for a photographic odyssey that reveals the complex life inside a colony. 50,000 bees inhabit a city of wax, coordinating their behaviors through a silent, chemical language. In this talk, you’ll learn about honey bee biology, but also about the charismatic keepers of bees. We’ll share our adventures, taking you from the remote North Sea islands where German beekeepers mate new queens, to mountainous New Zealand, where beekeepers drop hives in by helicopter to harvest medical grade honey from inaccessible manuka forests. During this presentation, you’ll see the mysterious world of bees (without the risk of being stung) through the lens of master photographer Michael J. Traynor.

11:15 – 12:00 Closing Ceremony Great Hall 12:00 – 1:00

Goodbye Snack

Dining Hall

New Year’s Eve Butterfly Masquerade Wednesday, December 31st at 10:00 p.m. – 12:30 a.m.

Featuring Contra Dancing with caller Paul Rosenberg and Still, the Homegrown Band Join in the New England dance tradition! Each dance is taught and led by a “caller,” who explains how the dance flows and helps the dancers “walk through” the dance before the music starts. S/he continues “calling” instructions throughout the dance. Dancers of all ages and levels of ability are welcome to join in this everybody-wins team sport.

Kathy Lyon on guitar, Mike Prentice on bass, Shaila Chowdhury on bodhran, Debra Tyler on keyboard, Jane Prentice and Rachel Gall on fiddle, and Jim Prentice on concertina. Visit motherhouse.us/still-the-homegrownband/ to see where they are playing next or to book them for a gig in your community.

Happy New Year!!!

14 • Hazon Food Conference

#foodconference

#foodconference

December 29, 2014 – January 1, 2015 • 15

Presenters Thank you to the amazing people who volunteer their time to share their fascinating stories with us. If you can’t make it to their session (or if you went and loved it!) we encourage you to continue your conversation over a meal, at the shuk, and beyond… the Lefty Jew Shabbaton, likes to brew kombucha, and is a member of the Time Trade Circle. #BlackLivesMatter, Food Justice and Shmita: How Are They All Connected?

AJ Aaron stays busy driving a big blue 15-passenger van and leading reflection activities as a co-leader of PeerCorps Detroit. This program brings Jewish teens together with Detroit-based social change organizations, helping to build bridges between the city and suburbs.

AJ has spent the past four growing seasons working in community gardens in multiple states and is excited to spend more time this year developing personal plans and projects for the 2015 growing season!

Why Place Matters: Detroit as a Case Study for Jewish Food Justice

Maggid David Arfa is dedicated to Judaism’s storytelling heritage and ancient environmental wisdom. His award winning storytelling performances include his CD, The Life and Times of Herschel of Ostropol: The Greatest Prankster Who Ever Lived, a winner of the Parent’s Choice Award; and his full-length storytelling performance, The Jar of Tears: A Memorial for the Warsaw Ghetto Rebbe, which won the Hildebrandt award for exceptional Holocaust memorial artistry. His first CD is titled The Birth of Love: Tales for the Days of Awe. David’s environmental workshops explore the relationships between wonder, grief, hope and activism in a Jewish context.

His workshop ‘Try Stories for a Change’ trains organizations to build volunteers and raise funds through authentic storytelling and listening circles.

David lives in the Berkshire foothills of Shelburne Falls, MA and is currently the

Director of Education for Congregation Beth Israel in North Adams. He attended the Hazon conference at UC Davis.

Ma’aseh Bereishit: Beginning Stories of Hope, Health and Inspired Activism

Julie Aronowitz is an organizer with Brockton Interfaith Community, a local affiliate of the national congregation based community organizing network PICO. Julie is an alumna of the JOIN for Justice organizing fellowship, the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, and Yeshivat Hadar. This winter, she’s doing a chevruta on the concept of Tochecha, tentatively translated as “rebuke for the sake of heaven”. The daughter of public health dietitian Vivienne Aronowitz, Julie was introduced to the power of food as a vehicle for personal and social change (and delight!) at an early age. #BlackLivesMatter, Food Justice and Shmita: How Are They All Connected?

Helen Bennett is an organizer, trainer, and network weaver at JOIN for Justice.

As an alumna of the JOIN for Justice organizing fellowship and the Adamah Fellowship, Helen is passionate about what brings people together. Helen was a long-time Resident Organizer at the Moishe Kavod Jewish Social Justice House, where she now holds the post of Spirituality Chair on the Community Board and gets to explore what it means to build the spiritually/Jewishly grounded and social justice based Jewish community that she wants to be a part of. Helen is also a co-organizer of

Shemariah Blum-Evitts is originally from rural Maine and holds a Master’s Degree in Regional Planning from UMass, where she concentrated in local food sheds. She serves as the Program Manager of New Lands Farm for refugees. Shemariah runs Robariah Farms with Robert Friedman, whom she met during the Adamah program in 2004.

Robariah Farms is a small-scale poultry enterprise specializing in pasture-raised, organically fed, kosher chicken. Located in Western Massachusetts, we use sustainable, rotational grazing practices to provide our chickens with the highest nutritional benefits of fresh daily pasture.

We use only certified organic, non-GMO grain and never administer antibiotics or hormones. Our kosher practices ensure that chickens are processed, cleaned, inspected and prepared in a framework of high ethical principles and practices.

For more information, visit us at our new website robariahfarms.com.

Growing Up to Be Farmers

Julia Braun is a food entrepreneur and chef living in Oakland, CA. She was a 2012 Urban Adamah Fellow and is a 2014 graduate of the Center for Kosher Culinary Arts in Brooklyn. She is currently on the East Coast studying deli foods and appetizing shops, and is continually searching for the perfect knish.

Noshland: The Culinary Adventures of a Rural Jew

Meredith Cohen was a fellow with Summer Adamah in 2013 and is now the Adamah Barnyard Manager and Field Apprentice. Meredith grew up in Hillsborough, NC and attended Oberlin College. After graduating from Oberlin in 2005, Meredith joined Teach for America and moved to New Orleans where she lived and taught for 3 years before and after Hurricane Katrina. In fall of 2008, Meredith moved to Portland, OR where she spent many years few years biking,

16 • Hazon Food Conference

#foodconference

baking, gardening, drawing, living cooperatively, and running an afterschool program. Make sure to ask her about Banana Parades, sourdough, and goat midwifery.

Get to Know our Goats: Barnyard Tour and Q&A about Dairy Goats

Eliot Fiks founded, owns, and operates Whole in the Wall Restaurant. Whole in the Wall is a whole foods restaurant in Binghamton, NY. They have been serving local, organic, wild, and grassfed, for 34 years. They have made dinner for the likes of Dylan, Tom Petty, Stevie Wonder, Metallica, and many more. They also make a line of all-natural pestos available in 125 stores in 19 states. In 1999, Eliot won a national humanitarian award on NPR for a food donation project he started, named Stone Soup, after the children’s story. Eliot is also a nutritional consultant, with a lifelong passion for food and nutrition. Eliot is the child of Holocaust survivors, and believes this has played a key part in attitudes about food, and not allowing food to go to waste.

Sharing the Abundance: Excess Food Distribution

Robert Friedman is the owner of Robariah Farms, a small-scale poultry farm in Western Massachusetts specializing in pasture-raised, organically fed, kosher chicken. Since 2012, Robariah Farms has served as a local source for sustainable, kosher chicken and duck eggs for local and regional groceries, restaurants, and its own CSA members.

Robert and his wife Shemariah met at Adamah in 2004. For more information, visit robariahfarms.com.

The 21st Century Meat Business: Balancing Kosher, Local, and Sustainable

Heriberto Gonzalez worked at a vegetable farm in the Hudson Valley from his arrival from Mexico in 2009 until August 2013 when he decided to return to school. Heriberto began his involvement in the Justice for Farmworker Campaign with Rural & Migrant Ministry (RMM) in 2012. Notably, Heriberto spent a week traveling across the state with five other farmworkers and advocates to speak out and inspire senators to action. Heriberto also acted as a representative in the 2013 Farmworker Assembly in New York, and has appeared in several recent videos on the subject. In 2014, RMM hired #foodconference

Heriberto as the Outreach Coordinator for Eastern NY. Who Grew Your Food? From Farmworkers to Farming Cooperatives

Yadidya Greenberg, Shochet, Blogger and Animal Welfare Educator, was born on a kibbutz and factory farm in northern Israel where he loved to milk the cows and take care of their calves. He now uses the great passion and understanding he garnered for animals in his childhood to create action-oriented awareness for them. A trained and certified shochet – kosher ritual slaughterer – Yadidya works in a slaughterhouse and teaches on the subjects of shechita and animal welfare nationally. He is currently also producing a kosher slaughter video series for his YouTube channel and blog and holds a long term goal to found the world’s first Jewish Animal Welfare Institute.

The Life and Death of the Chicken on your Plate: A Live Shechita Demonstration Ma’aseh Bereishit: Beginning Stories of Hope, Health and Inspired Activism Animal Welfare as a Jewish Issue: Animals in the 7 Year Goals for the Jewish Food Movement Why is this Chicken Different from all Other Chickens? A Heritage Poultry Tasting and Exposition

Aaron Saul Gross is a historian of religions specializing in Jewish traditions.

He is a professor of theology and religious studies at the University of San Diego, co-chair of the American Academy of Religion’s Animals and Religion group, and Founder & C.E.O. of the nonprofit organization Farm Forward. Dr. Gross’ forthcoming book, The Question of the Animal and Religion: Theoretical Stakes, Practical Implications, details the scandals at Agriprocessors and their significance for the American and international Jewish community.

Animal Welfare as a Jewish Issue: Animals in the 7 Year Goals for the Jewish Food Movement Theology and Factory Farming

Naftali Hanau is the founder and CEO of Grow and Behold Foods: Kosher Pastured Meats. He is an Adamah alum and a trained shochet, has a degree in Professional Horticulture, is married to the incomparable Anna Hanau, and is the Abba to Joe and Becca Hanau.

The 21st Century Meat Business: Balancing kosher, local, and sustainable.

Anna Hanau recently joined her wonderful husband Naftali in working

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People often focus on the problems in kosher slaughter of cattle but fail to see that kosher poultry slaughter has very high welfare standards. Exploring what kosher does right in the poultry world will provide important lessons for how we can improve kosher slaughter of mammals worldwide.

— Yadidya Greenberg, Founder of The Kosher Omnivore’s Quest Blog and the Kosher Slaughter Educator YouTube Channel full-time in their family business, Grow and Behold Foods, where she manages customer service and communications.

Previously, she worked at Hazon and Adamah. She has two kids under 2 years old, and keeps a flock of chickens in her backyard in Brooklyn.

Chickens in Your Backyard, Eggs in Your Frying Pan (And Maybe an Old Hen in Your Stew Pot?)

Ben Harris runs Root Down Farm, a mixed vegetable CSA in central Connecticut. Visit organichartford.com.

After a decade working as a writer in New York City, Ben had his first taste of the farm life at a small family farm in Southern Vermont. Since then he has farmed in northern California and western Connecticut and earned a certificate in ecological horticulture from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Check out his blog, This Week in Jewish Farming at jta.org/tags/this-week-injewish-farming.

Growing Up to Be Farmers

Rabbi Ari Hart is a founder of Uri L’Tzedek: Orthodox Social Justice and a rabbi at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale.

Stop Talking and Start Listening: Models of How Jews Can Be Accountable Change Makers in the Fight for Food Justice

Amalia Haas is the founder of the social enterprise HoneyBeeJewish/ HoneyBeeLocal, which seeks to inspire land stewardship through innovative STEM education for grades 2-6 focussed on natural beekeeping, and through selling bee products with that same message. Amalia created The Devorah Project to explore connections between Judaism and the Honeybee, and is December 29, 2014 – January 1, 2015 • 17

currently booking related programs for next year and planning honey sales and fundraisers. Amalia is SO excited to be back at Isabella Freedman with the Hazon community. Keep in touch: HoneyBeeJewish@gmail.com Ethical Beekeeping: An Odyssey to 700 Hives on the Arizona-Mexico Border and the TreatmentFree Beekeeping of Dee Lusby So You Want to Bee a Jewish Beekeeper?

Devin Hickman For ten years Devin has pursued an informal map towards farm ownership. From wage-less apprentice, to minimum wage laborer, to middle management, to full management.

Having moved through the ranks and tried several times to cross the barriers toward farm ownership, he has discovered a silent class struggle in the tenure patterns of the agricultural ladder.

Through this process, Devin has come to realize that the pursuit of farm ownership is fraught with the fundamental dynamics of inequality. While recognizing the complex relationships that class, capital, and history have on the prospect of ownership, Devin can speak to some radical possibilities – the sort of possibilities which can bridge the gap between food and land justice as a dream and as a reality.

Growing Up to Be Farmers

Lev Eliezer Israel is a learner and teacher of Torah, and a programmer with Sefaria – a free online living library of Jewish texts. He holds degrees in Computer Science and Philosophy from Boston University, and has spent many years in the beit midrash – at Shappel’s, Bat Ayin, Sulam Yaakov, the Pardes Kollel, and Bet Midrash Har-El. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife Stephanie and their daughter Meira.

Rotten Milk and Moldy Bread: Foods of the Talmud

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Noam Kimelman earned his Bachelor of Science in Biological Anthropology and his Master of Public Health in Health Management & Policy from the University of Michigan. In 2010, he cofounded a mission-driven fresh food delivery service called Fresh Corner Café L3C which works to transform corner stores and workplaces into points of fresh food access so that all Detroiters can easily and always access a good healthy meal. In 2011, he co-founded the Detroit Food Academy, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that uses communityfocused food entrepreneurship as a vehicle to activate high school students as critical thinkers, conscious consumers, life-long learners, and values-based leaders. In 2014, he was awarded by the National SCORE Foundation as the Outstanding Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

Keynote Panel: 2022 Vision: Envisioning the next seven years of the Jewish Food Movement Why Place Matters: Detroit as a Case Study for Jewish Food Justice

Tracy Lerman has worked in the sustainable agriculture and food systems movement for over a decade, in policy advocacy, organizing, and research. She has a master’s degree in Community Development from the University of California Davis. She is based in New York’s Hudson Valley where she works on a number of food systems-related projects and currently serves as coconvener of Poughkeepsie Plenty, a grassroots, anti-poverty and food justice organization fighting the underlying causes of hunger and food insecurity in the city of Poughkeepsie. In her free time she drinks coffee and works on perfecting her pie crust.

Stop Talking and Start Listening: Models of How Jews Can Be Accountable Change Makers in the Fight for Food Justice

As a full-time pollinator advocate and bee lover, it’s been encouraging to see that my community understands the value of and deeply cares about the little critters that help make our world so beautiful and nourishing (i.e the pollinators). As an 8th-time Food Conference attendee, I’m thrilled to see pollinators featured in this year’s food conference. The conference continues to evolve and this year bringing insects into the conversation demonstrates how the conversation is expanding to include the non-human workers in the food system.

— Sabrina Malach, Shoresh Jewish Environmental Programs

Emmanuelle “Neza” Leal-Santillan is originally from the small town of Villa Unión in Durango, México. Neza is the Communications Organizer for Somos Un Pueblo Unido, a statewide immigrant rights organization in New Mexico, and he is an Organizer with the Media Literacy Project. He is ​also a gardener and​member of Los Jardines Institute, ​ a collaborative ​located in the South Valley of Albuquerque, NM dedicated to agriculture, literacy, and environmental justice.

Movie Night: Food Chains (post film discussion) Who Grew Your Food?: From Farmworkers to Farming Cooperatives Growing Food, Reclaiming Tradition, Evolving Culture

Claire Lipson has been practicing yoga for over six years and became a certified teacher at the Nosara Yoga Institute in Costa Rica. Claire blends meditation and movement together by focusing on breath and posture. Claire hails from Toronto, Ontario where she is an environmental educator with cuttingedge organizations such as Shoresh.

Claire just completed Adamah in Fall 2014, and is excited to be teaching yoga and helping out with the Hazon Food Conference.

Yoga: Meditative Hatha Flow Yoga: Waking Up to the New Year

Alex Lyon is a Junior at the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst studying Hospitality with a certificate in Sustainable Food and Farming. Alex has been involved in the food movement for about three years, specifically focusing efforts on providing healthy local food to the UMass community by working as a cook and co-manager at a student run co-op called Earthfoods Cafe. An Adamah alumni from Summer 2014, he has experience in the hospitality sector working at a vegetarian restaurant, as well as in the non-profit sector doing the Real Food Challenge, and in a homeless shelter/soup kitchen as a cook.

Cooperative Management: The Key to Our Broken Food System

Sabrina Malach loves working as the Director of Community Outreach for Shoresh. Sabrina is a professional shmoozer, networker and pollinatorprotector! She started working with Shoresh in 2011 after spending six

18 • Hazon Food Conference

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years working and volunteering in the Jewish Food Movement in New York and Israel. She participated in the Adamah Fellowship in 2005, graduated from the Eco-Activist Beit Midrash in Jerusalem in 2006 and worked as the program assistant for Hazon from 2006-2007.

Upon returning to Toronto, she got an M.A in Environmental Studies from York University with a focus on pollinator protection in urban centres.

Save the Pollinators... From Your Backyard!

Natan Margalit was raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. He received rabbinic ordination at The Jerusalem Seminary in 1990 and earned a Ph.D. in Talmud from U.C. Berkeley in 2001. He has taught at Bard College, the Reconstuctionist Rabbinical College and the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. Natan is Rabbi of The Greater Washington Coalition for Jewish Life, in Connecticut and Visiting Rabbi at Congregation Adas Yoshuron in Rockland, Maine. He is Founder and President of Organic Torah Institute (organictorah.org), a non-profit organization which fosters holistic thinking about Judaism, environment and society. He lives in Newton, MA with his wife Ilana and their two sons. Natan once played against Barak Obama in high school basketball.

Eating as an Eco-System: The Whole Experience

Sriram Madhusoodanan is the Campaign Director for the Value [the] Meal campaign at Corporate Accountability International. In addition to serving as campaign spokesperson, Sriram advances campaign strategies and tactics, and mobilizes and expands the base of activists and allies directly challenging McDonald’s kid-target marketing practices. Before joining the campaign, Sriram worked with Green Corps, the Field School for Environmental Organizing, where he launched grassroots campaigns across the country for leading environmental and social change organizations like the Sierra Club, Environment America, Fair Share Alliance, and Corporate Accountability International. This is his first Hazon food conference!

What’s the Matter with Ronald? McDonald’s, Food Justice, and Reclaiming our Food System

MaNishtana is an Orthodox AfricanAmerican Jewish blogger, editor-at-large at JN Magazine, and author of Thoughts #foodconference

From A Unicorn and Fine, thanks. How are YOU, Jewish?. He enjoys cooking and innovating new meals on the fly and is a whirlwind in the kitchen. Just stay out while he’s cooking. A little further. A little more. There. You can stand right there.

Follow him on Twitter @MaNishtana.

Gefilte Fish Your Way: Questioning the “Jewish” of “Jewish Food”

Marina Marchese is the designer and beekeeper behind the beloved brand, Red Bee Honey and the author of The Honey Connoisseur: Selecting, Tasting, and Pairing Honey. She is a leading expert on single – origin honey and the founder of The American Honey Tasting Society.

Compelled by the philosophy of terroir, Marina studied wine tasting in order to transfer those skills to honey tasting which lead her to curate a collection of single-origin seasonal honeys under her own Red Bee Brand. Her best selling memoir, Honeybee Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper chronicles Marina’s entrepreneurial journey into the world beekeeping. Marchese received her training from the National Registry of Experts of Sensory Analysis of Honey in Italy and the Welsh Method of Honey Judging at the University of Georgia.

She has taught honey-tasting courses at Eataly, Slow Food Metro North, Murray’s Cheese Shop and Artisanal Premium Cheese Center. Recently, Marina was invited to lead the inaugural honey tasting panel for The Good Food Awards in San Francisco. Marina’s Red Bee Apiary has been featured on ABC-TV’s The Chew, and she is the past president of the Back Yard Beekeepers Association of Connecticut.

Honey Tasting Workshop

Darya Mattes is a worker-owner at Equal Exchange, a Fair Trade coffee, tea, and chocolate company, where she works with congregations and community groups who want to support a more just food system with their purchasing dollars.

Who Grew Your Food?: From Farmworkers to Farming Cooperatives

Blair Nosan is passionate about pickles, the planet, and good food for all. In the past, any time Blair had to write a bio, it began with “Blair Nosan is a Jewish pickler living and working in Detroit.”

She is the co-founder of Eden Gardens Farm, a grassroots collaboration between

the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue and a neighborhood block club called Eden Gardens. She is also co-creator of PeerCorps Detroit, a year of service for suburban teens who mentor b’nai mitzvah students as they develop their political and spiritual conscience.

Blair currently lives in NYC, where she is studying for a masters in Jewish education, and plans to return to Detroit when she graduates this summer.

Why Place Matters: Detroit as a Case Study for Jewish Food Justice

Salem Pearce is a third-year rabbinical student at Hebrew College. As part of T’ruah’s Rabbinic Fellowship in Human Rights last summer, she worked on its program to support the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), and this fall she joined T’ruah’s rabbinic delegation to Florida to learn about the CIW’s Campaign for Fair Food.

Movie Night: Food Chains (post film discussion) Who Grew Your Food?: From Farmworkers to Farming Cooperatives Stop Talking and Start Listening: Models of How Jews Can Be Accountable Change Makers in the Fight for Food Justice Keynote Panel: 2022 Vision: Envisioning the Next Seven Years of the Jewish Food Movement

December 29, 2014 – January 1, 2015 • 19

Samantha Rothman is the Co-Founder & President of Grow it Green Morristown. Samantha grew up in between landscapes; having a father from Brooklyn and a mother from a rural farm community in Kansas translated into understanding both the people and lands of two seemingly different worlds. The wide open spaces of prairie, contrasted with the deep forests of the mid-Atlantic, both influenced Samantha’s career path. After studying plant ecology at Smith College, she earned her Masters of Forest Science at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Through working as the Education and Outreach Coordinator for the Yale School Forest Program, Samantha realized that working with people and plants, together, was far better than working alone in the woods. After completing her graduate education, she returned home to New Jersey. She served for nearly a decade on her town’s Environmental Commission and in 2009, she co-founded Grow it Green Morristown (GIGM), a non-profit that builds community through collaborative projects centered around food, education, and shared outdoor spaces. GIGM runs New Jersey’s largest public school garden, as well as a large, diverse community garden.

Samantha also serves on the Board of Trustees for the New Jersey Conservation Foundation.

Community Gardens: How to Get Started and How to Take it to the Next Level On the Farm, In the Schools, Around the Table: Food Education for Kids

Ari Rubenstein is the Campaigns Administrator & Organizer at Corporate Accountability International. In this role, he works with campaign directors on organizing projects, systems support, and strategic and tactical campaign development. He also develops new staff trainings, manages the campaigns unit’s internship and volunteer program, and coordinates special organizational projects. Prior to joining staff at Corporate Accountability International, he organized with Environment Connecticut and with Green Corps – the Field School for Environmental Organizing. Ari graduated from Brown University, where he helped launch and run Beyond the Bottle, Brown’s successful campaign to go bottled water free.

This is his first Hazon food conference, though certainly not the first Rubenstein presence at Isabella Freedman!

What’s the Matter with Ronald? McDonald’s, Food Justice, and Reclaiming our Food System

Ruhi Sophia Motzkin Rubenstein is Teva-for-life educator, completing her final year at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She serves as Cooperberg-Rittmaster Rabbinic Intern at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, New York City’s LGBTQ synagogue.

She and her husband Jacob Siegel live in Washington Heights. They host singalongs, bake their bread, can their salsa and applesauce, and bike commute 12 months a year.

Our Evolving Diets & Food Rules It’s Light, It’s Fluffy; It’s Vegan Challah!

Jen Rusciano is a Michigan native and earned her Bachelor of Arts in Geography from Colgate University. In 2010, she received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to explore the social, economic, and environmental impact of chocolate production on small scale cacao farming communities around the world. Inspired to link young people with farmers close to home, she recently completed her second term with national service FoodCorps and local organization Food System Economic Partnership (FSEP), connecting cafeterias and classrooms in high needs school districts with local food from Michigan farmers and school gardens. Her work has spanned three school districts and engaged over 2000 young leaders in hands-on education with local foods. Seeing the need for positive and skill-building opportunities

for her students over the summer, Jen joined the Detroit Food Academy to engage young Detroiters in skill building and community pride through the hands-on experience of food business. As a food systems educator, Jen is primarily responsible for developing and refining the food systems, nutrition, and cooking components of the curriculum; building relationships with local businesses, farmers, and community organizations; coordinating mentorships, field trips, and class speakers, and serving administrative functions.

Why Place Matters: Detroit as a Case Study for Jewish Food Justice

Jaime Sadeh has been beekeeping for ten years for Adamah Farm. She has taught Adamah fellows the ins and outs of beekeeping, hive management, hive culture, and honey harvesting. Jaime was a Teva educator from 1995-1998 and has lived full-time in Falls Village since 2004.

She especially enjoys using her own honey medicinally for her kids during cough season.

Beekeeping and Honey Harvesting 101 DIY: Top Bar Hive Bee Boxes For Your Backyard Shamu Sadeh co-founded Adamah and has been its director since 2004. He has led the growth of Adamah into the most productive Jewish educational farm in the country, with a transformative fellowship program that has produced dozens of leaders in the Jewish farming, environmental education, and food movements. Before coming to Adamah, Shamu was a professor of environmental studies, writer, Jewish educator, and wilderness guide. He directed the Teva Learning Center in its early years and completed a doctorate in Educational Leadership. Shamu works for the creation of a fruitful ecological landscape while building confidence, mindfulness, and community among participants. Shamu has the yichus – ancestral connections – for Adamah from his great-grandparents and father, Jewish farmers and gardeners. In 2010, the New York Jewish weekly “Forward” named Shamu one of the “Forward 50” who made significant contributions to Jewish life in America.

Our Evolving Diets & Food Rules Chickens in Your Backyard, Eggs in Your Frying Pan (And Maybe an Old Hen in Your Stew Pot?) Growing Food, Reclaiming Tradition, Evolving Culture

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Joaquín “Quetzal” Sánchez has worked in various capacities with environmental justice groups and multi-sector coalitions in New York City, throughout California, and New Mexico. Currently he is an organizer with Los Jardines Institute (The Gardens Institute) and a communications strategist for the Environmental Justice and Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform. He is also a student at the University of New Mexico School of Law. Growing Food, Reclaiming Tradition, Evolving Culture Stop Talking and Start Listening: Models of How Jews Can Be Accountable Change Makers in the Fight for Food Justice

Adam SaNogueira, accompanied by his wife Rikki, returned to his native state of CT in May, 2011 to join the Adamah Staff as the Value-Added Products Manger (aka Lead Pickler). In fall of 2012 Adam was tapped to lead the Isabella Freedman kitchen and dining hall. Prior to Isabella Freedman, Adam cooked in various restaurants, schools, catering facilities throughout the NYC area and Italy. Adam was fortunate to earn a B.A. in Liberal Arts and M.S. in Global Finance from The New School as well as a Certificate in Culinary Arts from the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners in Costiglioli d’Asti, Italy. He resides on Beebe Hill with his loving wife and curious daughter, Halleli Amira.

Keynote Panel: 2022 Vision: Envisioning the Next Seven Years of the Jewish Food Movement Chef’s Playground: Noveua Traditional Food

Nigel Savage loves Hazon, loves food and loves conferences – he is thus thrilled to be here. His first public connection to food was his starring role in the Anglo-Jewish comic movie, Leon The Pig Farmer. This year he is proud to have had his first recipe published – “Shirley Savage’s Salmon Cutlets,” in the Gefiltefest Cookbook. He founded Hazon in 2000, and is now happy to run it together with his other partner in life, David Weisberg. He is a board member of Romemu and this year was recognized in the Forward 50. In his spare time he supports Manchester United and makes a mean cholent – though not at the same time.

Keynote Panel: 2022 Vision: Envisioning the Next Seven Years of the Jewish Food Movement

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Rabbi David Seidenberg’s book, Kabbalah and Ecology: God’s Image in the More-Than-Human World, will be published this coming month by Cambridge University Press. Called “a tour-de-force” by Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, “stunning” by Bill McKibben, and “a crucial and irreplaceable book” by Rabbi Jill Hammer, Kabbalah and Ecology brings Jewish ecotheology to an entirely new level. David has smikhah (ordination) from Jewish Theological Seminary and Reb Zalman.

Environmentalism vs. Animal Rights: Ramban vs. Rambam on Shiluach Hakein

Paul Shapiro is the Vice President of Farm Animal Protection for the Humane Society of the United States. Paul has played an integral role in numerous successful legislative and corporate campaigns to improve the plight of farm animals. In his role overseeing efforts to pass state laws and corporate policies, he works with lawmakers and major food retailers alike to implement animal welfare reforms in the agricultural industry.

Animal Welfare as a Jewish Issue: Animals in the 7 Year Goals for the Jewish Food Movement Our Evolving Diets & Food Rules

Todd Shearer ended up in Canaan, CT by way of Maine and California. Along the way he picked up a wife and three kids, boys aged 5, 7 and 11. Realizing they needed to feed these little monsters, they started a small homestead in Canaan to grow some of their own food.

He likes low maintenance and the ability to “build my own stuff, so top bar hives appealed to me.“ He built his first box five years ago and has had hives ever since.

He considers himself an expert in the art of “Lazy Beekeeping”.

DIY: Top Bar Hive Bee Boxes For Your Backyard

Dr. Maya Shetreat-Klein is an integrative pediatric neurologist board certified in both neurology and pediatrics. After completing her training, she completed a fellowship with the Program for Integrative Medicine at University of Arizona, founded by Dr. Andrew Weil. She now serves as faculty at Albert Einstein, New York Medical College and University of Arizona. In her New York City practice, she treats children with intractable neurological and other chronic pediatric issues from all over the country. Dr. Shetreat-Klein

also has testified on the health impacts of toxic exposures before Governor Andrew Cuomo’s senior staff, New York State Assembly Committee Members, New York City Council members, and has appeared with Senator Schumer to support the Safe Chemicals Act. Keynote Panel: 2022 Vision: Envisioning the Next Seven Years of the Jewish Food Movement The Dirt Cure: How Food and Nature Heal Us Straight From Soil

Jacob Siegel is a trained and certified shochet (kosher slaughterer), and offers demonstrations and workshops across the country on the topic of kosher sustainable meat. He is a student at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, an open and modern Orthodox rabbinical school.

Originally from Minnesota, he currently lives in New York City, where he also works as a Jewish environmental educator. Jacob first trained as a shochet in Jerusalem and has done follow-up certification in New York and New Jersey.

He is married to Ruhi Sophia Motzkin Rubenstein (also at the conference) – together they like to attend rallies fighting climate change and can their own applesauce.

The Life and Death of the Chicken on your Plate: A Live Shechita Demonstration Open Beit Midrash Coordinator

Cara Michelle Silverberg is an Adamah alumna (Fall 2005), a former Teva educator and coordinator of the Teva Seminar on Jewish Outdoor, Food and Environmental Education (2006-2013), a former coordinator of Camp Teva at the Hazon Food Conference (2011), and has presented at numerous conferences and institutions on Jewish environmental topics including the Ganei Beantown Food Conference, the University of Massachusetts and Smith College.

Cara is a student of permaculture and community herbalism. She lives in Western Massachusetts where she coordinates arts and earth-connected educational programs for youth, teens and families at a Reconstructionist synagogue.

Sweet Medicine: Enhancing Human & Ecological Health With Herbs & Honey

December 29, 2014 – January 1, 2015 • 21

Nili Simhai has been working in the field of JOFEE, Jewish Outdoor, Food, and Environmental Education, since 1997. A recipient of the Covenant Award for excellence in Jewish education, Nili has been recognized for her leadership in training and counseling hundreds of educators in the tenets of Jewish environmental education.

Nili served as the Director of Teva, a founding organization in the JOFEE field, for fourteen years. She is currently consulting with Jewish institutions on outdoor classrooms, conducting teaching residencies, and helping to write curriculum. She is also a proud volunteer for Abundance Farm, a Jewish community farm and outdoor classroom in Northampton, MA. (abundancefarm. org) During a recent sabbatical year, Nili delved into the world of natural dyeing.

As a result, she has recently co-founded Earth Dye Judaica, a partnership which produces Jewish ritual objects and lifecycle wear woven in the colors of the earth. EarthDyeJudaica.com) Natural Egg Dyeing for Purim or Pesach Asheh Reshteh: A Persian Slow-Food for Shabbat On the Farm, In the Schools, Around the Table: Food Education for Kids

Jerry Schwartz can be found working on his 60-ewe sheep farm (friskylambfarm. com) where he raises grass-fed lamb when he is not working as a full-time geriatrician in Binghamton, NY. Jerry presented at the 2009 and 2012 East Coast Food Conferences.

The 21st Century Meat Business: Balancing Kosher, Local, and Sustainable

Donna Simons is an artist, writer, chef, educator and dynamic leader in the local food movement. A Farm to Fork Consultant, She owns and operates Pound Ridge Organics, a Food Hub that provides clean, nutritious, local organic food year ‘round to consumers and restaurants in Westchester, Fairfield and the Lower Hudson Valley. In addition to the eggs, meat, produce, dry goods, cheeses and dairy products from over fifty local farms and artisan food purveyors, her weekly provisions include products from her own ‘micro-farm’ and farm kitchen such as maple syrup, honey, jams, frozen desserts and baked goods. Donna teaches cooking and homesteading skills at local venues and farms, and tours colleges and restaurant groups in the Northeast to educate about food justice and sustainability issues. She is an active member of NOFA [Northeast Organic Farming Association] and a board member of Slow Food Metro North, which will be awarding her enterprise with a 2015 ‘Snail Of Approval’ award. Her work in the food movement has appeared in numerous publications including: Edible Hudson Valley; Westchester and Hudson Valley Magazine(s); Bedford Magazine; The Daily Voice; The Record Review; CT Bites and the Stamford Advocate/Greenwich Time.

You can reach Donna Simons by email: PoundRidgeOrganics@iCloud.com or on Facebook where she has pages for Pound Ridge Organics and Bon freakin Appetit.

The 21st Century Meat Business: Balancing Kosher, Local, and Sustainable Food is Medicine: Bone Broth –The Newest Old Fashioned Food Trend Yolks and Whites: Simple and Elegant Recipes for Passover and Year Round

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I’m eager to have the opportunity to brainstorm with other producers, food-coop organizers, and individuals on how to get the kind of meat I myself would be willing to eat from the farm to the dinner table at a reasonable cost. The most inexpensive way of putting by a supply of meat for the consumer is to buy a whole animal directly from the farmer. Conversely, this is also the most advantageous way for a farmer to sell his meat animals. So what are the logistical and regulatory barriers to expanding this kind of direct farmer-to-consumer transaction and how can we overcome them in a user-friendly manner?

Rachel Skupsky attended American Jewish University for undergrad in 2012 and received a B.A in Jewish Studies.

After graduating AJU, she worked as the director of Faith2Green, and helped to coordinate events a Motor Avenue Farmers Market In Los Angeles, CA 20122014. She is currently living in Pittsburgh and working on a Masters in Food Studies.

What does the Torah Say about Veganism?

Arthur Siller Arthur has been pickling and jamming with Adamah since 2012. His early interest in nature, science, and agriculture led him to study geology as an undergraduate, agronomy as a master’s student, and the exciting relationships between rocks, soil, and bacteria as a farmer and fermenter.

An enthusiastic preserver of the warm seasons’ bounty, he loves pickling, jamming, and farming at Adamah. He has two wonderful cats, one gray and one tabby.

Citrus Marmalade Jamming

Janna Siller, Adamah Field manager, came to Adamah in February of 2011 with a passion for sharing the skills, connections, and confidence to shift realities that farming has offered her.

She began her farm career as an intern in 2005 after graduating from Beloit College and has had dirty knees ever since; holding roles that include farm educator, flower grower, assistant farm manager, and farm business owner at various farms across the country. She has published a number of essays on biological agriculture.

Sharing the Abundance: Excess Food Distribution Growing Up to Be Farmers

Carly Sugar lives in Northwest Detroit, the old Jewish neighborhood! She works with a variety of food-justice related projects in the city. Through her recent work at Temple Emanu-El in Oak Park, Carly leads young adults in examining local social and environmental issues through a Jewish lens. Carly is very excited to be here, after a great first experience last year.

Why Place Matters: Detroit as a Case Study for Jewish Food Justice

— Jerry Schwartz, Owner of Frisky Lamb Farm 22 • Hazon Food Conference

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Eitan Sussman is a native of Ann Arbor and a proud transplant of a 12 years to Detroit. Eitan discovered a love of food and farming from his zayde and from his first farm internship in high school. Eitan has worked as an educator for 15 years, designing justice-oriented curriculum for youth and adults in Michigan, the Gulf Coast, and abroad. Eitan is currently a codirector at Keep Growing Detroit, a food and agriculture-focused organization in the city, where he manages farm production, produce sales, and youth education. Eitan has a degree in Political Science with a focus on International Law from Wayne State University and studied agriculture with the Organic Farming Certificate Program at Michigan State University. One of his greatest joys in life include watching his daughter Nava snack on produce grown on their farm and play with random oversized vegetables.

Stop Talking and Start Listening: Models of How Jews Can Be Accountable Change Makers in the Fight for Food Justice Why Place Matters: Detroit as a Case Study for Jewish Food Justice

Yoni Stadlin, a passionate and talented educator, activist and community builder, founded Eden Village Camp in 2008 with his wife, Vivian Lehrer Stadlin. In 2010, the Jewish Week recognized Yoni and Vivian as two of the “36 under 36” (the 36 most influential Jewish leaders under the age of 36). Yoni holds an M.A. in Informal Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and directed the 92nd Street Y’s science and nature day camp for two years, where he garnered rave reviews from campers, parents and staff. He is a veteran educator for the Teva Learning Center, the country’s leading Jewish environmental education program. Yoni has a natural gift for sharing his vision, leading raucous song sessions and connecting with people of all ages.

On the Farm, In the Schools, Around the Table: Food Education for Kids

Erin Taylor lives in Somerville, MA in a house that almost always has something fermenting. She is an alumna of Adamah (2010), FoodCorps (2012), and Tufts (2010 and 2014) where she recently finished her Masters in Elementary STEM Education. She currently works as a School Gardens Coordinator for CitySprouts in Cambridge, MA and this #foodconference

winter is also working as the School-Based Programs Manager for Mill City Grows in Lowell, MA. She is using her newfound free time now that she is no longer a student nor a waitress to step up her food preservation game, get involved in community activism, and read things that were not assigned to her. She also helps organize the Wandering Minyan which, along with everything else, you are welcome to ask her about.

On the Farm, In the Schools, Around the Table: Food Education for Kids

Kirsten S. Traynor, PhD In 2006-2007, Kirsten received a German Chancellor Fellowship and with her husband and drove over 50,000 miles throughout Western Europe to study the differences between European and American beekeeping. She reported her findings through 50+ published articles.

Fascinated with the social complexity of a honey bee hive, she earned her PhD in biology from Arizona State University.

While a grad student, she spent almost a year in Avignon, France in the lab of Dr. Yves Le Conte as a Fulbright Fellow.

She is the author of Two Million Blossoms: Discovering the Medicinal Benefits of Honey. She currently investigates how pesticides impact honey bee health and was just appointed editor of Bee World.

History of Honey: How Nature’s First Sweetener Became a Global Commodity Pollinators in Peril: What’s Killing the Bees Behind the Veil: The True Secret Life of Bees & Beekeepers

Michael J. Traynor is a commercial and fine art photographer, whose work has appeared in national and international magazines. The head of National Geographic’s photography lab asked him to teach their photographers how he achieved such a wide tonal scale. His incredible macro images of bees and flowers bring the world of beekeeping to life. Combining his skills in beekeeping with photography, he documented the

life of bee breeders, beekeepers and bee scientists. A small selection of his work is available online at flowerslovebees.com and idfineart.com History of Honey: How Nature’s First Sweetener Became a Global Commodity Pollinators in Peril: What’s Killing the Bees Behind the Veil: The True Secret Life of Bees & Beekeepers

Jeffrey Yoskowitz is a writer, pickler and entrepreneur. He is the Co-Owner and Chief Pickler of the The Gefilteria, and co-author of the forthcoming The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods (Flatiron Books, 2016). He has written articles on food, culture and identity for The New York Times, Slate, The Atlantic, The New Republic, Gastronomica and Meatpaper. He is an Adamah alumnus and this is his sixth Hazon Food Conference.

Our Evolving Diets & Food Rules Ma’aseh Bereishit: Beginning Stories of Hope, Health and Inspired Activism Chef’s Playground: Noveua Traditional Food

Leon Vehaba is an organic farmer and the farm manager for Poughkeepsie Farm Project, a community CSA farm and food justice organization. He has a master’s degree in education from Boston University. He is also a graduate of the University of California Center for Agroecology and Food Systems farm apprenticeship program in Santa Cruz and has managed organic farms in California and New York. Leon has many food hobbies that occupy his free time, including brewing, fermenting, dehydrating, smoking, and preserving.

Sharing the Abundance: Excess Food Distribution

December 29, 2014 – January 1, 2015 • 23

Food at the Food Conference

Jewish Life at the Food Conference

At the Food Conference, of all places, we understand that food is important. Yet planning a menu and a dining schedule where 200 people can feel nourished as if they had dined in someone’s home, on food that is sustainably raised and lovingly prepared, takes planning and some important decision making.

The Hazon Food Conference is for everyone interested in Jewish life, the environment, and contemporary food issues. We welcome people from across the spectrum of Jewish practice and knowledge as well as people from other religious backgrounds. Our goal is to provide a nurturing and dynamic space for all to engage with Jewish culture and food issues.

Here are the guidelines we followed as we put together our food plan for this weekend:

Mindfulness, Gratitude, and Blessings Mealtimes may be an ideal time for conference participants to explore a new way of blessing or simply taking time to appreciate the sources of your food. At most meal times we will come together in a larger group to share this special food that many hands have had a part in bringing to our tables: farmers and farmworkers who have grown and harvested it, chefs who have prepared it, and mashgichim who have supervised it to make sure that people of differing observance levels can all eat together. We encourage you to take a moment before and after eating to experiment with different ways of appreciating your food. You can find variations on traditional language for food blessings on the table tents and blessing cards at meals. If you want to be creative, feel free to adapt, change or invent your own way of being mindful! It could be as simple as taking a breath, closing your eyes before taking your first bite, and taking a moment to savor your food after you are finished.

Kosher. Isabella Freedman is a kosher facility. We’re also showcasing several innovative Kosher sustainable food businesses at the Shuk and throughout the conference.

Local and Organic. The innovative Isabella

Freedman chefs create farm-to-table magic. The ingredients they use reflect our values in the larger world. We have incorporated organic, local, and fair trade products to promote environmental stewardship, vibrant local economies, good working conditions, and animal welfare. A significant amount of the produce was grown right here on campus. The Adamah farm employs traditional season-extending methods such as greenhouse and hoop-house growing, pickling, freezing, canning, drying, and root cellar-ing to bring farm food to our table year-round.

Meat as a special touch. For every Food

Conference, we have debated over whether to serve meat and how to provide meat that was kosher, local, and from humanely-raised animals. The meat we are serving this year is from the only USDA certified heritage breed chickens in the world, specially purchased from Frank Reese at Good Shepherd Poultry Ranch and processed at Pelleh Poultry in Swan Lake, NY, the smallest kosher slaughterhouse in the US.

Not processed. We will provide you with meals

that are cooked, yes, but not overly processed. We have tried to stay away from white sugar and white flour as well, except for a few cases, like breakfast cereals and some special treats at snacks. We have chosen not to serve soda and to avoid high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavorings, and hydrogenated oils. Isabella Freedman will be preparing most foods on the dining menu from fresh, whole ingredients.

Seasonal. One of the best things about eating with

the season is that you get excited when it’s finally time for strawberries again. Our menu highlights the best of the late autumn harvest in the Northeast – pumpkin bread, root vegetable stews and frost-sweetened greens.

Delicious! We knew that people coming to a Jewish

food conference would expect to be fed with nothing but the tastiest foods, so we made sure that the menu would delight and inspire!

A huge thanks to the many people who helped to plan, research, grow, harvest, process, clean, pack, transport, unpack, clean, cook, and serve our food – not to mention those who will clear our tables, clean our dishes, compost the excess food waste, throw away the rest, and then do it all again for the next meal.

24 • Hazon Food Conference

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Another opportunity for reflection and mindful eating is to eat at a designated silent table, which will be available during breakfast in the Lounge. As it is written, “All my life I grew up among the sages, and I found nothing better for a person than silence.” (Vayikra Rabbah 16:5). You are welcome to dine in silence as a means of cultivating a greater awareness of the food you are eating.

Jewish Learning As the Yiddish saying goes, es iz gut tzu zeyn a yid – it is good to be a Jew. Why? Because we are blessed to have a tradition that is a treasure-chest of wisdom. How should we live? How should we relate to other people, to ourselves, to the world around us, and to the very mystery of our existence? We are the lucky inheritors of rich conversations about these topics. There are books and books and books, spanning thousands of years, that provide invaluable insight into the human condition.

These texts offer perspective on our mortality, and on our place in the cosmos. They invite us to benefit from the voices of the past, and to add our own commentary

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as the latest layer. We know that Jewish learning can be intimidating, especially to those who are new to it.

Yet we also know that it can be a profoundly beautiful experience, and we want to create an environment in which everyone can enjoy that beauty, and everyone has access to traditional Jewish texts. Whatever your background, and whatever your knowledge level, we hope you will join us in the project of opening the treasure-chest, of reveling in the bounty inside, and of sharing it with others in a true community of learning.

Services and Programming Throughout the conference we will have various options for prayer and spiritual practice for participants across the spectrum of observance. Check out the schedule for more details of how specific services will be conducted.

If you have any questions about Jewish Life at the conference, please find a Hazon staff member.

December 29, 2014 – January 1, 2015 • 25

Gil Marks

Holy Vegan Challah Bread

1952 - 2014

A Recipe from Ruhi Sophia Motzkin Rubinstein

Gil brought flavor and an encyclopedic knowledge of Jewish food to the Hazon Food Conference family.

We will keep cooking his recipes, and we will remember him with gratitude for all that he offered at previous food conferences, including: 2007 Cooking Demo (Sephardic Chanukah foods) Bagels: From Shmear to Eternity 2010 Jews in Food: A Culinary History Tu B’Shvat: The Fruit-full Holiday 2013 Ethopian Cookery: A Culinary Journey Beyond Hummus: Foodways in the Promised Land From Shmear to Eternity: The Mainstreaming of Jewish Food

Moroccan Orange Salad (Salata Latsheen)

Makes 3 large or 4-5 small loaves (3 hour prep time, or can split it overnight)

How to prepare:

Ingredients:

In a large bowl: mix together water, sweetener and oil.

3 Tbs. flax seed meal dissolved and whisked into 1 c. tepid water 2 c warm water 1/2 c. maple syrup or honey 1/3 c. olive oil or coconut oil 1 1/2 Tbs. yeast = 2 packets (instant or active dry) 1 Tbs. salt 2 c. whole wheat flour 6-10 c. white flour (can change the proportions of whole wheat/ white flour if you want a grainier/fluffier challah) Optional: 1 Tbs flaxseed dissolved in another 1/3rd cup of water, for brushing on top of challah Raisins/chocolate chips/ cinnamon/other spices for baking into the challah Poppy/sesame/other seeds for the top

If using Instant (/RapidRise/Breadmachine) Yeast: In a small bowl, mix together 1 cup flour with the yeast and salt. No need to wait after mixing; add dry to wet ingredients and stir.

Dressing:

Ingredients:

¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil ¼ cup (60 ml) vegetable oil ¼ cup (60 ml) fresh orange juice 2 tablespoons (30 ml) fresh lemon juice or red wine vinegar 2 to 3 tablespoons (30 to 45 ml) honey or sugar or ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon (5 ml) grated orange zest 1 teaspoon (5 ml) salt 1 tablespoon (15 ml) fresh or ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) dried rosemary, basil, cilantro, mint, or thyme or ½ to 1 teaspoon (2.5 to 5 ml) ground cumin ¼ cup (60 ml) chopped fresh mint or cilantro (optional)

5 medium (3 cups/720 ml) navel oranges or tangerines, peeled and segmented 2 medium red onions, thinly sliced (1½ cups/360 ml) 1 head romaine or butter lettuce or 1 bunch spinach, torn into bite-size pieces About 5 cups greens, such as 2 bunches watercress, 2 bunches radicchio, or 6 ounces (170 grams) baby arugula, torn into bite-size pieces

Then mix in the flaxseed mixture. Start adding in flour and stirring.

Keep adding flour until you have to knead it. Knead it by turning the dough over and over on itself, adding in flour until it’s the right consistency- don’t be gentle! (But consider singing while you knead, to add to the Shabbat holiness!) At the right consistency, it will stick if you grab the dough and dig in your fingers, but won’t if you gently press it with your palm.

Set it to rise until doubled (40-60 mins), in a greased dish, covered to retain moisture.

Ba-ruch A-tah A-do-nai, E-lo-hei-nu me-lech ha-o-lam, a-sher kid-shanu be-mitz-vo-tav, vi-tzi-va-nu le-haf-rish cha-lah min ha-isah.

Separate the Challah and give thanks!* Punch it down and shape it into loaves on the baking sheet. Preheat oven to 375 Fahrenheit.

Gil taught us how to make this wonderful Tu B’Shvat recipe at the 2010 Food Conference.

Makes 6 to 8 servings

If NOT using Instant yeast, add yeast to wet ingredients before adding other dry ingredients, lightly stir and let sit for 15 minutes.

When you see that the yeast has formed a bubbly foam over the surface of the liquid, mix in a mixture of the salt with 1 c of flour and stir.

Blessing for “separating” the challah

Blessed are You, Eternal One, God who governs the universe, who makes us holy through mitzvot and has given us the mitzvah of separating the challah from the dough.

A Recipe from Gil Marks

Whisk vigorously the flax seed with 1 c. water

Let rise until doubled again, then wash the tops with flax/water. If desired, sprinkle with seeds.

Put it in the oven, bake for 30-35 minutes, or until bread is golden brown and makes a hollow sound when you thump the bottom.

How to prepare: Divide the lettuce and watercress between serving plates or place on large platter. Toss together the oranges and onions and place on greens. Combine all the dressing ingredients and drizzle over the salad.

Variations: Add 2 peeled and sliced avocados, 2 cups sliced cooked beets, 1½ cups chopped pitted dates, 1 sliced large bulb fennel, 1 pound julienned peeled jicama, or 20 to 24 pitted and sliced black olives.

26 • Hazon Food Conference

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December 29, 2014 – January 1, 2015 • 27

Schmaltz Knish

Heritage Chicken Soup

A Recipe from Julia Braun

A Recipe from Yadidya Greenberg

Yield: 16-20 tennis ball sized knishes Ingredients: Note: If you do not have schmaltz available, or would like to make these vegetarian or parve, replace the schmaltz with vegetable or olive oil.

5 cups flour 2 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. salt 2 eggs 1/4 c. oil 1/4 c. schmaltz 2 tsp. white vinegar 1 cup warm water How to prepare: 1. Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk until mixed.

2. In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients and mix well.

3. Form a well in the flour mixture by using your hand to create an empty spot in the middle of the bowl.

4. Pour the liquid mixture into the well and slowly mix together.

5. Knead for about 5-10 minutes until a smooth and soft dough forms. The dough should have a bit of resistance when you poke it with your finger.

6. Wrap with plastic wrap and let rest in the refrigerator for AT LEAST one hour. This is an important step. It allows the gluten proteins present in and the flour to chill Freedman out and relax.Staff, This means that2013 when you Hazon Isabella March go to roll out the dough, it will be soft and easy to roll. If you rush this step, you are likely to end up fighting with a tough and cranky dough.

7. While the dough is chilling, prepare the filling. The possibilities for what to use as a filling are endless. Leftovers? Throw them in the knish. Need a use for all that sauerkraut? Knish it. Too many apples in the fruit basket? Make an apple pie knish for dessert.

Here is my favorite, and the easiest filling:

Back in your grandma’s early days people would have laughed at anybody trying to make soup with a young chicken. The older poultry gets the more flavor it develops and the better it can withstand being boiled. Soup made with today’s young supermarket birds leads to mushy chicken with a bland and tasteless broth. This amazing recipe will produce soup like you’ve never tasted before. It will be thick, yellow in color and filled with flavorful chicken that you can really bite into. Be aware that using old heritage breed birds and a very long cooking time is essential for producing this delicious creation.

Prep time: 1 hour Cook time: 8-10 hours

8-12 potatoes 2 Tbl. olive oil 2 onions, diced 1 bunch dill, chopped Salt to taste Pepper to taste *Optional butter

Ingredients:

Roast the potatoes, whole and drizzled with oil, in a 425 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until tender when poked with a fork.

While the potatoes are roasting, caramelize onions in a pan. To caramelize an onion, heat 1 Tbl. of oil in a pan over medium high heat. When the oil is hot, add the diced onions and stir until the onions begin to brown. When the onions are a nice copper brown color, turn the heat down to low and stir occasionally, cooking for 25 minutes or until the onions are soft, richly browned and sweet as candy.

Combine the potatoes, onions and dill in a bowl and mash the mixture up with a fork and season with salt, pepper, and a Tablespoon of butter if you would like. I like a chunkier texture, and I always add more salt that I think I will need, because potatoes SOAK up salt. For this recipe, I add about a tablespoon of salt and a teaspoon of pepper.

1-2 whole heritage stewing chickens (4-7lbs total) include the feet, gizzard, heart and neck if available (a stewing chicken must be at least 12 months old) 2-3 Tbs schmaltz (one may add more or less schmaltz depending on how fat the chicken is) 2-3 medium yellow onions - quartered 1 head of garlic – 3-4 cloves minced and the rest simply peeled 3/4 pound carrots - roughly chopped into large pieces 3/4 pound celery - roughly chopped into large pieces 3/4 pound cauliflower - roughly chopped (optional, adds thickness to the soup) 1 1/2 pound russet potatoes -peeled and halved or quartered 3/4 pound parsnip or celery root - peeled and roughly chopped into large pieces 1 tsp of dried thyme Your choice of fresh herbs, I personally enjoy parsley and thyme or dill (optional) Salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste (optional) Several cups of fully cooked noodles or rice (optional)

How to prepare: Part the chicken into 8 pieces. Add schmaltz to a large pot and brown the chicken over a medium high heat for about 5 minutes on each side. Add the rest of the ingredients except for the fresh herbs. Bring to a rolling simmer and turn down heat to very low. Let the soup barely simmer for 8-10 hours, until the meat is falling off the bone. These older birds have very tough muscle tissue so the 2-3 hour cook time you’re used to with younger birds just wont do here. When the soup is finished cooking turn off the heat and add the fresh herbs and salt & pepper. If using feet most will probably want to remove and discard them at this point but for those feeling adventurous they can be kept in the soup when serving. To eat the feet peel off the scales and suck the tasty gelatin and marrow from inside. Either serve meat bone in (this is my favorite method) or separate from the bone and shred before putting back into the pot.

Add rice or noodles when serving if you like. It will take a little longer but once you’ve tried this recipe you’ll never look at chicken soup the same way again.

Now that the filling is prepared and the dough has rested, it is time to roll your knishes.

There are several ways to do this. I like the sheet method, where you roll up the filling like a burrito and twist the dough to portion off your knishes. This does create a more “dough-heavy” knish. You can also cut out squares, plop some filling in, and carefully wrap up the filling with the dough, trimming the extra dough. I then flip the knish over, so the flaps are on the bottom, and the top is a thin, smooth layer of dough.

The final step is to brush on egg wash. This causes the knishes to brown nicely, and makes everything much prettier.

I make the egg wash by taking one egg and mixing in a tablespoon of water into the egg. Use a pastry brush if you have one. Paint brushes and sponges also work.

Bake the knishes in a 375 degree oven for 25 minutes. Check the knishes, rotating pans if necessary for even browning. Bake for another 15 minutes.

Let cool slightly and enjoy! Knishes are best enjoyed fresh out of the oven, but will also reheat nicely. Microwaves are adequate and ovens are the best! To reheat, simply place in a 300 degree oven for about 15 minutes.

28 • Hazon Food Conference

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December 29, 2014 – January 1, 2015 • 29

Notes, Inspirations, Connections

Ideas, Questions, Thoughts

Tuesday | 12.31.13 | 10 o’clock Great Hall and Lounge Party into 2014 with your Food Conference friends!

Enjoy delicious snacks, signature cocktails, and wine courtesy of The River Wine.

30 • Hazon Food Conference

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#foodconference

December 29, 2014 – January 1, 2015 • 31

Thank You

Hopes, Resolutions, Wishes

Todah Rabah (great thanks) to the following amazing individuals and organizations • Jason Long along with Ariel Vegosen and the Camp Teva Educators for creating a special program just for the little sprouts

• Adam Shapiro and the Adamah fellows who prepared all the wood for the top bar hives we are making this week

• Sabria Malach who curated our “Pollinators” sessions

• Ashley Lauber, Jaclyn Schwanemann, Danielle Morse and Tommy Kubitsky who made this the smoothest registration process of any sold-out retreat in the history of Isabella Freedman

• Donna Simons for her exhibiting her gallery show: “Bon Freakin Appétit” • Dr. Aaron Saul Gross who envisioned our poultry and animal welfare themed programming • Yadidya Greenberg who personally bought and transported 161 chickens to the kosher slaughterhouse in upstate New York so that we could enjoy kosher heritage breed poultry

• Amy Hannes, for creating this Program Book • Daniel Infeld, our 2013 Food Conference program manager, who left us with extremely well organized files and systems to use for building this year’s conference • All the volunteers for helping with tasks large and small

• Margot Seigle and Salem Pearce of T’ruah who worked tirelessly to create our Food Justice programming

• The amazing presenters who are generously and joyfully giving their time to this conference

• Naomi Izen, Sonia Wilk and the Adamah fellows who organized the DIY Fair

• The many people who are leading prayers and other spiritual experiences

• Jac for organizing all of the food and equipment for our food demos

• Burt’s Bees for donating lip balm and Pollinator.org for providing “Judiasm & Pollinator” pamphlets

• Trisha Margulies and Oran Hesterman, for their work as chairs of the Hazon Food Council • The Isabella Freedman Operations and Food Service staff, especially Adam SaNogueira and Mike Davino, who go above and beyond the call of duty each and every day

• Our past Food Conference Chairs: Natasha Aronson, Sue Carson, Simon Feil, Emily Jane Freed, Zelig Golden, Anna Hanau, Linda Lantos, Eli Margulies, Naomi Rabkin, Marc Soloway, Roger Studley, David Wolfe, as well as Leah Koenig who ran the first conference • All of the Hazon staff spouses, partners, and families

Special thanks to the following funders who directly supported the 2014 Food Conference • Anonymous – for support of scholarships for rabbinical students • The Lisa Anne Botnick Teen Scholarship Fund – for support of teenage participants • The Lisa and Maury Friedman Foundation – for scholarships for young Jewish farmers • Farmer Freed’s “You Grow Girl” scholarship to support Jewish female farmers attendance at the conference • Yael Greenberg – for scholarships for Jewish farmers • The Leichtag Foundation – for support of Food Justice programming and scholarships for San Diego participants • Rose Community Foundation, 18 Pomegranates, and Oreg Foundation – for support of scholarships for Colorado participants • Ben N. Teitel Charitable Trust – for support of scholarships for the Michigan cohort • Tamar Fund – for scholarships for those who share her vision of a sustainable future and need financial support for attending the conference this year

Tuesday | 12.31.13 | 10 o’clock Great Hall and Lounge

We deeply appreciate the support of all of the Hazon and Isabella Freedman funders.

For a complete list of donors for all of Hazon’s projects, please visit hazon.org/supporters.

Hazon Board of Directors

Party into 2014 with your Food Conference friends!

Richard Shuster, Chair Adina Abramowitz Natasha Aronson Richard Dale Robert Friedman

Enjoy delicious snacks, signature cocktails, and wine courtesy of The River Wine.

32 • Hazon Food Conference

The Lisa Anne Botnick Scholarship Fund Lisa was a vegetarian from the age of four, in a family who were not. An extraordinary person, and a gifted artist and clarinet player… she is dearly missed.

The Tamar Fund is in loving memory of Tamar Bittelman z”l who attended the food conference in Davis, California in 2011. Torah, Jewish community, ecology, and DIY food were values that Tamar held dear in her own life, and she very much appreciated the intersection of these values at the Hazon conference. Sharing a meal with Tamar, particularly a Shabbat or Chag meal, was an experience filled with kedushah, where one was effortlessly and joyfully escorted to “a different place.”

Susan Friedman Marty Friedman Ellen Goodman Oran Hesterman Sharon Leslie

Jakir Manela Trisha Margulies Ruth Messinger Howard Metzenberg Jay Moses

Anna Ostrovsky Joshua Ratner Sandy Rocks Howie Rodenstein Mark Russo

Maya Shetreat-Klein Marc Soloway Val Yasner David Wolfe

David Rendsburg David Weisberg Drisana Davis Ed Koehler Elan Margulies Elisheva Urbas Gabi Scher Shira Golden Hans Ricketts Hody Nemes Jaclyn Schwanemann Jacob Siegel Janna Siller

Jay Wilson Jeffrey Greenberg Jeremy Edelman Jessie Karsif Jessie Katz Jessilyn Steph Jon Leiner Judith Belasco Julie Botnick Kiki Lipsett Lauren Greenberg Leah Lazer Lisa Sacks

Mai Hidaka Margot Siegle Meredith Cohen Mike Davino Mirele Goldsmith Molly Zimmerman Naomi Izen Nati Passow Nigel Savage Noa Albaum Rachel Crane Rachel Stein Renanit Levy

Sarah Chandler Sarah Kornhauser Sarah Wolk Shamu Sadeh Sonia Wilk Timothy Hemenway Tommy Kubitsky Toni Reid Tonia Moody Vlastik Valasek Yaakov Reef

Hazon Staff Awren Schwartz Adam SaNogueira Adam Segulah Sher Amy Hannes Arthur Siller Ashley Lauber Becca Linden Becky O’Brien Cheryl Cook Cody McCabe Courtney Reynolds Daniel Sayani Danielle Morse

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December 29, 2014 – January 1, 2015 • 33

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Spring, Summer, and Fall in CT

February 11 - 16 & July 27 - Aug 2

February 16 - 20 & July 20 - 24

ADAMAH FELLOWSHIP

TORAH YOGA

TALMUD CIRCLE INSTITUTE

Three months of farming, learning, and community for people ages 20 - 32

February 27 - March 1

LGBTQ TEEN SHABBATON

Uncover the hidden light with Jewish text study and Iyengar yoga

May 7 - 10

CALIFORNIA RIDE & RETREAT

February 23 - 26

HAZON RABBIS’ RETREAT

Immerse yourself in the sea of Talmud with Arthur Kurzweil

Create a healthier and more sustainable paradigm for rabbinic leadership

July 6 - 19

August 3 - 7

CAMP ISABELLA FREEDMAN

JEWISH LEARNING INTENSIVE

Fun, community and learning for and

by Jewish LGBTQ and allied teens

Mother’s Day Weekend ride in Northern California

All-inclusive summer vacation for senior adults and their families

With Art Green, Ariel Mayse, Nancy Flam, Ebn Leader, and Or Rose

September 4 - 7

September 27 - 30

October 27 - November 3

Yearround and Nationwide

NEW YORK RIDE & RETREAT

End your summer with rides through the Berkshires and into Manhattan

SUKKAHFEST

Celebrate the harvest festival at this annual pluralistic gathering

ISRAEL RIDE

Experience the beauty of Israel from the seat of your bicycle

HAZON FOOD FESTIVALS

Workshops, DIY experiences, text study, formal and informal education

Visit us online for a full listing of our 2015 programs

hazon.org

Design your own organizational retreat!

YEAR-ROUND ORGANIZATIONAL RETREATS

JEWISH INSPIRATION. SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES.

Isabella Freedman offers a unique gathering place for meetings, workshops, team-building, and quiet reflection. Contact us about bringing fifty or more people to Isabella Freedman for an experience that includes a tour of the Adamah farm, Teva nature programs, farm-to-table food education, yoga, meditation, and more. hazon.org/organizational-retreats