This app came about from my realization that when people go to Shul to daven, they almost never pull out an electronic device. Back 8-9 years ago I remember seeing people trying to daven in a shul from their Palm Pilots and that looked very unnatural. Pocket PC screens were dim, not multitouch, low resolution and one had to tap on a button almost every second to scroll the text. Besides, there are ample amounts of siddurim in a shul, and most people still prefer to read from a physical siddur.
By Timi Gerson, Director of Advocacy of American Jewish World Service. Cross-posted on Food Forever – The AJWS Food Justice Blog.
African countries aren’t spending enough on agriculture, IRIN reported last week. And that’s a bad thing:
“Spending money on food production is critical in Africa, where 70 percent of people live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for food and income. There are also going to be more people to feed in Africa in the next few decades. Sub-Saharan Africa’s population is expected to grow faster than elsewhere by 2050, increasing by 910 million people, or 108 percent.”
This article is crossposted to Intermountain Jewish News and was written by Chris Leppek. Photo by Shari Valenta
If you listen carefully, you might hear new and curious sounds emanating from the Denver Jewish community.
Such as a rake drawing its tines through freshly turned earth.
Or a hoe chucking its way through clods and weeds.
Or the hushed plinks of water drops falling from hoses to dirt.
Or, perhaps, even the barely perceptible whisper of a young plant springing forth from a seed in search of sunlight.
Gardens and small farms are appearing in the city in all sorts of unlikely places, including Jewish places — in the shadow of a synagogue, on newly-acquired land that might one day become a Jewish high school, on an empty lot amidst the hustle-bustle of downtown itself.
Not long ago, at a party, I met a dark-eyed Peruvian woman with a sultry accent who had just discovered her slow cooker. She’d owned it for two years before a visiting friend released it from confinement in the back of the kitchen cabinet. That whole week they ate nothing but stews. After years of indifference toward it, my new friend had fallen in love with her slow cooker because “it giff so mush flavor!” When I told her that good, complex flavor means good nutrition, and that she should use it as often as she wants, she fell in love with me.
It is easy to forget that, though farmers markets have popped up across America, the life of a small scale farmer is not an easy one. Economically, farmers are asked to put in a lot more than they get in order to compete with big industry.
Glynwood is an organization in the Hudson Valley of New York that is part farm and part community activist. They work with small scale Northeast farmers to create functional, sustainable, and profitable farms using traditional as well as innovative farming techniques. Glynwood is also a working farm that faces the same challenges as those they serve, especially equipping them to create change that works.
Most of the time I feel like we’re really making progress. Patients are looking younger, losing inches, feeling better and decreasing their medications. Still, not a day goes by that Angie, Barb, Chuck, Doris, Elijah, Fritz, or Gayle doesn’t tell me proudly that they have switched to “wheat bread.” I thought I covered that, I say to myself. I thought we discussed the fact that practically all bread is made from wheat. That buying “wheat bread” is the same as buying “bread.” That the word “wheat” means nothing in terms of good nutrition unless it is prefaced by the word “whole,” as in “whole wheat.” That someone is trying to confuse you, and they are succeeding. That’s when I feel as if I’m climbing a mountain with a Wonder Bread truck tethered to my backpack.
In November of last year I read a story by a Holocaust survivor describing how, even though they were starving, she and other Jewish prisoners refused an offering of snails from the Nazis. The reason? Snails are not kosher.
I sat back and my heart sank. I’d never really thought about what I ate, food meant nothing to me but a few moments of taste. I felt guilty and I wanted to change. I still wanted to eat good food of course, but now I wanted my choices to matter and I felt deeply that I had no excuses.
Sugar River Cheese, a kosher cheese company, has just announced that they now have parmesan cheese! It took over two years to develop this cheese, with the characteristic flavor and texture that makes parmesan so unique.
This post is from Green Zionist Alliance, check out their website at www.greenzionism.org
Photo from Earth’s Promise community garden at the Kalisher Absorption Center.
The World Zionist Organization took major steps to green Israel by approving four resolutions put forth by the Green Zionist Alliance at the World Zionist Congress. The resolutions address a wide swath of environmental concerns, including water, energy and food justice. All of the votes were near unanimous, uniting all religious and political streams of Zionism for the cause of Israel’s environment.
“The resolutions will play a major role in helping shift an environmentally imperiled Israel onto a sustainable path, and provide a greener Israel for future generations,” said Dr. Richard Schwartz, a GZA delegate to the Congress.
We are very excited to invite Chef Laura Frankel into our joyofkosher kitchen. Chef Frankel is the Executive Chef at Wolfgang Puck Kosher Catering at the Spertus Institute for Jewish studies in Chicago. She is the author of Jewish Cooking For All Seasons and Jewish Slow Cooker Recipes . Chef Frankel is an avid farmer’s market supporter, giving demos and teaching classes all over the country featuring market produce.
What’s Organic About Organic asks what the implications of growing food organically or not actually are. This hour-long film covers a lot of ground. Its short length and breadth of issues make this movie a good discussion-starter amongst peers, family, and friends. Watching What’s Organic About Organic left me with a sense that we don’t necessarily know the whole story about conventionally grown food or the benefits of organic, it made me want to learn more and be a more educated consumer.
There’s no doubt that including dairy in your diet can have a wide array of health benefits. Dairy staples such as yogurt, milk, and cheese offer a healthy dose of calcium, protein, and vitamin D. Consumption of low-fat dairy has been proven to help lower blood pressure, and the calcium that comes from dairy can increase bone density and has even been linked to weight loss. Plus, it’s absolutely delicious! But there are also some considerable reasons to choose organic dairy products over their non-organic counterparts.
This article is crossposted to Gothamist and was written by Zoe Schlager. Red Jacket Orchard often donates apples to Hazon events.
Since 2005, the Department of Health has been developing an initiative to provide fresh produce and low fat milk to neighborhoods that rely on the nutrition-devoid wares of their local bodega. Progress has been slow, and while the low fat milk initiative was deemed a success in 2008, the produce side of things has been anything but. Finally, the Healthy Bodegas Initiative [pdf here] is gaining some real momentum, thanks to the NY state farmers that have begun to revitalise the project.
