Min Ha'Aretz

Hazon’s Jewish Food Education for Students and Families

Description
Goals
Benefits
Student and Family Curriculum Table of Contents
Student and Family Curriculum Summary
Min Ha’Aretz Lesson #1 (Sample Lesson)
Join JFEN to receive Min Ha’Aretz

Min Ha’Aretz is part of theJewish Food Education Network (JFEN). Min Ha’Aretz uses food and Jewish tradition as focal points to create innovative programming for students (grades 5-9) and their families. Jewish tradition has a great deal to say about what is fit (i.e. kosher) for us to eat. Today, questions about food have become ever more complicated as we come up against changing nutritional news, the use of chemical pesticides, and industrial farming. Health issues such as obesity and environmental damage are intrinsically connected to our personal and national food choices. Min Ha’Aretz weaves together Jewish tradition and contemporary food issues in an 18-lesson curriculum for students and complementary family education curriculum.

Join JFEN to receive Min Ha'Aretz, click here.

Goals

• Promote awareness of contemporary food issues that is infused with Jewish values and traditions, integrating both secular and Jewish curricula;
• Increase the knowledge that students, families, and teachers have about healthy eating and create a Jewish framework for food choices;
• Increase parents’ involvement in their children's education and promote joint parent-child and family educational opportunities.
• Create opportunities for the entire community--students, parents, teachers, administrators, rabbis, program directors, and others--to manifest their own Jewish, health, and environmental values and priorities by taking action around the ideas they learn.

Benefits

For students, Min Ha’Aretz demonstrates how vitally relevant Jewish tradition is today and builds understanding of where our food comes from. Min Ha’Aretz strengthens students’ Jewish identity by linking something they do every day—eating!—with Jewish tradition and values.

For families, this approach sparks conversations about food, Jewish tradition, and the world around us.  Min Ha’Aretz strengthens Jewish life by bringing Jewish texts and values into the food choices families and students make everyday.

For schools, synagogues, and other Jewish organizations, Min Ha’Aretz offers an innovative way to engage students and families.  Min Ha’Aretz taps into community interest in food and the environment and stimulates community “greening” efforts. 

Min Ha'Aretz supporters:  

Min Ha’Aretz Student & Family Curriculum

Table of Contents

Introduction
Min Ha’Aretz Overview
Student & Family Curriculum Summary
Curriculum Goals
Assessment Strategies
Jewish Text List
Teaching Texts

Unit 1: To Grow                                                                                                              לְגַדֵּל

Lesson 1: Seeds	זְרָעִים
Student Pre-Curriculum Survey
Lesson 2: Earth	אֲדָמָה
Lesson 3: Growing Environment	סְבִיבָת גִידוּל
Lesson 4: Treatment of Animals	יַחַס לְבַעַלֵי חַיִים

Unit 2: To Harvest                                                                                                            לִקְצוֹר

Lesson 5: Agricultural Practices	מִנְהָגֵי חַקְלָאוּת
Lesson 6: Harvest Holidays	חַגֵי הַקָצִיר
Lesson 7: Jewish foods Around the World	מַאֲכָלִים יְהוּדִיִים בְּרָחָבֵי הָעוֹלָם

Unit 3: To Prepare                                                                                                            לְהָכִין

Lesson 8: Kashrut	כַּשְׁרוּת
Lesson 9: Whole Foods	אוֹכֶל מָלֵא
Lesson 10: Food Miles	מֶרְחָק הַאוֹכֶל

Unit 4: To Eat                                                                                                                  לֶאֱכוֹל

Lesson 11: Blessing Before the Meal	בְּרָכָוֹת לִפְנֵי אֲרוּחָה
Lesson 12: Bread Rituals	מִנְהָגי לֶחֶם
Lesson 13: Sharing Food	לַחְלוֹק אוֹכֶל
Lesson 14: Blessing After the Meal	בִּרְכָּת הַמָּזוֹן

Unit 5: To Sustain                                                                                                                                            לְקַיֵּם

Lesson 15: To Reduce, Reuse, Recycle	הפְחָתָה , שִׁימוּשׁ מֵחָדָשׁ, מִיחְזוּר
Lesson 16: Moderation	מְתִינוּת
Lesson 17: Shmirat ha’guf	שְׁמִירָת הָגוּף
Lesson 18: Bringing It Together	לְסִיכּוּם
Student Post-Curriculum Survey

Family Programs & Field Trips
Family Learning Night & Cook-In                        
Farm Trip
Farmers’ Market Lesson & Trip

Min Ha’Aretz Student & Family Curriculum Summary

The Min Ha’Aretz student curriculum allows students to explore the question, What is
the relationship between Jewish texts, traditions, and practices and the food we eat?  More specifically, how does Judaism relate to all the processes and choices involved in how we grow, harvest, prepare, and eat our food, as well as manage our waste?  How does Judaism relate to my and my family’s food choices? At the beginning of Min Ha’Aretz, students encounter the driving question of this curriculum: what is the relationship between Judaism and food?  Over the course of eighteen lessons, which are divided into five units, the students explore this question and develop a deeper understanding of both the question and its myriad answers.

Unit 1: To Grow
This initial unit, To Grow, provides the foundation of the curriculum.  The first lesson allows students to reflect on where their food comes from and the Jewish obligation to take care of the land. I n the next lesson, students explore what makes “a good land” for growing food.  Students then consider the environmental conditions necessary for plants to grow, using the “seven species” of Jewish tradition as a reference point.  The final lesson allows students to consider the conditions in which animals are raised and reflect upon tza’ar ba’alei hayim, the prohibition against unnecessary cruelty to animals.

Unit 2: To Harvest
The second unit, To Harvest, builds upon the students’ knowledge of growing food and explores the relationship between harvesting food and Judaism.  Students reinterpret the biblical agricultural practices of peah, shikcha, orlah, and tithing into practices that are applicable to contemporary life.  Students then explore the connection between the agricultural cycle and Jewish holidays.  Finally, students examine how regional food has influenced Jewish food around the world.

Unit 3: To Prepare
Students begin the unit, To Prepare, by studying the laws of kashrut and considering the ways these laws influence Jewish life.  Food preparation can also include food processing and students explore the differences between whole and processed foods and consider the representation of whole foods in Jewish text.  Finally, students explore the miles that food travels before it reaches their plates and debate whether this is an example of the Jewish concept of bal tashchit, do not harm.

Unit 4: To Eat
During this unit, To Eat, students start by exploring the blessings before eating a food and participate in a mindful eating exercise.  Next, the students work together to prepare a dish and reflect upon the challenges and joys of cooking.  Students then investigate Jewish texts to understand the responsibility of Jewish people to welcome guests and to feed the hungry.  The students reflect upon the differences and similarities between these two acts.  Finally students consider how Birkat Hamazon, the blessing after a meal, references both physical sustenance and spiritual nourishment.

Unit 5: To Sustain
In the final unit, To Sustain, students deepen their understanding of the commandment of bal tashchit and learn ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle resources.
Students discuss Jewish texts that highlight restraint and indulgence when it comes to food and explore the concept of moderation by investigating the sugar in soda and the fat in common snack foods.  Students explore the concept of shmirat ha’guf, the obligation to care for our bodies, and connect the bracha for body parts and body functions with the foods that best support a healthy body. Students create personal commitments to care for their bodies.  Finally, students return to the question, “What is the relationship between food and Judaism?”

Family Programs & Field Trips
This section is a detailed guide on how to plan and run three family learning events:  a family learning night and cook-in, a visit to a farm, and a visit to a farmer’s market.  This section also provides guidance for educators on how to prepare students for family learning, with lessons to complete before the family events.   Students learn to put their knowledge and skills from the Min Ha’Aretz curriculum into practice while learning with their families.

Min Ha’Aretz Curriculum Goals

By the end of this curriculum, students will be more thoughtful in their food choices about what they eat, how they eat and when they eat.  They will have greater understanding of the underlying Jewish values about food and more knowledge about contemporary food and agricultural issues.  Specifically, students will develop:

• Awareness of  the effects of our food choices on our bodies and the environment
• Critical thinking skills that enable them to consider contemporary agricultural systems and food choices through the lens of Jewish text, traditions, and practices
• Practical understanding of food processes—growing, harvesting, preparing, consuming and managing waste—and how Jewish traditions relate to these processes 
• Increased hands-on skills to grow, produce, and cook their own food and appreciation of the value of these skills
• Capacity to work with and educate their families about connections between Judaism and food

Join JFEN to receive Min Ha’Aretz

Join JFEN to receive Min Ha'Aretz , click here.
For more information contact Judith at 212-644-2332 x308 or judith@hazon.org