Friday, May 17 – Sunday, May 19, 2013

Receive the Torah on Shavuot.
Then taste it!

Join us the weekend after Shavuot for a Hazon Food Conference-inspired weekend that will fill up your senses with the first fruits of the season, and the finest fruits of Torah learning. With guest chefs, rabbis, and educators to guide us, we’ll delve into the world of food in the Torah, and the Torah of food in the world. Programming will include text study, farm tours, cooking demos, permaculture workshops and lively Shabbat services.

Family-friendly programming will be available.  Babysitting will be available at an extra cost.

Register

Check out the schedule!

Presenters

Yigal Deutscher is the manager of the Hazon Shmita Project. He first studied permaculture as an Adamah fellow, continuing at the University of California, Santa Cruz (Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems) and the Permaculture Research Institute in Australia. Until 2010, he was the farm manager and permaculture educator at the Chava v’Adam farm in Israel. He is the founder of 7Seeds, an educational platform combining Jewish indigenous teachings & Permaculture Design strategies.

After 32 years serving as the  co -owner of Lévana Restaurant on Manhattan’s Upper West Side Lévana Kirschenbaum was the pioneer in Kosher upscale dining. She is a cooking teacher and cookbook author, the diva of glorious simple healthy meals. She gets countless devoted fans for her fearless, practical and nutritious approach to cooking.  She has published several books and a book DVD.  She has just published “The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen: Glorious Meals Pure and Simple”. 

Dr. Gary Rendsburg serves as the Blanche and Irving Laurie Professor of Jewish History at Rutgers University. He holds positions in the department of Jewish Studies and department of History. A prolific writer, he is perhaps best known for his work entitled The Bible and the Ancient Near East. His research and teaching focuses on ancient Israel, primarily language and literature as well as history and archaeology.

Aviva Richman is a faculty member at Yeshivat Hadar. She has taught at the American Jewish University, and is a past Rosh Kollel of the Bet Midrash at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin.  She has also taught community-wide sessions for the Hadar Bet Midrash and at the National Havurah Institute.  She studied in the Pardes Kollel and the Drisha Scholars’ Circle and is currently completing semikhah studies with a private teacher, as well as a PhD in Rabbinics at NYU.  She’s particularly interested in Halakhah, gender and sexuality in Judaism and niggunim.

Jonathan Schorsch has worked as an environmental activist, musician, elevator operator, commercial fisherman and professor.  He has taught at Emory University (Dept. of History) and Columbia University (Dept. of Religion). His scholarly interests include early modern Sephardic culture and history;  ecology and religion; angels and animals. He is an avid organic gardener, with the sometimes help of his children.

Mindy Shapiro has been studying Mussar under the guidance of Rabbi Ira Stone since 2003 and has been a Mussar teacher since 2009.  She is Jewish communal professional with over 25 years of experience. She was the founding director of Rosh Hodesh: It’s a Girl Thing!, a program of Moving Traditions. She is also a papercut artist and an avid cyclist and has ridden three Hazon Rides.

With no knowledge of Hebrew, at age 19, Chef Michael Solomonov returned to his birthplace of Israel and took the only job he could get–working in a bakery. Raised in Pittsburgh, PA, the renowned chef has returned to his adopted home in Philadelphia and currently owns Zahav restaurant and recently opened Citron and Rose restaurant. In 2011 he received the “Best Chef Mid-Atlantic” award from the James Beard Foundation.

Ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Rabbi Mary L. Zamore is the editor of “The Sacred Table: Creating a Jewish Food Ethic” which was designated a finalist by the National Jewish Book awards.  She is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post.

Is this the Hazon Food Conference?

After selling out the 2012 Hazon Food Conference, we’ve added a second weekend in the calendar dedicated to the multidisciplinary exploration of the intersections of Jews, food and contemporary life.  In particular, we’ll be digging into the torah roots of Jewish history and culture: what do our texts tell us about how we used to eat and live, and how can we bring them to bear on current questions about health, mindfulness and global sustainability?  This conference is shorter than our December Food Conference, and since much of it is over Shabbat, cooking demonstrations will be held on Friday afternoon, Sunday morning and Shabbat-appropriate sessions on Saturday afternoon.   However, we’re thrilled to welcome an outstanding lineup of rabbis, educators and chefs to guide us on a deeper exploration of the food in the torah, and the torah of food.  We’re also looking forward to holding a conference at the start of the growing season in Falls Village, CT, and the quiet beauty of late spring in the Berkshires.  Camping will be available!

As always we’ll offer a range of Shabbat service options that reflect the diversity of our community.  When you register, you’ll have the chance to let us know what kind of Shabbat prayer services you prefer.  Learn more about Hazon’s commitment to Jewish life at the Hazon Food Conference here.