Jewish Food Education Network
JFEN Educator Resources| JFEN Membership| Become a JFEN Member
Looking for a way to bring Jewish Food Education to your community?
For 3,000 years, Jewish tradition has grappled with what is fit- 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. In order to empower educators and individuals to teach these topics through a Jewish lens Hazon has created the Jewish Food Education Network (JFEN).
JFEN is a way for educators all over North America to connect with, share and learn from each other with the help of Hazon’s innovative food education resources and support.
JFEN is an invaluable experience for the next generation. Hazon has put so much time and care into creating amazing resources that can be used in all types of learning environments.
JFEN Member
Register for Basic Membership
Register for Expanded Membership
JFEN Educator Resources
Whether you have been teaching for 2 months or 20 years, or if you’re an educational director at a synagogue, a Jewish camp counselor, or a parent who wants to teach their kids at home, you can benefit from Hazon’s educator resources.
Hazon Curricula and Resources
JFEN Membership includes access to Hazon’s growing library of Food Education Curricula and resources.
Food for Thought
Food For Thoughta 130-page sourcebook that draws on a range of texts from within and beyond Jewish traditions to explore a range of topics relating to Jews and food. Food for Thought is designed to encourage participants to think critically about the food that they eat and the ways their food choices affect the health of their community and the planet. Food for Thought is included in expanded JFEN membership.
Min Ha’Aretz
Min Ha’Aretz allows students from grades 5-9 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?” Over the course of eighteen lessons, divided into five units, the students explore this question and develop a deeper understanding of both the question and its myriad answers. Min Ha’Aretz is included in expanded JFEN membership.
Setting the Table
Setting the Table is an innovative new curriculum which engages expectant parents and new families with questions of how they want to feed and nurture their children in a Jewish way. Designed as a four part series of cooking classes, Setting the Table gives parents recipes and tools to create healthy and sustainable meals for their families, and it uses Jewish and contemporary texts and tradition to think about what it means to have a Jewish family table. Setting the Table is included in expanded JFEN membership.
Hosting a Sustainable Shabbat Dinner
This practical booklet, created in partnership with Birthright Israel NEXT, guides Shabbat dinner hosts through the steps of planning and running a sustainable dinner. From starting your planning with setting a kavanah (intention) to “go sustainable” to cleaning up with natural cleaners like vinegar sprays, and negotiating vegetarianism, kashrut, allergies and more, to reducing overconsumption and waste, the guide provides facts, tips, and inspiration for your Shabbat dinner table. Hosting a Sustainable Shabbat Dinner is included in basic JFEN membership.
Tu B’Shvat Haggadah and Leader’s Guide
Tu B’Shvat (Hebrew: ט״ו בשבט) is a minor Jewish holiday in the Hebrew month of Shvat, usually sometime in late January or early February, that marks the “New Year of the Trees”. Today, Tu B’Shvat has become an opportunity to celebrate the environment and work together to heal our world. Hazon’s Tu B’Shvat Haggadah and Leader’s Guide provides step-by-step instructions and meaningful readings and activities to run your own Tu B’Shvat Seder. The Tu B’Shvat Haggadah and Leaders Guide are included in basic JFEN membership.
Hazon’s Growing Library of Resources
Each year, Hazon creates new educational resources for our various programs. Once these programs are appropriately tested and piloted, we add them to our library of JFEN resources for our members to use in the world.
JFEN Online Member Central
JFEN Member Central is the online home for JFEN members! JFEN members can download Hazon resources from our program bank, and can discuss how they have used resources with each other. Members can also share resources that they have created, and submit them to the community for feedback. You can access JFEN Member Central at jfen.hazon.org.
JFEN Educator Listserv
The listserv keeps members informed about new resources, what other teachers are doing and great educational opportunities.
Being a part of the listserv allows educators to keep in contact and to keep up on all JFEN updates, special offers and other network news.
Training Calls
JFEN Educator Training Calls are held regularly throughout the year. The trainings allow educators to continue their professional development on food and environmental issues through the lens of Jewish traditions and texts.
Each training is focused on one Jewish food topic such as Kashrut or blessings before the meal. Educators are encouraged to discuss and share ideas of how they address this topic in their educational setting. Hazon staff and guest educators facilitate the discussion, but these calls aim to provide an open forum for educators.
2011-2012 Training Call Schedule
- October 3, 2011
- November 29, 2011
- January 18, 2012
- February 13, 2012
- April 26, 2012
JFEN Membership
JFEN Membership is open to all, whether you’re a full time Jewish educator or an individual looking to host a Tu B’Shvat seder. We offer two membership tiers: Basic Membership and Expanded Membership.
Basic Membership
Many of Hazon’s educational resources are available for free. All we ask is that you register and provide your email address to gain access to our resources.
Benefits of Basic membership
- A periodical email newsletter highlighting Jewish Food Education news, Hazon resources and events, and other interesting notes.
- Access to JFEN Member Central our online resource bank including materials such as:
- Tu B’Shvat Haggadah
- Fair Food Book Club Guides
- Farm Bill 2012 Resources
- How to Host a Sustainable Shabbat Meal
- Birthright Israel NEXT Food for Thought Supplement
- Sustainable Chagim resource guides
- Weekly Divrei Torah
Expanded Membership
To have access to a wider range of resources and support, you can join JFEN at our expanded level of membership. Members pay $180 to join in the first year, and then a $36 annual renewal fee after that.
Benefits of Expanded Membership
- All benefits of Basic JFEN Membership
- Access to online JFEN resource bank including:
- Min HaAretz
- Food for Thought
- Setting the Table Curriculum and Family Resource Guide
- Gan Nashim Curriculum and Cooking Program (Fall 2012)
- Home for Dinner Curriculum (Fall 2013)
- Member Created Resources
- Bi-monthly training conference calls
- Ability to comment on and discuss resources in the online JFEN resource bank
- Access to a closed network JFEN group to discuss and strategize with your colleagues.
- Discounted Food Conference & JFEN Training registration
- Discounted hard copies of materials
- Special promotion of resources from partner organizations
Register for Basic Membership
Register for Expanded Membership
To learn more about JFEN and to see if it is right for your community, please contact foodeducation@hazon.org
