Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz

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Category: Jewish

Putting local food on your plate … when you can

July 31, 2011 /

I’ve just recently returned from a Summer vacation in Ireland (hence the lack of blogging for a while).  As I so often do when I’m away, I took advantage of eating local foods whenever I could. Its part of the joy of visiting another place to not only sample the regional cuisine, but to look for locally grown ingredients in the food too – its always the freshest and the flavors are almost always vastly superior.  In Ireland that included eating some of the juiciest, sweetest strawberries I’ve had in a very long time, from a local Kerry farm.  And it included the joys of eating fish that had arrived at the dock of the very town we stayed in (Dingle) the very day we were eating it.

Arriving back in Connecticut, its the heart of the Summer farm produce season.  The tomatoes on our own deck taste so much better than anything available in the supermaket, and the fresh basil and parsley is now in abundance.  Living on the second floor of an apartment, we’re not able to grow very much more of our own food at the moment, but we are not short of local places to buy.  There are farmer’s markets every week, plus local farms (especially in Easton) where you can go straight to the source.  There are also independent small stores near our home, like A and J Farm Market in Southport or the Double L Market in Westport.  Some people plan ahead and sign up to CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) programs where they receive a weekly or bi-monthly delivery of fresh produce from a farm either delivered to their home or to a local pick-up point.  Its probably too late for this season, but you can learn more about these at local harvest (which also provides info on local farms and farmers markets in States across the country).

Buying local food is seldom the cheapest option, because we’re usually dealing with small scale producers that cannot compete with huge agribusiness.  But I find that the intensity of flavors and overall quality makes me much more appreciative of what I’m putting inside of me and, subsequently, I eat less and more healthily.  It also encourages more creativity at mealtimes with meals based on what is in season and what was coming from the farms this week.  At eatlocalchallenge.com they have a top 10 list of reasons to eat local.

There’s a lot of attention in the Jewish community these days to expanding our consciousness about food ethics.  I was reminded by a Jewish Youth Worker who I met at the URJ Kutz Camp this Summer who was from London that I’ve been teaching about Eco-Kashrut since the early ’90s.  (It turned out, as we introduced ourselves, that she realized that I had been her Religious School teacher when she was 10, 20 years ago, and this was one of the things she remembered about my classes!).  I was inspired by teachers like Rabbi Arthur Waskow at The Shalom Center, who had been writing about it even earlier than that.

Today inspiration comes from organizations like Hazon and programs for Jews to learn about sustainable farming in the context of Judaism at places like the Adamah Fellowship program at Isabella Freedman Center or the Kayam Farm at the Pearlstone Retreat Center in Baltimore.  Many Jewish organizations and schools expose their children to Teva, which provides residential courses for youth to learn about Jewish environmental awareness and sustainability.

The CCAR Press (the publishing body for the Reform movement’s Rabbinic association) recently released ‘The Sacred Table: Creating a Jewish Food Ethic‘, edited by Rabbi Mary Zamore.  It is a wonderful collection that takes spiritual consciousness and ethics around issues of food from many different angles, offering a contemporary lens through which we can all think more deeply about the consequences of our day-to-day food decisions.  At B’nai Israel we are looking forward to welcoming Rabbi Zamore at our Shabbat author’s series next Spring.

Have a Jewish Christmas?

December 20, 2010 /

Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, at beliefnet.com, wrote a fascinating blog piece last week entitled, ‘What’s a Jewish Christmas?’  Actually, I found myself mostly fascinated by some of the comments it elicited; I found myself largely in tune with the questions and observations raised by the article itself.  It begins by noting that a restaurant in Philadelphia is promoting ‘A Very Jewish Christmas’ on December 25th, with two evening sittings for an Asian-inspired meal while movies are playing on their flat-screen TVs.  Rabbi Hirschfield asks the question:
Is Chinese food and a movie simply a way for Jews to insulate ourselves from the larger culture? A way in which to make sure that we have an agreed upon way to occupy ourselves while the majority celebrates “their” holiday? For some, that is almost certainly the case, and perhaps that is enough. But perhaps there is more.
Here at B’nai Israel, we also decided to pick up on this theme, somewhat tongue-in-cheek.  We’re ordering the Chinese Food in for a congregational meal and a movie at the Temple on Christmas Eve, as a communal event after our Kabbalat Shabbat service (call Lynn in our office at 203-336-1858 to register!).  I’d thought about doing this after Christmas fell on Shabbat last year.  There are times during the year when I join congregants who are going out for a meal after services.  Before I get flamed for doing this as a Rabbi, for me this is my way of doing oneg Shabbat – the pleasure of a meal in the company of friends in the congregation.  I don’t go shopping on Shabbat, but I will sometimes go out for a meal.  Last year, after I’d led Shabbat services, a group of us went over to a local Chinese restaurant.  Lo and behold, at least 50% of the restaurant was filled with my congregation! (some who’d been to synagogue first, and some who hadn’t).  I might have doubled my community that night if I’d just started off the night at the restaurant and led services there!  So, this year, I thought we’d bring the food to the synagogue, and do two kinds of Jewish in one evening.
Rabbi Hirschfield is exploring the question of whether, to do this kind of thing, means that Jews are, in some way, ‘observing’ a religious holiday that isn’t ours to observe.  But, and I think he is right on the button when he suggests:

Perhaps, this American Jewish custom is also a way of acknowledging that here in America, Christmas is “our” holiday too”. I am not suggesting that we buy into a theology of Christmas or even of its traditionally Christian practices.  I am simply suggesting that like the vast Christian majority among whom Jews live in America, it is a day which reminds us that we can celebrate the fact that others are celebrating. We need not fear that as we once had good reason to. In fact, we can delight in it, and not simply because it is a “day off”.
We can celebrate that for the first time in the entire 2000 year history of the Jewish Diaspora the religious and cultural celebrations of others are safe and comfortable for us. We can choose to honor them in any number of ways. We can volunteer our time so that Christians can more easily take the day off, we can take a moment to consider the remarkable and unique beauty of “someone else’s” holiday, etc. The list goes on and on, and when Jews do those things, it really is a very Jewish Christmas.

Several of the comments on Rabbi Hirschfield’s blog were from Jews who were clearly turned off by what they perceived to be a Rabbi advocating this Jewish ‘observance’ of Christmas.  I don’t think that was what he was doing; rather, simply observing what already is the case for many Jewish families.  Many times in the Mishnah – the first collection of rabbinic rulings and discussions where early rabbis were trying to figure out how to apply Torah law to the reality of the Jewish community of their day – the advice was given, ‘go out and see what the people are doing’.  Often this advice was applied when there wasn’t an obvious ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ to a question of practice – we aren’t talking about morality or ethics here.  The advice was sometimes applied in a situation where, pragmatically, the Rabbis were looking to understand what the cultural norm in their community was and, where possible, have Jewish practice fit alongside it rather than be set up in opposition to it.

In the case of Christmas in America, I think there is a sense that Jews being together for a meal (whether Chinese or otherwise) is a way of participating in the feel good, coming togetherness of this season.  I know that for many in my community, being Jewish is something they are proud of, but at the same time become uncomfortable when being Jewish comes at the cost of having to block out or guard against participation in the dominant culture of which we are a part.  And when we are talking about family time, friends going out to dinner together, we are not talking about taking on a religion or belief system that is not ours – we are talking about something much more sociological.

A case in point… a conversation I overheard at a coffeeshop last week among three young Christian women.  Apparently at least one of them was going somewhere nice and hot over Christmas.  They were looking forward to a non-denominational service of gratitude that would take place around the pool of the resort on Christmas Day, but apparently one member of their party (perhaps a mother, mother-in-law or friend?) didn’t feel like they were really doing Christmas unless they went to Church.  The three women were expressing their feelings that the meaning of the holiday for them was about family, friends and celebration – the pool felt like a much better place for this than having to get dressed up to go to a strange Church.  As one put it, ‘I believe in a God who is everywhere… and I certainly feel God’s presence on the beach!’

Now, I’m not here to comment on degrees of religiosity or the deeper meaning of Christmas to Christians.  Clearly this group of women didn’t have Jesus on their mind.  But, whatever we may feel about that, they represent a large number of Americans who see Christmas in a very similar way – family, friends, food, celebration and appreciation.  And it is that that so many Jewish families are tuning into and doing in their own, uniquely American Jewish ways on Christmas.

At B’nai Israel, we wish everyone a good holiday season, especially to our Christian staff who work in our offices and our building, and to many of our member families who will be helping the Christian members of their family celebrate the holiday.  To all the rest, whether it be a Chinese meal or something else – B’tai Avon – Enjoy your meal!
Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz

I am Jewish: Eighth Graders reflect, 2010

May 16, 2010 /

I teach Eighth Grade at Congregation B’nai Israel; something that I have come to enjoy immensely as I watch teens who are just post-bar and bat mitzvah grapple with expressing themselves and their own sense of Jewish identity.  We spend the year on personal theology and making ritual meaningful, ethics and values applied to our lives and our world and, with the help of a 19 year old emissary from Israel, an exploration of life and culture in Israel in a way that our teens can relate.  In the midst of it all we have a weekend retreat with a theme that focuses on a multitude of ways to live Jewishly and express Jewish values.

At the end of every year, our closing circle ritual consists of reading a few short excerpts from the wonderful book written in memory of murdered journalist, Daniel Pearl, ‘I am Jewish.’.  Most of the excerpts we read are written by other teenagers or young adults from all over the world, illustrating the diversity of ways to express Jewish living.  Then each student takes a few minutes to write their own reflection based on what Jewish means to them at this point in their lives.  What is warming and wonderful is to see how they are all able to offer a genuine reflection.  They feel it, and they mean it.  Here are a selection of the reflections from this year’s closing circle:

I am Jewish because I was born a Jew.  My parents are Jewish, and so were my mom’s ancestors.  Being Jewish is who I am.  I was born Jewish, but it was my choice to be a true Jew.


I am proud to be Jewish.  I love the fact of how I am different from my friends.  I have different holidays and different food, but being Jewish makes me who I am and it will always be a part of me.

I am Jewish – this means that I am a minority which is quite different from everybody else.  This makes me feel special inside.


I am Jewish and I am proud of being Jewish.  The stereotypes may bring one down, but a true Jew will be proud and not let the mean thoughts strip them of their Judaism.

I am a Jew – means that I belong to a community that comes together through hardships and times of happiness and holidays.


I am Jewish.  That means that you follow what you believe and that will bring you to God.  Although this God is the same for everyone, each and every person must find their way through the Torah and find God.

For me, being Jewish means thinking about my Jewishness in everything I do, whether it is writing a paper about religion in school or talking about a famous Jew with my friends.  I love being a Jew and I am proud of my Jewish heritage.


I am Jewish because I go to Hebrew School and Temple.  I am also Jewish because I read from the Torah at my Bat Mitzvah.

To me, being Jewish means that I belong to something.  Not only do I belong to a temple but I also belong to a group of people.


To me, being Jewish is being lucky.  I get to be a part of a people that I share beliefs with, that I go to Temple with, that I want to connect with.  Being Jewish is who I am.

As a Jew, I feel that the religion is not something that is to be used in a way that is stressful.  To me, services should be an enjoyable atmosphere.  I enjoy every aspect of Judaism, such as the freedom to make decisions, and the feelings.  I think that it is crucial that we are able to survive, and be respected.  I follow a Jewish way of thinking every day and that is why Judaism is most important to me.

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