Two-Part Lecture Series: ETHICAL EATING & ‘JUST’ FOOD

The Koret Taube Center for Jewish Peoplehood at the Osher Marin JCC presents Ethical Eating & ‘Just’ Food, a two-part series exploring the history of food in Judaism, the multi-billion-dollar kosher food industry and the new sustainable Jewish food movement. The first part of the series is a two-session program with Rachel Brodie, co-founder and executive director of Jewish Milestones, who will delve into the current debate about what is deemed ethical for a Jew to eat. From the forbidden fruit of Eden to the perversity of Postville, home of the scandalous kosher slaughterhouse Agriprocessors, Brodie will discuss food in the Jewish tradition today. In the second part, guests will join Sue Fishkoff, author of Kosher Nation, national correspondent for the JTA Jewish News Agency, former New York bureau chief for the Jerusalem Post and contributor to the New York Times, Forward and the London Jewish Chronicle, and Deborah Newbrun, Bay Area director of Hazon (one of America’s largest Jewish environmental groups with a focus on food justice) to explore topics such as why 86 percent of the 11.2 million Americans who regularly buy kosher food are not observant Jews but Muslims, Seventh-Day Adventists and vegetarians. Guests from all backgrounds are invited to attend.

PART ONE: ‘Just’ Food: From Eden to Postville Classes with Rachel Brodie

WHO: All are invited. Tickets are $45 (and include admission toPart Two: Program with Sue Fishkoff and Deborah Newbrun) at www.marinjcc.org or by calling 415-444-8000 or $18 drop in per session.

WHEN: THURSDAYS: March 31, April 7 (and Fishkoff/Newbrun event on April 14)

WHERE: The Osher Marin JCC, 200 North San Pedro Road, San Rafael

PART TWO: Ethical Eating with Kosher Nation Author Sue Fishkoff & Deborah Newbrun of Hazon

WHO: All are invited. Tickets are $15 public / $12 members at www.marinjcc.org or by calling 415-444-8000.

WHEN: THURSDAY: April 14

WHERE: The Osher Marin JCC, 200 North San Pedro Road, San Rafael

About Rachel Brodie (Co-Founder and Executive Director of Jewish Milestones)-
Rachel Brodie is a Jewish educator who specializes in adult and family education. She is the co-founder and executive director of Jewish Milestones: a nonprofit organization serving as an educational resource for those who seek to have Jewish lifecycle ceremonies (typically related to birth, maturation,partnering and loss) that are both authentic and personally meaningful (www.JewishMilestones.org). She and her family live in Berkeley, California.

About Kosher Nation: Why More and More of America’s Food Answers to a Higher Authority (by Sue Fishkoff / Random House)
In this captivating account of a Bible-based practice that has grown into a multibillions-dollar industry, journalist Sue Fishkoff travels throughout America and to Shanghai, China, to find out who eats kosher food, who produces it, who is responsible for its certification, and how this fascinating world continues to evolve. She explains why 86 percent of the 11.2 million Americans who regularly buy kosher food are not observant Jews—they are Muslims, Seventh-day Adventists, vegetarians, people with food allergies, and consumers who pay top dollar for food they believe “answers to a higher authority.”
 
 Fishkoff interviews food manufacturers, rabbinic supervisors, and ritual slaughterers; meets with eco-kosher adherents who go beyond traditional requirements to produce organic chicken
and pasture-raised beef; sips boutique kosher wine in Napa Valley; talks to shoppers at an upscale kosher supermarket in Brooklyn; and marches with unemployed workers at the nation’s largest kosher meatpacking plant. She talks to Reform Jews who are rediscovering the spiritual benefits of kashrut, and to Conservative and Orthodox Jews who are demanding that kosher food production adhere to ethical and environmental values. And she chronicles the corruption, price-fixing, and strong arm tactics of early-twentieth-century kosher meat production, against which contemporary kashrut standards pale by comparison.
 
A revelatory look at the current state of kosher in America, this book will appeal to anyone interested in food, religion, Jewish identity, or big business.

About Hazon (Deborah Newbrun, Bay Area Director)-
Hazon’s CSA program is the first ongoing effort in the American Jewish community to support local, sustainable agriculture. Founded in 2004, our CSA program now includes over fifty sites in the US, Canada and Israel, and over 2,300 households. The Hazon CSA program has helped the Jewish community to put over $1 million dollars behind sustainable agriculture, and supported Jewish institutions such as synagogues and JCCs create innovative educational programming around the intersections of Jewish tradition and contemporary food and environmental issues.

About the Osher Marin JCC
The Osher Marin JCC is the community center of Marin County. Epitomizing the essence of Marin, with a range of authentic cultural experiences enjoyed by many generations, the Osher Marin JCC offers award-winning facilities, abundant physical and educational activities and world-class programming relevant to our entire community today. Since the Osher Marin JCC’s founding in 1947, the center has become recognizable for its rich history of Jewish traditions and values with an unparalleled all-inclusive community spirit. For more information about the Osher Marin JCC, please visit http://www.marinjcc.org.