Jews on a Shrinking Planet

Jews on a Shrinking Planet: Time to Rethink the “Jews and Food” Thing? November 14, 2006, 8pm The Skirball Center, 10 East 66th Street, NYC. Jews on a Shrinking Planet: Time to Rethink the “Jews and Food” Thing? Jewish identity has been bound up with food for 3,000 years – from the laying down of biblical dietary laws to 21 st century jokes about minimalist, “gastronomic” Judaism. So what is it with Jews and food? Rather – in today’s over-stressed global environment – what should it be with Jews and food? Is it time to go beyond both kashrut and “bagel and lox” Judaism to something more in tune with Jews’ ancient connection to the land and responsibility to practice good health? Should Jewish identity now be bound up with food AND environmentalism? We may be the “people of the book,” but that book tells us that our origins were the “people of the land.” We’ll explore these and other questions – over coffee, wine and snacks – at the popular Tuesday evening Ideas Café, a Jewish discussion group open to all voices.

Our moderator will be Sarah Chandler, Educational Director of West End Synagogue in Manhattan and a contributing editor for Matzat’s projects Jewschool, Radical Torah, and the upcoming interactive Jewish education and social networking site Jew it yourself. Sarah also serves as Director of Programming for Zeek Magazine: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture and as a contributor to TelShemesh.

This Ideas Cafe is co-presented with the release of Zeek Magzine: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture and Hazon, as well as their co- produced issued on the topic of food. 8:00 PM to 9:30. Ideas Cafe is located at the Skirball Center at 10 East 66th Street in Manhattan.

For free entry, please RSVP to sarah-at-zeek-dot-net. Otherwise, it’s $10 on the door.