Food Conference
Shalom Haverim,
With the situation in Israel unfolding, last week’s vacation seem like a long time ago already. But I do want to share with you what I did over “winter break.” Last week I participated in the third annual Food Conference run by Hazon. Hazon is a growing, cross denominational, Jewish social justice organization. Hazon means vision and their vision is to create a healthier and more sustainable Jewish community as a step towards a healthier and more sustainable world for all. The words on their bentscher says best what they do: “The people of the bike; The people of the hike; the people of the bite!” They organize week long bike rides and hikes in the States and in Israel and have a food division of which this conference is just one component.
The conference brought together over 500 Jews, young and old, vegans and omnivores, orthodox, non affiliated, post denominational and every combination you can imagine for classes and discussions on a variety of topics. For example, there were sessions on hallah making and gluten free diets, urban agriculture and the history of Jews and chocolate, the ethics of eating in the 21st century, a class on the safety of genetically modified food and a documentary film about affording a nutritious diet while living on food stamps. Perhaps the best way to describe the conference is to say that Michael Pollin, author of “Omnivore’s Dilemma,” was repeatedly referred to half jokingly as Reb Pollin.
Conference participants included Jewish farmers and rabbis, food policy activists and Jewish educators, business owners, chefs, nutritionists and more. We gathered to explore food, Jewish tradition and contemporary life. With news this past year of food shortages and of Agriprocessors in the back of everyone’s mind, the conference could not have been more timely.
At some later date, I’ll be happy to share with those interested a draft of the goals of this new Jewish food movement or repeat the class that I taught. But for this eTorah I’d like to examine a prayer that really struck me upon my return home.
We read in the siddur a beracha known as “Birkat Hashanim, the Blessing of the Years:”
God, bless this year and all its varied crops for well being. Give a blessing of dew and rain on the face of the earth and satisfy us with Your bounty. Bless our year like the best years. Blessed are You, God, who blesses the years.
It sounds like a New Year’s prayer but it is actually part of the weekday amidah recited three times a day. Birkat Hashanim focuses on agriculture as an essential component for a year of blessing. That was true in ancient times and in our own day. Still, today this prayer is understood to be a blessing for general prosperity. Shimshon Raphael Hirsch explains it this way:
We request a blessing on our general business activities and then go on to ask for abundant crops. Even in bad times some prosper, and even in good times some farms and businesses fail. We ask not only for general prosperity but that we be enabled to share in it.
One thing I notice in this beracha is a subtle change in language. While it begins by asking for a blessing for “this year” it concludes asking God to “bless the years.” What is the message here?
Seasonal agriculture cycles do not operate with one year in isolation from the next. Jewish tradition, for example, speaks of multi year cycles such as shmita (every seven years) or orla (a three year cycle). Moreover, we know that how we treat the land this year affects it for years to come. That fact was a major focus of the food conference. Many speakers criticized our nation’s shortsighted agricultural policies and practices that offer bumper yields “this year” but have negative impact on the health of our bodies and our planet in the years to come. Writing on this beracha, Reuven Hammer echoes sentiments expressed at the conference:
Since our lives are dependent upon the crops of the earth, we pray that conditions be such that the earth will be fruitful and thus none will go hungry. At the same time we should be aware of the role the we as human beings, God’s partners in creation, play in this. Through our actions we can affect the very climate in which we live, for good or for ill. Our responsibility is to preserve the earth that has been given into our keeping.
We never know what a new year will bring. We don’t have that kind of insight. But with “hazon” (proper vision), we can plan for the future. We pray that this year should be a year of prosperity. And not knowing what the coming year will bring, we ask God to give us the foresight to live wisely to ensure that in the years that follow we will likewise be blessed and satisfied by God’s goodness.
Happy New Year and Shavua tov,
Rabbi Alexander Davis
