Food Systems & Food Justice Archives | Adamah

Tu B’Shvat Haggadah

adamah — Fri, 17 Jan 2025 14:33:52 +0000

Adamah’s Haggadot offer texts, questions, and suggestions for viewing Tu B’Shvat through fresh eyes and recontextualizing traditions.

The Haggadah is designed to create a similar setting to a Passover seder – creating conversation with friends, peers, and colleagues, while enjoying wine and special foods. While Passover focuses on slavery and freedom, Tu B’Shvat focuses on pertinent issues relating to ecology, the environment, and sustainability.

In addition to the Haggadot below, you can find additional resources and activity ideas on our list of Tu B’Shvat Sustainable Resources.

Tu B’Shvat Haggadah by Jewish Youth Climate Movement

The Jewish Youth Climate Movement (JYCM), a program of Adamah, is empowering our network of young Jews to host local seders aligned with our vision of integrating Jewish tradition with climate action. The JYCM Tu B’Shvat Haggadah is a teen-made resource that includes blessings, climate commentary, and framings for your seder.

Download a free copy of the JYCM haggadah

Looking for activities and other ideas to help celebrate the holiday as a young adult? Check out this Tu B’Shvat Program Guide compiled by Adamah on Campus student leaders.

Adamah Tu B’Shvat Haggadah

The Adamah Tu B’Shvat Haggadah uses Jewish text and climate science to focus on pertinent issues relating to ecology, the environment, and sustainability – and how we consider the changing needs of the world in every generation so we can best ensure a safer, stronger, and more sustainable world.

Download a free copy of the Adamah haggadah

2019 Tu B’Shvat Haggadah: Hazon Seder and Sourcebook (MLK Day)

The 2019 Tu B’Shvat haggadah features the blessings on wine and symbolic foods, various thematic activities, as well as four sets of texts focusing on our relationship with food, trees, the land of Israel, and the wider world. This was created when Martin Luther King Jr. Day fell on Tu B’Shvat this year, so the final section adds a social justice component featuring excerpts from Dr. King’s teachings.

Download a free copy of the MLK Day haggadah

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Rosh Hashanah Seder

David Rendsburg — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 17:39:04 +0000

Symbolic foods and other prayers for the night of Rosh Hashanah

Our short guide contains kiddush for Rosh Hashanah, a series of prayers to be recited over different symbolic foods, and other verses and prayers for the new year.

“Abaye said: Now that you have said that omens can be significant, on Rosh Hashanah one should eat gourds, fenugreek, leeks, beets, and dates.”
Babylonian Talmud, Keritot 6a

This Talmud teaching forms the basis of our Rosh Hashanah seder with its simanim (symbolic foods) and blessings. Over time, different Jewish communities have added their own traditions and interpretations.

While some foods, such as apples with honey or pomegranates, have become near universal, we have also included other Ashkenazi, Sefardi, and Mizrahi customs, creating a ritual that reflects the diversity of modern Judaism. With each symbolic food, a prayer is recited. Many use a play on words related to the Hebrew, but other traditions contain puns using Aramaic, Yiddish, or Farsi.

Feel free to download a version that can be printed into an 8-page booklet or print a 4-page handout to enjoy at your table.

Booklet Version

8-page PDF to print as a booklet

Handout Version

4-page PDF to print as a handout

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Sustainable Passover Resources

adamah — Wed, 13 Mar 2024 01:06:04 +0000

New for 2025: Adamah Passover Resources to Download

Passover has more food-based rituals and symbols than any other Jewish holiday. Adamah’s new 4-page resource guide uses these food items as a starting point for conversations related to environmental and climate challenges of our time.

Request a copy of the guide

Passover (Pesach) celebrates the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt.

For 8 days starting on the 15th of Nissan, we celebrate our liberation from slavery and our journey to freedom.

Passover connects us to history, land, and the natural world. On the first night of Passover we remember the Pascal lamb sacrifice and on the second night we start counting the omer, in memory of the barley sacrifice. These both remind us of Temple celebrations that connect us to the land of Israel. Passover is also a time to notice and celebrate the coming of spring. The seder plate abounds with seasonal symbols: the roasted lamb bone celebrates lambs born in spring; karpas (dipped green vegetables) symbolizes the first green sprouts peeking out of the thawed ground, and a roasted egg recalls fertility and rebirth. The use of matzah itself may also have agricultural and historical food roots – Egyptians were known for their beer and fermented grains, so abstaining from leaven is a way of symbolizing the freedom from Egypt through our agricultural history.

Make your Passover more sustainable using the resources, tips & recipes below.

A Sustainable Seder Plate

Higher Welfare beytza (egg). Buy eggs that are labeled “Certified Humane” or, even better “Certified Humane + Pasture Raised” or “Animal Welfare Approved.” Eggs with these 3rd certifications support healthy hens and farmers. Discuss your decision to buy a higher welfare egg at your Seder using Hazon’s higher welfare egg Haggadah supplement.
Sprout your own Karpas. Although many sprouts come from corn, soybeans, and other chametz or kitnyot, in just 2-3 days, you can have fresh, delicious quinoa sprouts that you “grew” yourself! If you started a home-grown garden during Tu B’Shvat, now is the time to dig into that garden and make use of your home grown parsley.
Horseradish doesn’t grow in a bottle. Buy and grate fresh horseradish root for maror on your seder plate. When it comes time for the Hillel sandwich, hold up an ungrated root so your guests know where that bitter stuff comes from. You can also incorporate horseradish into your seder in other ways, or use leftover horseradish for meals throughout Passover.
Roast a beet. If you’re going vegetarian for your seder (see below), substitute a roasted beet for the roasted lamb shank. Or follow Sarah Fenner’s suggestion: “In place of the shankbone in my home, we have often roasted a “pascal yam” instead!”
Every Charoset tells a story. Charoset’s mixture of apples and nuts is already healthy and delicious and, when made with local apples, sustainable. Charoset also offers you the chance to explore other cultures within the Jewish Diaspora. Or ask your guests to bring their own favorite charoset recipe and have a taste-test.

A Sustainable Seder Meal

Host a vegetarian or vegan seder. Even if you regularly eat meat, Passover is a great time to eat lower on the food chain. Think of it as getting rid of your “gastronomical chametz.”
The Shamayim blog has an incredible bank of resources and recipes for a vegan seder.
Jewish Veg has a Vegan Haggadah and loads of Passover recipes on their website.
Host a potluck seder. Or at least accept offers of help with the preparation. A sustainable seder also means not wearing out the host!
Bring on the hors d’oeuvres. After you bless and eat the karpas, vegetables and dip, fruits, and cheese are all permitted. Save your table from starvation and distraction with a few snacks.
Buy vegetables at your farmer’s market. Go a few weeks early and chat with the sellers to see what they’ll have available at seder time. In many parts of the country, options will be slim, but you may find salad greens, cabbage, fiddleheads, spinach, as well as root vegetables in cold storage (carrots, potatoes, onions, squash, beets) and apples and pears.
Serve local or organic wine. Find out ahead of time what your local wine store has in stock—especially if you plan to buy a lot. If they don’t have anything, ask if they can order your behalf. There aren’t many kosher organic wines available, but one or two are Kosher for Pesach. Consider paying a little more at a locally-owned store; sustainable means supporting local businesses, too.
Serve local/ethically-sourced meat. Meat dishes like chicken soup with matzah balls and brisket are traditional favorites for Passover. Try buying meat from the person who raised it, or as close to that as possible. Consider: farmer’s markets, meat co-ops, local butcher shops (ask them where the meat comes from).

More Sustainability Tips

Pre-Passover Green Cleaning: You don’t have to douse your house in poisonous chemicals—noxious to both you and the people who work in the factories that produce them—to get rid of your chametz (bread products and crumbs which are literally, and ritually, cleared before Pesach). Try using natural, non-toxic cleaning products instead of your traditional harsh chemicals.
Plan ahead: In the time leading up to Pesach, be mindful of what you buy. Try to finish those “almost empty” containers in your fridge, and half empty bags of bread, rather than automatically resorting to buying new. You can get rid of chametz in the most sustainable and cost effective way by planning ahead in order to use up as much as you can of what you have before the start of Pesach.
Invest in Pesach Dishware: Pesach is a time when many families break out the fancy dishes and heirloom silverware. Investing in a set of Pesach dishware, is a sustainable commitment to avoid buying disposables every year. If you’re using disposable plates this year, use post-consumer waste paper or plant-based ones.
Get rid of ALL your chametz: Chametz isn’t just leavened bread – it is a symbol for all the unnecessary waste that fills up our lives. While you’re getting rid of breadcrumbs, read the ingredients on your food. All those sauces that are different versions of sugar – do you really need them? If you’re feeling brave: cut out caffeine and all processed foods, and maybe give up booze for good measure. Your body will thank you. You’ll go into Pesach feeling strong and clean.
What’s your existential chametz? Start journaling. What’s the fluff, the stuff, the superfluity, that clogs up your brain, that stops you being free?
Enjoy your flowers on Pesach—and all spring: Fresh bouquets make beautiful centerpieces, but only last a few days, and are often grown with pesticides. Try a sustainable alternative like potted tulips. Potted herbs also make a beautiful, inexpensive centerpiece, and make your table smell great! You can buy potted thyme, rosemary, lavender, and other fragrant herbs at a garden nursery or farmer’s market. At the end of the seder, give your centerpieces as gifts to your guests. If you definitely want cut-flower centerpieces, go organic!

Activities & Rituals

Host a chocolate seder | Use this Haggadah supplement for a discussion around sustainability, worker justice, and related food issues.
Matzah Making for Students | Learn how to make flour from wheat and make matzah from the flour.
Bread of Affliction: Matzah, Hunger, and Race | Use this Haggadah supplement as a conversation guide to explore the relationship between vulnerable communities and lack of access to nutritious food.
Passover in the Desert: 2nd Night Seder Youth Skit | An off-the-page co-created celebration around the bonfire!
Food and Justice | The Uri L’Tzedek Food and Justice Haggadah Supplement features essays, insights and action to unite food, social justice, and ethical consumption.
Food Blessings | Recount the many food blessings in Jewish tradition. Invite each guest to offer a food blessing – either traditional and original. This is a good way to consider all of the food that we will eat together during the Pesach seder, and what the significance may be to each individual at the table.
Place an ice block on your seder table | Open up a conversation about the climate crisis, while linking it to the fundamental themes of Pesach and Jewish community life. As the ice block melts throughout the seder, it becomes a physical prompt to ask questions, much like many of the other items on the seder table.
What Would Moses Do? | Moses brought the enslaved Jews out of Egypt towards freedom. Sadly, a different form of slavery exists today, both in Israel and the rest of the world. Refer to Fair Trade Judaica’s Seder Resources to educate your guests about the slavery that exists in the world today.

More Resources

Food for Thought– A 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.
Adamah Blog
Programs & Workshops
My Jewish Learning – Passover 101
The Forward

Passover offers a perfect opportunity to combine the wisdom of a traditional Jewish holiday with our contemporary desire to live with health & sustainability in mind.

As you prepare for the Passover seder, these four questions can help inform your own conscious food choices, and enhance your discussions with family and friends during the holiday.

A tool for making conscious food choices and examining animal welfare at your seder. We discuss many items on the seder plate – but the egg is often overlooked.

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Updated Shmita Sourcebook

adamah — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 01:18:35 +0000

The Hazon Shmita Sourcebook presents a guided exploration of the history, concepts, and practices of Shmita, from debt forgiveness to agricultural rest, economic adjustment to charitable giving. The updated sourcebook explores texts and commentaries that build the framework of Shmita within the biblical and rabbinic tradition, as well as contemporary voices that speak to Shmita as it relates to our modern world.

purchase

download

Translated as “Release,” Shmita is integral to the Torah’s vision of a just society. Though the specifics of Shmita observance have changed throughout Jewish history, its inherent values remain prescient. Shmita, with its dual acknowledgment and transcendence of the agricultural and economic realm, offers an opportunity for social reset and renewal to the entire Jewish world – and beyond.

This 3rd edition is completely redesigned with the user experience in mind, many additional sources, and more thorough commentary and explanations. This comprehensive, accessible sourcebook is well-suited for individual, partnered, and group study, with guiding text and discussion questions to enhance your learning, regardless of educational background. The Hazon Shmita Sourcebook offers a holistic understanding of Shmita, from the depth of Jewish tradition to the most pressing issues of our time.

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Blessing Our Food Waste

adamah — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 22:09:53 +0000

Through the practice of a food waste ritual, we can find deep lessons in how we gather, cook, and scrap food. We visually express those lessons into a “visual blessing” using actual food scraps and stones or other found natural objects. Then, we craft and recite a spoken blessing. Together, this helps us rethink food waste in our homes and communities.

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Faith is Green

adamah — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 21:03:34 +0000

Jewish Life & Planet Earth

Hazon partnered with EarthX to produce episodes on Jewish environmentalism for the Faith is Green series on EarthxTV. This brand new original series details how we can all strive to create a more environmentally sustainable world through observance of Jewish values such as respect, fairness, responsibility, and community.

Episodes were available for free on EarthxTV for a year. The shows are currently unavailable due to international media agreements. Please check back in the future; we will reactivate the links as soon as the shows are available again.

Episode 1: Jews and the Land

How Jews are connecting and reconnecting to the land through farming, nature education, ritual, and more.

Featuring:

Talia Chain | Founder, Sadeh
Micha Chetrit | Farmer/Co-Founder of The Midbar Project
Risa Alyson Cooper | Executive Director, Shoresh
Yosef Gillers | Co-Executive Director, GrowTorah
Rabbi Zelig Golden | Executive Director, Wilderness Torah
Shani Mink | Executive Director, Jewish Farmer Network
Shamu Sadeh | Director of Education at Isabella Freedman, Hazon
Nigel Savage | Founder and CEO, Hazon

Episode 2: The Jewish Calendar, Planet Earth and the Climate Crisis

A reflection on the ways that Jewish holidays and cycles of time are informing the Jewish environmental movement.

Featuring:

Dr. Jeremy Benstein | Heschel Center for Sustainability and 929
Rabbi Jill Hammer | Academy for Jewish Religion
Sara Just-Michael | Grow Torah
Dr. Adriane Leveen | HUC-JIR, New York
Nigel Savage | Hazon
Jonathan Schorsch | Green Sabbath Project
Yoshi Silverstein | Mitsui Collective

Episode 3: Jews and Food

Explore how the centuries-old tradition of “keeping kosher” is playing out in fascinating and sustainable new ways in the 21st century.

Featuring:

Jenny Goldfarb | Unreal Deli
Devora Kimelman-Block | KOL Foods
Leah Koenig | Author
Nate Looney | Westside Urban Gardens and Avodah
Becky O’Brien | Hazon
Nigel Savage | Hazon
Hannah Style | Feast With Us

Episode 4: Jewish Activism for a More Sustainable World

From Moses in the Bible, to Heschel and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Jewish life has already been about making change in the wider world. In this episode, we hear from a range of Jewish activists who are driving change in the wider world.

Featuring:

Rabbi Shoshana Friedman | Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action
Jakir Manela | Hazon and Pearlstone Center
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright | New York Lawyers for the Public Interest
Sue Salinger | Ekar Farm
Nigel Savage | Hazon
Charlene Seidle | Leichtag Foundation
Yoni Stadlin | Eden Village Camp

Episode 5: Israel and the Environment

A look at leading, cutting edge sustainability efforts in Israel from clean tech, to academic, to non-profit, and more, and how the environmental movement contributes to peace-building.

Featuring:

Yossi Abramowitz | Energiya Global Capital and the Arava Power Company
Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed | Arava Institute for Environmental Studies
Einat Kramer | Teva Ivri
Nova Levtziyon Nadan and Hadas Shafrir | Value2 – The House for Responsible Investments
Nigel Savage | Hazon
Elaine Solowey | Arava Institute
Alon Tal | Member of the Knesset

Episode 6: Young Jews and Planet Earth

Learn from Jewish youth (under 30) and the environmental programs and activities they’re involved in as participants and/or leaders.

Featuring:

Jonah Goldman | PLNT Burger
Ryan Kaplan | Jewish Community Center of Krakow
Penelope Kopp | Jewish Youth Climate Movement
Liana Rothman | Hazon and Jewish Youth Climate Movement
Nigel Savage | Hazon
Erin Schrode | Turning Green
Margot Seigle | Linke Fligl

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Ice Block on the Seder Table

adamah — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 19:52:23 +0000

From the Jewish Climate Network:

We are asking our community to place an ice block beside the Seder plate and open up a conversation about climate change this year (2022), while linking it to the fundamental themes of Pesach.

The ice block represents the rapidly melting ice caps and sheets throughout the world caused by human activity. As the ice block shvitzes on our Seder table, we are reminded that time is running out for action. It becomes a physical prompt to ask questions, much like the other Seder table objects prompt questions.

To support these questions, the JCN has created a printable Ice Block Challenge guide that can be incorporated into Seder night.

JCN-Ice-Block-Resource Download

http://hazon.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/JCN-Ice-Block-Resource-1.pdf

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The Egg on the Seder Plate

Rachel Feldman — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 16:04:10 +0000

Use this as a tool for making conscious food choices and to start a discussion about animal welfare at your seder. We discuss many items on the seder plate – but the egg is often overlooked.

The Egg on the Seder Plate Passover Haggadah

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Pickling 101

adamah — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 21:42:22 +0000

There are many options to preserve each season’s harvest, including canning, vinegar pickling, drying, blanching and freezing. This particular activity teaches lacto-fermentation pickling – an easy, fun and extremely health-friendly method of food preservation. Participants will take home a jar of their own and in a few days will be able to eat their own pickles!

Teva In a Box – Pickling 101 (Adamah 2025)Download

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Microgreens

adamah — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 21:42:22 +0000

Microgreens are mini versions of regular vegetables. The shoots are harvested at a young age, before they grow into fully matured plants. They have a wonderful flavor and are richer in nutrition than their larger counterparts. Best of all, microgreens are fun and easy to grow!

Teva In a Box – Microgreens – Adamah 2025 Download

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Decomposition

adamah — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 21:42:22 +0000

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Greening Chanukah Guide

adamah — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 23:45:30 +0000

The Greening Chanukah Guide offers an overview of Chanukah through the lens of sustainability. Find tips and tricks for greening your holiday and learn more about the environmental implications of oil production to help create a healthier and more sustainable world for all!

download the greening chanukah guide

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