Min Ha'aretz: Making Meaning from Our Food

Humanity's relationship to the foods we eat has been a concern of Judaism from our earliest writings. 

Using those classic texts as a starting point, Min Ha’aretz guides students through a myriad of food related issues and dilemmas of our time.

Min Ha’aretz fosters discussion of the ways both contemporary and Jewish values can help us make choices. For example, the dilemma of whether to eat meat, and if so, how much and what kind, is discussed both from a modern values perspective (factory farming, sustainability) as well from a Jewish values point of view (caring for animals or tza’ar ba’alei hayim).

The journal also helps connect students to the spiritual meanings that we can gain through our food choices. For example, the Jewish value of  sh’mirat ha’guf, (caring about our health) can help us choose to eat in moderation, be more aware of where our foods come from, and help us have gratitude for the food we are able to enjoy and partake of.

CONTENTS

To Grow

1. Planting Seeds

2. Caring for the Land

To Harvest

3. Our Daily Bread

4. Jewish food around the World

5. Food Miles

To Raise Animals

6. Animals and Us

7. Kashrut

To Eat

8. Blessing the Meal

9. Sharing Food

To Sustain

10. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

11. Caring for Our Bodies

12. Moderation

Bringing it all Together

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:Hazon is the leading Jewish sustainability organization in North America, and it stands at the forefront of a new Jewish food movement. It combines the wisdom of ancient tradition with contemporary knowledge about the environment to help guide individuals, families, and communities to be stewards of the earth and more educated, empowered consumers.