PORTLAND LEADERSHIP COHORT from left to right, back row: Elizabeth Schwartz, Anna Kellerman, Rosi Goldstein, Natasha Hale, Eleyna Fugman and Bobbie Kramer; front row: Sara Hope Smith, Laurel Poplack, Rachel Caron and Susan Bivens; and front Lannie Kali with her daughter Dania Grace Kali.

Cohort works with Hazon for sustainable Jewish community

Community begins to see shape of future as grants make impact. When the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland offered up to $300,000 for its Community Impact Grants program, people paid attention. Federation received 66 proposals totaling nearly $3.5 million.

The CIG program recently allocated $250,000 for 12 innovative programs designed to build Jewish communal involvement here at home, especially among younger generations.

Here are three of the projects that are coming to fruition to build a stronger, more inclusive Jewish community in the greater Portland area.

By ELIZABETH SCHWARTZ, Special to the Jewish Review

article created on: 2011-10-01T00:00:00

When Jews think about Jewish Federations, they might imagine a staid organization that collects funds for Israel and the UJA. In Oregon, the unofficial state motto “Things look different here,” holds especially true for our Jewish Federation these days. CEO Marc Blattner and an energetic governing board are taking bold steps to turn the standard paradigm of Jewish Federation on its head, starting with the $250,000 given to a group of organizations in the form of Community Impact Grants this past spring. Trust me, this ain’t your tateh’s (grandmother’s) Jewish Federation.

Hazon, a Jewish not-for-profit based in New York City, is the world’s largest Jewish environmental organization; its mission is to help create healthy and sustainable Jewish communities in the Jewish world and beyond. In June, Hazon (Hebrew for “vision”) received a $19,000 Community Impact Grant from the Federation, designed to strengthen and expand Jewish efforts in sustainable food and environmental activities in Portland. One part of the grant was designated for scholarships to send a diverse cohort of Portland-area leaders and emerging leaders to Hazon’s Sixth Annual Food Conference, held in August at the University of California, Davis.

Eleven people, myself included, received these scholarships. As part of the selection process for the leadership cohort, all applicants were asked to submit ideas for community-based food and environmental projects that can be integrated into Portland’s existing Jewish food activities. Portland Tuv Ha’Aretz, Portland’s Jewish connection to sustainable, ethical food for all, and other Jewish institutions, like synagogues and schools, will benefit from the cohort’s experiences, skills, enthusiasm and passion for Jewish sustainable food, in all its manifestations.

Our cohort is a diverse group of women, ranging in age from late teens to early 60s, and we bring a wealth of experience, skill sets and enthusiasm about food and Judaism to our work.

Susan Bivens is the daughter of a commercial salmon fisherman in Alaska. Her family also grew much of the food they ate in a greenhouse next to their home, but she says it wasn’t until she moved to Portland that she really started connecting with the food movement.

“When my husband and I got married last year, we didn’t ask for gifts. Instead, we asked for people to donate to our backyard remodel,” Bivens explains. “We are putting in a garden and fruit trees that will hopefully allow us to grow most of our own food. Portland is sort of a food Mecca, in the sense that almost everything here embodies what Hazon believes in,” Bivens adds.

Rachel Caron is a high schooler at Catlin Gabel. She became interested in Jewish food sustainability after taking a Hazon curriculum class called Food for Thought at Neveh Shalom.

“The fervor that I felt at the conference was inspiring and the Jewish community was so welcoming at Hazon,” says Caron. “The conference made me exponentially more excited about becoming part of the food movement.”

Eleyna Fugman is passionate about Jewish education, urban homesteading and wild plants. She is currently very busy harvesting fruit from her neighborhood and the woods, to jam and preserve for the winter. She also teaches 8- and 9-year-olds at P’nai Or’s religious school and is studying to become a bat mitzvah next winter.

“I was inspired by the simultaneous mix of learning at the conference,” Fugman explains. “The hands-on do-it-yourself activities and religious observances make me glad to be alive, and able to enjoy the bounty of the earth and our culture.”

“My Jewish food focus is about prayer and communion with foods, based on a raw foods plant-based diet, mindfulness, health and sustainability,” says Rosi Goldsmith, an organic gardener and self-described Plant Whisperer. Goldsmith has taught classes on plants and insects to a variety of organizations, both here and in Israel.

“I was inspired by Oran Hesterman, one of the Hazon Food Conference keynote speakers, to unite my spirituality and commitment to following where I am called by HaShem with Jewish community, Tikkun Olam and local food justice issues,” she explains. Goldsmith wants to plan a Jewish community-wide event on mindfulness around eating.

Natasha Hale recently relocated to Hillsboro and is happily engrossed in the process of transforming her yard into a productive food garden.

“It is vital to me that communities be food sufficient and able to rely on each other in both times of crisis and in times of plenty, and to reclaim the power we have as consumers,” she explains. “My vision for the Portland Jewish community is that we be self-sufficient in food, able to aid others, and to be a model and resource for the larger community. One way to achieve this is to involve our children in growing food, either in gardens at our Jewish schools or through access to a community garden.”

Lannie Kali has a wealth of experience working in the areas of food security and food justice. She was an original member of the Lents Food Group, whose mission to get healthy food into that low income East Portland neighborhood resulted in the Lents International Farmers Market. Kali currently manages a hunger reduction and education program for the Moreland Farmers Market, and her family runs a micro farm in Beaverton.

“I think, often in issues having to do with social justice and change, it is easy to feel alone and therefore unmotivated and unsupported. For me, the conference was especially important in that regard,” Kali observed. As a non-Jew raising her daughter in the Jewish faith, Kali adds, “Everything I experienced at the conference has strengthened my decision to bring up my daughter as a Jew.”

“The conference was an opportunity for me to strengthen my relationship with food and my connection to place within a Jewish context,” says Anna Kellerman, who lives in a Jewish co-op style household in northeast Portland. In her previous life, Kellerman was an organic farmer and ornamental landscaper, including two years she spent growing produce for a sustainable restaurant in southern Utah.

“I loved spending Shabbat with such a diverse group of Jews, engaging in rowdy singing after meals, and learning about the new directions that people are taking regarding Jewish food ethics,” says Kellerman.

Bobbie Kramer: A veterinarian, gardener, beekeeper, food preserver and the wife of a microbrewer, Kramer has her finger in just about every food-related pie. She likes to teach about cooking and baking, and is on the board of the Home Orchard Society. She is also the lead chef for Neveh Shalom’s monthly ChikChak Service. At the conference, Kramer particularly appreciated what she learned about chicken shechting.

“I’m a hands-on kind of person,” she adds. “My other favorite activity was the beit midrash, where we discussed text about whether it’s better to grow your own or buy the food you eat.”

Laurel Poplack is a teen member of Neveh Shalom who is especially interested in agriculture production, distribution and consumption.

“I have taken several food classes, both at Neveh and my high school,” she explains. “In addition, a group of students from my high school and I started a school garden, which is still active, and we do volunteer work with a local urban farm. I’d like to also focus on the garden we have at Neveh Shalom and make sure it is maintained and taken care of.”

“This was my third Hazon conference, and by far the best one I’ve attended,” says Liz Schwartz, a freelance writer, food activist, co-host of the Yiddish Hour on KBOO 90.7 fm and a founding member of Portland Tuv Ha’Aretz. Schwartz has written about food issues for Hazon’s blog, The Jew and the Carrot, and has also compiled a faith-based handbook for setting up CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) partnerships between faith communities and local farmers.

“The passion and enthusiasm of the other members of the Portland cohort has totally re-energized and re-inspired my own work,” she said.

“I am an organizer and I connect with folks,” says Sara Hope Smith. A dedicated foodie who has studied permaculture, Smith is also passionate about food security, insuring that everyone can access healthy, fresh, affordable and high-quality food.

“I am very interested in localized and distributed food resources, and would love to bring this conversation into the context of Jewish spirituality,” she explains.