From Hand to Mouth and Back Again: The Ethics of What We Eat
What: Mark Heller and Rabbi Arthur Waskow will be teaching a class on food and the ethical relationships among the hand that grows and cooks, the mouth that eats, and the ethics of the heart.
This seminar will address important questions about ethical eating: Is it moral to eat animals? Should you buy those avocados from Peru? What does it mean to eat sustainably? Read and discuss traditional and modern texts about ethical eating, including kashrut (keeping kosher) and eco-kashrut, animal welfare, workers’ rights, ecological sustainability, health, and wealth.
The final session will be in the Mishkan kitchen, where you’ll prepare recipes (and eat the results!) while discussing how ethical issues play out in the market and at the dinner table.
When:The class will meet Mondays, October 15-November 5, 6:30-8 p.m.
Where: Mishkan Shalom (4101 Freeland Ave. just off Shurs Lane in the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia).
Fees and Registration: Course fee: $72 for Mishkan members; $90 for non-members; $10 ingredients fee for final class. You can register online and choose the class in which you wish to enroll. If you prefer to register by check, call or e-mail the synagogue (215-508-0226 or office@mishkan.org) and give your name, contact information and the class you wish to take. The office manager will advise you about how to send a check to Mishkan for payment.
Instructor Credentials: Rabbi Arthur Waskow is the author of Down-to-Earth Judaism: Food, Money, Sex, and the Rest of Life, among other books. He founded (1983) and directs The Shalom Center, a prophetic voice in Jewish, multi-religious and American life that focuses on seeking peace, pursuing justice, healing the earth and celebrating community. Mark Heller has been a professional chef for 10 years. While he specializes in making his clients extremely happy whatever they eat, he does have a particular interest in the slow food movement, appropriate agriculture and regional cooking as expressions of human difference and the search to meet our highest aspirations.
In connection with this course, Rabbi Arthur Waskow will using his book Down-to-Earth Judaism: Food, Money, Sex, & the Rest of Life, with a major section on Food. Even if you can’t take part in the class, can receive the book, personally inscribed to you, by donating $36 to The Shalom Center.