Manna
Celebrating Jewish food’s centrality in our lives today, and our commitment to nourishing the hungry in our neighborhood are ways Shaaray Tefila members elevate Jewish life, forge relationships, and live our values.
Jewish food is a powerful pathway to cultivating Jewish belonging and joy.
Manna connects and strengthens Shaaray Tefila’s existing food related initiatives while piloting new opportunities for the community to learn, deepen relationships and grow through thoughtful and tasty food-related experiences and programming. Our deep dive into food will feature dynamic educational encounters to expand our knowledge, shared meals designed to further relationship-building, Jewish food practices to integrate into our lives and homes, and meaningful community service to meet the ongoing needs of our neighbors. We will feed our souls as we nourish our community.
While food is a basic human need, it holds layers of complexity: survival or decadence, traditional practice or irreverence. Manna will explore what it means to eat, cook, serve, and encounter food Jewishly.
We hope you will join us!
Questions? Contact Linda Neiman.
About Manna
FEED: Within and beyond the community
Our DISH series on Jewish food from around the world
Programming exploring our relationship, rituals, and practices around food for “Just Parents” (no kids!), families, teens, and young adult
Shabbat and holiday related programming
NOURISH: Opportunities to serve and feed those in need both within and without our community
Soup Kitchen
Backpack Buddies
INVIGORATE: Learning and experiencing Jewish traditions and teachings around food
Baking and learing opportunities with Rabbi Mosbacher
Text study with our clergy, members, and guest educators
Chef in Residence, Liz Alpern
Liz Alpern is the co-founder of The Gefilteria, an artisanal gefilte fish purveyor, co-author of The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods, and a recognized leader in the Jewish Food renaissance, reimagining Ashkenazi cuisine for the next generation. She recently was invited by the Smithsonian Institute to represent Jewish food culture at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall, and was a featured speaker at the first ever Borscht Belt Fest (where she also hosted a high-stakes Babka bake-off). Inspired by the desire to reimagine and promote Eastern European cuisine, Liz also has partnered with BBYO, where she designed a 3-part course to bring Jewish food to life for teen leaders, and she is the founder of Queer Soup Night, a global event series highlighting the talent of queer chefs while raising funds for locally-based social justice organizations.
