A Sweet and Compassioante New Year: Celebrating Rosh Hashanah with the JVS kehillah
On Monday, erev Rosh Hashanah, the JVS community came together to celebrate the a New Year with age old traditions, songs, conversation & a delicious three course meal.
We began with candels, kiddush, a round challah & apples from our tree dipped in date syrup (a more compassionate alternative to honey). Our guest speaker, student Rabbi Stacy Hackner guided us through the symbolism of the traditional foods on our Rosh Hashana Seder Plate.
The day before the event our wonderful volunteers Asher, Yifa, William and Sara spent the day harvesting and cooking 8 kilograms of fresh, organic fruit and vegertables from our JVS garden. Many thanks to Simone who runs our Sunday gardening club and the volunteers who grew the food which we enjoyed at the seder. Our chefs prepared a menu curated by the talented Yifah; for our starter we enjoyed wilted garden greens with sesame, turkish inspired apple, bean and pomergranite salad and caramalised leeks. The main consisted of spiced tomato, courgette, green bean and chickpea stew, Shirin polo Perisian rice with pistachios, almonds and carrots & lastly a roasted beetroot and sweet potato tzimmes. Desert was a delicious sticky date and apple pudding with plant-based vanilla ice-cream!
The event was filled with a mixture of new faces and familiar regulars, welcoming people of all ages and backgrounds to celebrate the new year in a way that respects all creatures, and the beautiful earth upon which we all rely. We sold out, with nearly 40 guests enjoying a vegan meal. Using the vegan calculator, 40 individuals eating just one plant-based meal has saved over 13,200 gallons of water, 360 sq.ft of forest, 480lbs of grain, 240lbs of CO2 and 12 animal lives. A big thankyou to all those who attended our compassionate seder & stay tuned for the recipes to be uploaded on this website!
Shanah Tovah U’Metukah