December 2024 Newsletter

It’s almost time!

Giving Tuesday is in just TWO days, and Shamayim needs YOU to help drive our mission of educating the Jewish community about animal advocacy. Let’s come together and make a powerful statement for change.

Synagogue Vegan Challenge Updates

Ayeka Community Vegan Shabbat Meal

“The event went great. We had a lot of attendance and the already-vegan members of the community were thrilled to be able to eat from every meal without having to sort between the non vegan ones like they usually do. We served Indian vegan food from a new kosher restaurant in Paris. We first explained to the congregants the principle of the Synagogue Vegan Challenge, and why we thought it was a great opportunity to educate ourselves to the cost of eating meat and fish in today’s world. A lot of participants gave us very positive feedback about the meal and our choice to join the challenge.” – Emile

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Lawrence Jewish Community Congregation – Fall Vegan Nosh & Moon-Observation

“We served vegan chili (home made by a congregant), vegan cornbread, vegan lo mein, spaghetti, hot cider, and vegan carrot cake. Greg Rudnick, a member and our in-house astronomer who was leading the moon-observation portion of the event spoke for 10 minutes about ecological reasons that veganism is a more sound/ethical choice than vegetarianism. Folks loved the food and appreciated Greg’s thoughtful discussion of how veganism succeeds ecologically and benefits animals where vegetarianism fails.” -Lara

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Jewish Community of Amherst – Kabbalat Shabbat with Vegan Meal

“This event went well! We served a delicious rigatoni with butternut squash sauce, and a hearty bean stew. For desert we served a simple fruit tart with puff pastry (I recently learned that Pepperidge Farm Puff pastry dough is vegan!). We had both text study and a presentation from our new local food co-op as the educational component. Participants were engaged and interested in both the presentation and the text study. It was very nice to see our community excited about these things!” -Melissa

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Moishe Pod Denver- Friendsgiving Shabbat

“The vegan menu was based on typical Thanksgiving dishes with a particular focus on native foods grown in Colorado, including squash, beans and corn. There was a corresponding educational component about the “3 sisters” which is typical of native American cultivation practices here in Colorado. Everyone responded very positively, engaging in meaningful discussion about the fertility of our land and the importance of utilizing ancient cultivation practices to promote a healthy ecosystem.”

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Temple Israel of Hollywood: Shabbat Oneg

“Shabbat services with a vegan oneg after–the food served was a vegan cheddar jalapeno biscuits (with plant-based butter and a cranberry chutney) and horchata. I (the rabbi) taught during the service a bit about Noah’s task of restarting the world and how this can inspire us to restart how we view our responsibilities to the planet. One of those ways is through our food–how it is raised/grown, and what we consume. We had about 75 people in attendance, all of whom were very impressed with how delicious the vegan food was.” -Rabbi Calvin

Campus Fellowship Updates

Read this piece about Thanksgiving, written by Shamayim Campus Fellow, Jordyn! (And don’t skip the FREE vegan Trader Joe’s list download, which includes vegan + kosher options).