For 1 in 8 Americans, hunger is reality. According to Feeding America (the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief organization), in 2007, 36.2 million Americans lived in food insecure households, 23.8 million adults and 12.4 million children. (And these numbers are before the economic downturn!) At the same time that so many Americans are going hungry, we are wasting a shocking amount of perfectly fine food. The USDA estimates 96 billion pounds of food are wasted each year in the United States. Feeding America estimates that if we could recover merely 5% of the food wasted each year, we could help feed 14 million people.
Harvest Against Hunger, a Seattle based hunger relief organization, estimates that Washington State alone wastes 10’s of millions of pounds of food each year. Our tradition has a remarkably powerful set of teachings around the injunction not to waste food and other useful resources.
The seed of this tradition traces back to two verses in this week’s torah portion, Shoftim. The parshah reads:
When you besiege a town for many days, waging-war against it, to seize it: you are not to bring-ruin on its trees, by swinging-away (with) an axe against them, for from them you eat, them you are not to cut-down – for are the trees of the field human beings, (able) to come against you in a siege? Only those trees of which you know that they are not trees for eating, them you may bring-to-ruin and cut-down, that you may build siege-works against the town that is making war against you, until its downfall. (Deuteronomy 20:19-20)
This command that the Israelites refrain from destroying the fruit trees of their enemies during war-time becomes the foundation for a comprehensive, and quite radical, set of teachings around the prevention of waste. For example, Maimonides (1135-1204) teaches that “Not only own who cuts down food trees, but also one who smashes household goods, tears clothes, demolishes buildings, stops up a spring, or destroys food on purpose violates the command: ‘You must not destroy.’
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) goes even further in teaching that: The prohibition of purposeless destruction of food trees around a besieged city is only to be taken as an example of general wastefulness. Under the concept of ‘you shall not destroy,’ the purposeless destruction of anything at all is to be forbidden, so that our text becomes the most comprehensive warning to human beings not to misuse the position that God has given them as masters of the world and its matter to capricious, passionate, or merely thoughtless wasteful destruction of anything on earth. Only for wise use has God laid the world at our feet when God said to humankind, “…fill the earth and master it…(Gen. 1:28)
As Jews, we know that the obligation to care for the poor and vulnerable in our communities is absolutely central to our lives. Tragically, now more than ever, we don’t need to look very far to find people in our midst who are literally going hungry. As Jews, as humans, we have the responsibility to do something.
DID YOU KNOW?
Every week any unclaimed or leftover produce is delivered to the Clifton Presbyterian Shelter in Candler Park through The "Plant a Row" program of the Atlanta Community Food Bank To learn more about how you can help relieve hunger please check out these:
resources
resources
Here are this week's box items and a tasty recipe so that you can plan ahead and make use of ALL your yummy produce. Also, if you are interested in a fall share beginning after labor day through just before Thanksgiving, please be in touch with shearith.organic@gmail.com Happy veggie day!
In the box: Sweet Corn, Watermelon, Okra, Tomatoes, Potatoes, Garlic, Basil, Eggplant (possibly), Squash
Caprese Pizza - one round of homeade or storebought pizza dough (I am a fan of TJ's whole wheat)
- two tablespoons storebought or homeade pesto (great use for all of that frest basil and garlic!)
- 1/2 a large or one small tomato (incredibly good with the heirlooms)
- olive oil for drizzling a few slices fresh mozzarella
- balsamic vinegar (reduction)
- fresh basil leaves (whole)
Roll out pizza dough. Brush with two (or more if needed) tablespoons pesto. Arrange sliced heirloom tomatoes. Drizzle (sparingly) with olive oil and season with sea salt and pepper (if desired). sprinkle with parmesean. Place in 400-450 degree oven on baking sheet or pizza stone for 10-15 minutes (when crust is brown and cheese is melty. Remove from oven. While pizza is baking, reduce 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar in small saucepan Arrange fresh basil leaves on top and drizzle with balsamic reduction.
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