Shoresh to celebrate 10th anniversary with culinary event in Toronto

From left, Sabrina Malach, Rebecca Bloomfield and Risa Alyson Cooper are all smiles as they harvest honey for Rosh Hashanah.

Shoresh, the Hebrew word for “root,” is the perfect name for an organization that takes pride in its Canadian Jewish roots through its nature-based Jewish education, healthy food production, environmental action and sustainable Jewish products.

“Shoresh’s mission is to educate, inspire and ultimately empower the Jewish community to be shomrei adamah, protectors of the earth,” explained Shoresh’s executive director, Risa Alyson Cooper. “Environmental ethics are Jewish ethics, and part of what it means to live an active, vibrant and engaged Jewish life, is to live a life where we’re living in balance with the natural world around us.”

The organization believes that food unites and strengthens community bonds. With that in mind, some 400 community members are expected at Shoresh’s 10th birthday bash: the fourth annual Taking Root fundraiser on Nov. 14 at 6:30 p.m. at York Mills Gallery in Toronto. Taking Root will feature more than 25 food producers, creators and purveyors, such as Unami Sushi, Greenhouse Juice, Mighty Fine Brine, chef Jordan Wagman, Beaus Beer and Live Organic Food Bar.

“All of our vendors are going to be serving plant-based foods. Everything will be clearly marked, whether it was locally sourced, whether it is organically grown and whether the ingredients are fair-trade certified,” said Cooper. “We will also have a number of heksher kosher vendors. The theme of Taking Root is the power of many, because Shoresh really is the product of the vision and energies of thousands of community members and plants and pollinators all coming together to manifest what we’ve brought into our community over the last 10 years.”

READ: SHORESH GEARS UP FOR SECOND YEAR OF OUTDOOR SCHOOL

Serving the communities of southern Ontario, Shoresh operates out of Kavanah Garden in Vaughan, Bela Farm in Hillsburgh, Maxie’s Garden in Kensington Market and through schools, synagogues, camps and community organizations throughout the Greater Toronto Area.

“Ten years ago, Sabrina Malach and I, and a few other community members, envisioned what it could be like to bring earth-based Judaism to the Toronto community. The first idea that we came up with was Kavanah Garden. We established Kavanah Garden in 2009 at the Lebovic Jewish Community Campus, as a pilot project,” said Cooper. “In our first season, we hosted 1,400 community members and grew 400 lb. of fresh, local, organic produce for tzedakah, with the help of 200 volunteers, including our first cohort of interns. Ever since then, it’s sort of spiralled outwards. It’s humbling.”

All of the food that Shoresh grows at Kavanah Garden is donated to the community.

“We call it tzedakah from the ground up,” said Cooper. “Often when people think of tzedakah, they think of giving money, but really, the laws behind tzedakah are rooted in our agricultural tradition and so we try and get back to that aspect of Jewish roots by growing food for vulnerable community members.”

Bottles of Pure Honey by Bela’s Bees are available for sale. (Sabrina Malach photo)

Bela Farm was launched in 2015, with an ambitious seven-year plan that includes an eight-hectare reforestation project and an eight-hectare perennial bee pasture. Shoresh has harvested and sold Bela’s Bees Honey to hundreds of people.

“We have a partnership with Jewish Family & Child called the Pearl Project, where we work with youth who are transitioning out of the foster care system,” explained Cooper. “We create a social enterprise by caring for, and harvesting, medicinal herbs.”

In 2017, Shoresh planted 11,000 trees at Bela Farm and grew its apiary to 30 hives. “From planting wildflowers to jarring and selling honey, Shoresh takes a community-based approach to saving bees, while simultaneously offering our community the option to purchase,” said Sabrina Malach, the director of community engagement at Shoresh.

Shoresh recently launched its newest sustainable product, beeswax Hanukkah candles.

Risa Alyson Cooper, founder and executive director of the grassroots organization Shoresh, teaches kids about the connections between Jewish values and environmental stewardship at the Kavanah Garden in Vaughan, Ont. (Photo courtesy of Shoresh)

“Our products (including Shabbat candles) are actually byproducts of our environmental initiatives,” said Cooper.

“In planting the bee sanctuary, we started keeping honeybee hives on site and now have about 20 hives at Bela Farm. We call it community-supported beekeeping, because we invite the community in every step of the process. Community members help us to build our hives and then harvest and distribute the honey. This year, we harvested about 3,000 jars of our Bela’s Bees Pure Honey. We sold 2,000 jars a week before Rosh Hashanah alone.”

Cooper went on to say that, “It’s an opportunity for people to bring a little piece of what we’re doing to their home and to put Jewish values into practice through the product that they are bringing into their Jewish rituals.”