Synagogues Are Going Vegan. Is Tofu Cholent The Future Of Kiddush?
The Synagogue Vegan Challenge was simple. Five synagogues. $25,000, distributed equally between them. A commitment to giving a year’s worth of vegan programming. Funding was provided by VegFund, a program that provides grants vegan activists of all sorts. The money, as per the Q&A on the site, is designated only for the purchasing of vegan food items, like sunflower seeds.
The Jewish animal welfare group behind this venture, The Shamayim V’Aretz Institute, of which Big Bang Theory star Mayim Bialik is a founding member, is dedicated to putting animal welfare on the Jewish agenda.
The amount of vegan synagogues in the United States before the Synagogue Vegan Challenge? Zero.
After the challenge? Five now, but the sky’s the limit. The first five vegan synagogues in America are Romemu of New York, Rodef Shalom of Colorado, OHEL of Florida, Agudath Jacob of Illinois, and Ohev Sholom Temple in Virginia.
“This is about saving lives,” Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, leader of The Shamayim V’Aretz Institute, said in a released statement. Yanklowitz, 36, has been vegan for 6 years. So is this the dawn of the Vegan Synagogue? Who knows! At least they’ll be saving money skipping on the brisket.
Shira Feder is a writer for the Forward. You can reach her at feder@forward.com or @shirafeder
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30