Jewish Initiative for Animals 5782-5783 Annual Report

Photo: Stocksy

/ Jack Sorokin

Letter from the Executive Director

Important Note: This report encompasses our work from approximately Jan. 2022 through August 2023. For future, JIFA’s annual reports will follow the Jewish calendar cycle and we will release our reports toward the end of the Jewish year (this year, our report coincides with the end of 5783) This timing coincides, purposefully, with the Jewish New Year for Animals, or Rosh Hashanah La’Behemah (pl. Behemot), a recently revived holiday occurring on the first of Elul, exactly one month before Rosh Hashanah. To quote our ritual guide for this occasion, written by Aharon Varady:

“During the month of Elul we have a special tradition called ḥeshbon nefesh to reflect upon all of our relationships and to take responsibility for correcting them. On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we ask God to take care of us as God’s flock. It’s only proper that before doing so, we take responsibility for our own flock — all the creatures that rely upon us for their welfare.”

Each year on Rosh Hashanah La’Behemah, we encourage all who care for animals, along with human and planetary welfare, to internalize this accountability — JIFA is here to ensure that our community continues to be empowered and inspired to do more.

Genesis, the first book in the Torah, gives humans and all the other animals the same commandments to be fruitful and multiply and to eat only plants. The one thing that distinguishes humans from other animals is that humans are made in God’s image and, as a result, they have dominion over other creatures. How we act toward the other animals with whom we share this world reflects to what extent we live up to the divine spark we have been gifted.

At Jewish Initiative for Animals (JIFA), our goal is to center the well-being of animals and promote ethical consumption so that the divine within us can shine outside of us. We do this by helping align the Jewish community’s food choices with our tradition’s values.

This has been an exciting year and a half for JIFA, which determined the need for an expanded leadership that will allow us to better support our programming and serve the broader Jewish community that sees the critical need for our work in a sustained manner. After 25 years as a congregational senior rabbi, I am thrilled to join JIFA, and expand our reach and impact as its first Executive Director.

Photo: Pexels / Matthias Zomer

Also ensuring JIFA’s success is our new advisory board, composed of long-time JIFA supporters Wilhelmina Waldman, Dr. Adrienne Krone, Ilana Braverman, and founder Dr. Aaron Gross. Melissa Hoffman stepped into her new role as Director of Programs, developing new initiatives and campaigns while keeping us focused on our core mission.

Finally, in April 2023, our campaign came onto both the virtual scene and Los Angeles landscape with 11 billboards, broadcasting its provocative yet invitational call to learn and take action. The question Is This Kosher? embodies the Jewish spirit of questioning and challenges the status quo in favor of a more just system. With virtually all kosher animal products originating from factory farms today, we can and must do better.

Happily, our efforts to raise awareness about this troubling fact doesn’t end there: our numerous followers and supporters can take meaningful steps to build a healthier food system with new culinary training resources coming out in the new Jewish year (5784).

Food Policy Intern, Ellie Fajer, joined the JIFA team for over a year and was instrumental in supporting our campaigns and working directly with Hillels on improving their food practices, including her own at Stanford University (now a member of JIFA’s Leadership Circle). Recently, we welcomed Kayla Kaplan as JIFA’s new Social Media and Community Manager. A seasoned writer and content publisher with a master’s in Science, Food and Nutrition from Tufts University, Kayla brings invaluable experience and adds considerably to our programmatic capacity.

For many months, our community engagement efforts have centered on our latest campaign, Is This Kosher?. Leading up to the campaign, JIFA launched a new website with expanded blog content on industrial kosher issues. We amplified this message through articles and live educational programs in connection with Jewish holidays like Rosh Hashanah, Tu B’Shvat, Purim, and Passover.

This past year’s work and growth leaves us excited for the years to come. At its core, the Torah is a call to responsibility that echoes throughout Jewish tradition. Through JIFA’s advocacy for institutional change, we fight to create a more caring and just society for people and the animals in our care.

With gratitude,

Jonathan Bernhard Executive Director

“ How we act toward the other animals with whom we share this world reflects to what extent we live up to the divine spark we have been gifted.”

Photo: Stocksy / Trinette Reed

Is This Kosher? Sparking Local

This past year and a half, JIFA built upon the momentum of our efforts to raise awareness about kosher humanewashing and stir the Jewish community and kosher consumers to learn more and take action: Is This Kosher?, a question broadcast nationally and on billboards across Los Angeles, urged the public to question whether kosher-certified, factory-farmed animal products truly represent their values.

In particular, the campaign highlighted the realities behind the chicken, dairy, and fishing industries. Virtually all kosher products, including those that go into chicken soup, cream cheese, and lox, come from factory farmed animals.

The campaign calls upon Jewish communities and kosher consumers to embrace more sustainable food practices, and garnered national attention in publications like Religion News Service and The Washington Post.

Three billboard designs target deceptive practices within the poultry, fishing, & dairy industries.

“[JIFA] notes that Jews and non-Jews spend a lot of money for kosher meat, thinking of it as a ‘seal of approval’ for a product that’s higher quality, healthier and more humane for animals and workers.

‘But none of that is true,’ the organization says.”

—Religion News Service

Chicken Photo: Stefano Belacchi / We Animals Media Salmon

Photo: iStock / bksrus

Calf

Photo: Havva Zorlu / We Animals Media

Engagement with Jewish Food & Farming Practices

Simple

“[This] campaign has been a huge success in many eyes, sparking a conversation within the Jewish community and beyond about the impact of food choices on animals and the environment.”

—Benji Katz, Medium

One of JIFA’s 11 eye-catching billboards rises above a busy L.A. street, reaching hundreds of commuters on a daily basis.

yet effective social media posts help users learn more & take action.

Photo: Courtesy of Clear Channel

Advancing Ethical Food Policies

Communal food choices are instrumental in driving cultural change—ethical food policies are possible in a wide range of communities, from the individual synagogue to umbrella organizations all the way to denominational movements. JIFA partners on all these levels to help Jewish institutions enact their values through the food they buy and serve.

 JIFA supported the first two synagogues, Beth Chayyim Chadashim (Los Angeles, CA) and Peninsula Temple Beth El (San Mateo, CA) in their commitment to serve plant-based foods, by default, at all their events.

 Hillel International, representing over 500 Jewish community campus centers globally, invited JIFA to deliver training to Hillel professionals on adopting DefaultVeg (serving plant-based food by default at campus centers).

 Following the successful passage of a Rabbinical Assembly resolution addressing the fact that most kosher-certified animal products are factoryfarmed, the Jewish Conservative Movement is poised to become the first denomination to support widespread action on plant-forward communal food policies.

Institutions serving plant-based meals by default ask diners to opt in for meals with animal products.

“[We strive] to provide a sustainable environment for all. One of the best ways we can align our daily practices with our values for social and environmental justice is through our food choices.”

—Peninsula Temple Beth El, San Mateo, CA

Photo: Pexels / Naim Benjelloun

Expanding Educational Opportunities & Partnerships

JIFA continues to meet the need for educational programming on Jewish food justice, and text-based Torah study related to food practices and human-animal relationships. From synagogues ranging from Los Angeles to Baltimore, to affinity organizations such as the Jewish Farmer Network, JIFA has enjoyed a broad audience of learners.

For the second time in a row, Hillel International invited Melissa Hoffman and JIFA advisor, Dr. Adrienne Krone, to teach the Jewish Food Justice course for their national service internship. For the first time, Melton International, the largest pluralistic adult Jewish education network in the world, invited Rabbi Jonathan Bernhard to teach a multi-part adult learning course on Jewish animal ethics.

JIFA’s educational courses provide an entry point to many for learning about the industrialized food system and how Jewish values can inform our response.

JIFA’s Interfaith Collaboration: The third annual Faith in Food webinar, hosted by JIFA and our religious organization partners and sponsored by the Better Food Foundation, drew over 400 participants from five countries, including the United States.

Photo: Pexels / George Pak

Media Highlights Igniting Public Interest

Mainstream media covered the faulty perception of kosher as better, and JIFA’s release of drug testing results linking Empire Kosher Poultry to the larger problem of unregulated drug use in factory farms.

JIFA’s Is This Kosher? campaign garnered national attention in publications like Religion News Service and The Washington Post.

Los Angeles’ Jewish Journal, one of the most widely read Jewish news sources nationally, highlighted JIFA’s goal to help communities inspired by the campaign to adopt a ‘defaultveg’ approach to dining.

While JIFA’s own team produced a record number of articles on topics ranging from the southwestern drought to Purim food traditions and egg shortages during Passover, leaders and community members also featured our work in their editorial pieces.

Food Safety News

Kosher is going mainstream;

food safety an important issue

‘

Daily Caller

No Antibiotics, Ever’:

Whole Foods

Sued For Allege

False Advertising

Religion News Service

‘Is this kosher?’

Jewish billboards in LA call for humane eating practices.

Jewish Journal

JIFA Billboard Campaign Asks: Is This Kosher?

Photo: iStock / ligora

with National Media Coverage & Op-Eds

Mainstream journalism awakens Jewish and kosher consumers to the realities of industrial kosher practices.

“Drivers in the Los Angeles region are being greeted with billboards displaying farm animals juxtaposed with Jewish comfort foods, [and] posing the question: ‘Is this kosher?’

…JIFA aims to shed light on the rising consumption of chicken and poultry farm conditions, aquaculture or the controlled cultivation of fish, and the artificial insemination of cows.”

—The Washington Post

The Times of Israel Kosher does not always mean better, especially for animals and meat.

The Times of Israel

‘Kosher’ Should Not Be Synonymous with Factory Farming

Medium Jewish Initiative for Animals (JIFA) Launches Necessary Campaign Challenging Meat Industry’s Manipulative Marketing

By the Numbers & Call to Action

people reached via JIFA’s many educational presentations between Jan. 2022 & August 2023

major media outlets covered JIFA’s work, e.g. Religion News Service & The Washington Post

people reached on social media by JIFA’s groundbreaking 2023 Is This Kosher? campaign

Celebrating & Taking Action for Animals:

“We can transform our personal relationship with animals by accounting for the ways in which animals touch and impact our lives, and vice versa: this year, explore a ritual guide for celebrating Rosh Hashanah La’Behemah in JIFA’s Resources. We can transform our communal relationship with animals by embracing them as members of our community, understanding the ways in which their welfare is inextricably linked to ours and that of all humans. We can do this first and foremost by implementing more sustainable food practices and illuminating connections between issues like worker justice, environmental protection, and pandemic risk, all of which intersect with industrialized animal agriculture. As we enter the Yamim Nora’im (Days of Awe), may the awe of all creation inspire us to do better by animals, and by extension, ourselves.”

—Melissa Hoffman, Director of Programs

Thank You to Our Supporters

We are grateful to our individual donors who have supported us throughout the year. Every act of generosity and tzedakah has the power to transform our Jewish community and help us build a kinder, more just, and more resilient food system.

Kenden Remi

Alfond

Alan & Sharon Altschul

Gil Ben-Harosh

Adam Bernhard

Aryeh Bernstein

Patricia Carlton

Geoffrey Claussen

Nicole Collins

Tani Demain

Evelyn Dickson

Jessica Frijas

Boni & Bruce Gellis

Brandon Gellis

Toni Hertz

Howard & Fredelle

Hoffman

Susana & Michael Hoffman

Alice Jena

Sibyl Kleiner

Janet Kolodner

Amy Kranzler

William Lepler

Judah Levenson

Susan Levin

Louis Milano

Andi Neuwirth

Carol Newman

David Paller

Julie Pinchak

Andrea Schwartz

Tarbut V’Torah Community Day School