16 August 8 • 2019
jn

Hazon’
s annual Jewish Food Festival brings new pathways to learn about sustainability.
I

f you think you know what to 
expect from Hazon’
s Michigan 
Jewish Food Festival, think again. 
For the festival’
s fourth year, Hazon, 
a Jewish organization dedicated to 
sustainability and education, decided 
to go big. 
With approximately 47 vendors, 
15 food trucks and caterers, and 64 
Jewish organizations participating, 
director Marla Schloss expects this 
year’
s festival to be spectacular. The 
event is from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, 
Aug. 18, at Eastern Market, Shed 5, 
in Detroit.
“This is bigger and better than pre-
vious years,” she said. “We’
ve added 
so much, and we are so excited.”
The goal of the festival is to 
educate people on sustainability 
practices they can incorporate into 
their daily lives. The event itself is 
almost entirely waste-free, with no 
bottled water, cans or Styrofoam 
plates allowed. Even the signage and 
balloons will be made with recycled 
items and be completely biodegrad-
able. What little waste the festival 
will produce will be sorted by a com-
pany called Zero Waste Productions 
into recyclables and compostable 
items, eliminating any waste. 
Attendees of the festival can 
expect to experience hands-on 
activities and lots of food, as well as 
live music. Activities outside Shed 5 
will be covered by a canopy, keep-
ing patrons safe no matter what the 
weather. 

This year, Hazon is including a 
section called ArtSpace featuring 
artists who use sustainable practices. 
Here, attendees will also be able to 
make decorative pins out of DIA art 
slides rendered obsolete by the inter-
net. This “upcycling” of the slides 
into wearable art prevents them 
from ending up in landfills. 
Another activity allows visitors 
to watch a craftsman from Pingree 
Detroit make a pair of leather shoes. 
The company was created by war 
veterans who recycle leather scraps 
from automotive companies and 
use them to make shoes, wallets 
and backpacks and more — a prime 
example of a sustainable business.
Also new this year is the Family 
Pavilion, a rest area for families 
with small children complete with 
blankets, pillows and quiet activities 
such a games and books, all geared 
toward furthering children’
s educa-
tion and understanding of environ-
mentalism. 
Of course, a food festival wouldn’
t 
be complete without lots of food. 
Hazon supports local farmers who 
want to do things sustainably, and 
many will provide samples of their 
produce. 
Detroit Hives, a company that 
creates urban bee farms, will exhibit 
one of its farms. Festival goers will 
be able to see what happens in a bee-
hive and what goes into creating and 
harvesting honey. 
Farber Farm, part of Tamarack 

Camps in associate with Hazon 
Detroit, will provide cuca-melons, 
a mini hybrid cucumber melon, 
for people to sample, and will offer 
information about Michigan crops. 
Tolgate Farms from Michigan 
State University will bring along 
some fuzzy friends including a goat, 
lamb and chicken. Patrons will be 
able to spin their own wool and 
make bracelets from the yarn. 
Hazon’
s trademark Topsy-Turvy 
Bus, a vehicle that runs on vegetable 
oil and solar power, is an education 
tool as well as a crowd favorite, 
Schloss said.
“Education is so important to us,” 
Schloss said. “If we are able to move 
someone one degree toward change, 
that’
s one step in the right direction. 
If we all think a little bit and every-
one takes just one step, think of the 
difference it could make.” ■ 

For details or to volunteer, contact marla.
schloss@hazon.org or visit hazon.org/miff.

jews d
in 
the

JESSIE COHEN JN INTERN

COURTESY HAZON
HAZON DETROIT

Hazon Detroit board member and food festival 

committee member Carol Trowell with Marla 

Schloss, festival director 

Going Big, Going Green

An overall shot of last year’
s 

Hazon Jewish Food Festival at 

Eastern Market’
s Shed 5

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman 
Schultz (FL-23) on July 30 
introduced the Trauma-Informed 
Modernization of Eldercare 
(TIME) for Holocaust Survivors 
Act legislation that would help 
ensure the roughly 80,000 
Holocaust survivors now living in 
the United States can get access to 
the specialized care and services 
tailored to their unique health 
needs.
“Holocaust survivors have 
endured the worst of human 
atrocities and deserve special care 
for the duration of their remaining 
years,” said Wasserman Schultz. 
“The TIME for Holocaust Survivors 
Act can tend to that unique pain 
in this closing chapter of their lives 
and allow them to live out their 
remaining years with dignity.”
The TIME for Holocaust 
Survivors Act designates survivors 
as a group with a significant social 
need within the Older Americans 
Act and creates a portfolio within 
the Administration on Community 
Living to take responsibility for 
Holocaust-related issues. 
The legislation also promotes 
technical assistance and training 
for nonprofits that serve older 
adults still experiencing the long-
term consequences of this historic 
trauma. In addition, TIME ensures 
that nutrition services through 
the Older Americans Act meet the 
special dietary needs of Holocaust 
survivors and others.

TIME for Holocaust 
Survivors Act 
Introduced in Congress

Detroit’
s Conservative community 
will observe Tisha b’
Av at 10 p.m. 
Saturday, Aug. 10, with Ma’
ariv and 
Eichah (Book of Lamentations) at 
Congregation B’
nai Moshe in West 
Bloomfield. 
Tisha b’
Av, the ninth day of the 
Hebrew month of Av, marks the 
destruction of the first and second 
Temples, as well as a variety of 
other tragedies throughout Jewish 
history. This special service is 
marked by somber melodies, 
the chanting of the Book of 
Lamentations and other liturgical 
poems.

Tisha b’
Av Observance

