32 | AUGUST 5 • 2021 

T

he Hazon Michigan 
Jewish Food Festival is 
back. The 2021 version 
will be celebrated safely and at 
a new location on Sunday, Aug. 
15, from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. as partici-
pants drive through the grounds 
of the Marygrove Conservancy 
at McNichols and Wyoming ave-
nues Detroit.
The festival is Hazon’s largest 
event in the country. The pur-
pose of the festival is to educate 

people on how they can be more 
sustainable and live a healthi-
er life — and to find out what 
organizations do to help make a 
difference.
The festival was held at Eastern 
Market in Detroit for four years. 
The last in-person festival in 
2019 was estimated to draw 
about 7,000 people.
Not being able to meet in-per-
son last year, Hazon created the 
Food Festival in a Box, seeking to 

connect people to local entrepre-
neurs making healthy products 
from local ingredients. Hazon 
knew knew they had to come up 
with something different this year. 
With the uncertainty of the pan-
demic, the solution was to turn it 
into a drive-thru event.
 “We’re putting together in 10 
weeks what normally I would 
spend 10 months doing,
” said 
Marla Schloss, Hazon Detroit’s 
Food Festival manager. 
Cars will go from station to 
station, about one minute at 
each, to hear how Hazon and its 
partners are supporting and/or 
making a sustainable difference, 
taste samples of foods, receive 
goodies, giveaways and prepared 
activities.
Since this is a drive-thru event 
and there are limited spots, regis-
tration is required. The event can 
handle 40 cars an hour and 280 
cars total. 
“What’s very important for 

us is this is an event that when 
people come away, they will 
feel a personal commitment to 
making change and creating a 
more sustainable world for all,
” 
Schloss said. “It could have to do 
with reducing household waste 
or food waste, transitioning to a 
plant-rich diet, reducing energy, 
getting to grow and buy local 
or to buy less. These are the key 
areas we want people to learn 
about and commit to, and they’re 
going to receive this information 
throughout the festival.
” 
Thanks to the William 
Davidson Foundation and D. 
Dan & Betty Kahn Foundation, 
the event is free once again.
To participate in the festival as 
a volunteer, sponsor, vendor or 
organizational partner, or if you 
have questions about the festival, 
contact Marla Schloss at marla.
schloss@hazon.org. 

For information, visit hazon.org/detroit/ 

michigan-jewish-food-festival.

OUR COMMUNITY

Hazon festival has new format and location.
Food Fest Returns

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

O

n Friday night and 
Saturday morning, 
Aug. 13-14, members 
of the Metro Detroit Jewish 
community will come together 
to celebrate Green Shabbat, 
sponsored by Hazon Detroit.
More than a dozen part-
nering synagogues and Jewish 
organizations will spend 
Shabbat, each from its own 
location, engaged in environ-
mentally friendly practices, 
learning about Jewish connec-
tions to the Earth, advocating 
on behalf of the climate and 
committing to help ensure a 
healthier and more sustainable 
planet. The event takes place 
in association with the 2021 
Hazon Michigan Jewish Food 

Festival happening on Aug. 15.
“We recognize that issues 
of the environment and sus-
tainability really cut across all 
different kinds of organiza-
tions, geography and denomi-
nations, and that sustainability 
and caring for the planet is a 
Jewish and human value and 
something we can 
all get behind,” 
said Rabbi Nate 
DeGroot of 
Hazon Detroit. 
“This is a 
chance for the 
community to 
get excited about the festival, 
to celebrate the sustainability 
efforts this community has 
taken on and to feel connected 

after a long time apart.”
The core of the program is a 
collective Zoom call at 7 p.m. 
Friday for all the communi-
ties who are participating to 
do the Kiddush and HaMotzi 
together, along with a brief 
welcome and celebration of 
the community’s participation 
and efforts toward sustain-
ability.
Then, each community will 
take it and run with it in the 
way they best see fit. 
“Some of the rabbis in 
these communities might be 
giving sermons on the topic 
of sustainability, some might 
be featuring special foods at 
their dinner or at their oneg,” 
DeGroot said. “Many of them 
will be using compostable 
dishware, plates, cups and 
utensils, or reusable/washable 
ones.”
Community members are 
urged to seek out what their 
home community or syna-

gogue has planned and then 
to participate in that service 
or celebration. “In essence, 
showing up at their home 
community, and together, cele-
brating as a large community,” 
DeGroot said.
“For none of these organiza-
tions is this the starting point 
for their sustainability work 
— these are all organizations 
who have been committed to 
growing their practices of sus-
tainability and participating in 
community-wide efforts to do 
the same,” DeGroot said. 
“Hopefully this will be a 
furthering and deepening, 
but also a celebration of the 
work that has been ongoing 
and will be continuing going 
forward.” 

To find out which synagogues and 

organizations are participating, to 

sign-up for the live Zoom event and 

for other information, visit hazon.org/

calendar/greenshabbat2021. 

Several synagogues and organizations 
will join Hazon event.

Green Shabbat

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

Rabbi Nate 
DeGroot

ROYAL OAK FARMER’S MARKET 

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