20 | MARCH 16 • 2023
I
really didn’t know what to
expect when I made my
way to the inaugural annual
B’teavon Jewish Food Retreat
at Ramah Darom in Clayton,
Georgia, Feb. 17-20; but I
knew I was excited to attend,
and I anticipated eating some
delicious food.
The long weekend was
conceived as a celebration of
all things Jewish food through
a collaboration between
Ramah Darom, a camp and
retreat center affiliated with
Conservative Judaism, and
The Gefilteria Co-Labs.
Several chefs at the
forefront of the Jewish food
world representing a wide
range of cuisines came to
teach classes and to connect
with participants, including
50 children and 200 adults
ranging in age from 28 to 85.
Adeena Sussman, who
focuses on modern Israeli
food, headlined the event and
devised the weekend’s lunch
and dinner menus using
recipes from her cookbook,
Sababa. Other chefs included
Liz Alpern and Jeffrey
Yoskowitz of The Gefilteria,
focusing on Ashkenazi food;
Michael Twitty, focusing on
cuisine from the Southern
U.S. and African diaspora;
Susan Barocas, focusing
on Sephardi food; Tova du
Plessis, focusing on baking;
and Todd Ginsburg, owner of
the General Muir restaurant
in Atlanta, who was the
weekend’s Southern Spotlight
chef.
The chefs gave workshops,
demos and discussions
throughout the weekend.
Rabbi Joshua Hearshen served
as the rabbi in residence
for the weekend and led
several text studies related
to food. Supplementing the
food-centered content were
Shabbat activities, yoga, hikes,
rock wall climbing, classes
on flower arranging and
tablescapes, wine, and DIY
activities like making spice
blends and glass etching.
I am a foodie who is
passionate about cooking
and baking; the weekend
was a treat in so many ways.
To start, I was able to enjoy
an abundance of delicious
and kosher food that I did
not have to cook, with new
and enlightening flavors
and preparations. I was also
able to learn from amazing
chefs, both related to my own
Ashkenazi food traditions, but
also for food traditions with
which I am less intimately
familiar.
Another highlight of the
weekend was getting to
connect with likeminded
individuals and make new
friends and see old ones.
Many of the participants were
alumni of Ramah Darom or
had children who were, but
others had heard about the
retreat from the attending
chefs’ social media feeds.
Several intergenerational
families came, with adult
children coming with
their parents. Shortly after
arrriving, I managed to run
into an old friend I did not
expect to see and met several
participants with Michigan
connections. I also made and
deepened connections with
new friends with interests
and experience in the Jewish
food and Jewish communal
worlds, bonding over games of
Jewish geography, sharing our
favorite recipes, and relating
over more mundane topics,
like our professional lives and
pandemic experiences.
SEPHARDI FLAVORS
In addition to enjoying what
the retreat had to offer as a
participant, I had volunteered
to serve as an assistant to a
OUR COMMUNITY
DANA SHAPIRO
A thought-provoking time at the
B’teavon Jewish Food Retreat.
Weekend
Delicious
A
DR. JOELLE ABRAMOWITZ SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
Stuffed eggplant
and chickpeas with
pomegranates
made during
Susan Barocas’s
cooking class.
Joelle Abramowitz, left, departs for the
airport with new retreat friends.