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.

