January 2022
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Doing Our Hishtadlut
Hilla Benzaken talks about the environment, food sovereignty and the Torah’s role in being a vegan.
By Penina Taylor
In honor of Veganuary, we decided to feature vegan advocate and sustainability expert Hilla Benzaken. Originally from New York, Hilla now lives in Israel. She grew up in a very pluralistic community in NY and went to a school founded on the teachings of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, which set the stage for her deep connection to veganism and social action.
After college, Hilla lived in South America for a time, where she began to increase her observance, keeping Shabbat as well as many other mitzvot, which inspired her to make aliyah to Israel.
In university, Hilla did her undergrad in international development and social change, with a concentration in sustainable development (how the environment affects social issues throughout the world). She got her master’s in community development and planning while maintaining a focus on the international and environmental perspective of community planning.
Hilla currently works at an environmental startup that is creating vertical farming technology. Vertical farming, Hilla explains, helps create farms that are more local, so the food is grown much closer to where it will be consumed. It also allows the farmers to control environmental factors which affect conventional farms in often detrimental and unpredictable ways.
A Message From Our Editor
It’s been a crazy couple of months. Covid is again on the rise and Israel has closed her borders to most travel. People are rioting over governments that can’t figure out how to bring the pandemic to an end. And if you are at all involved in the Jewish community, your social media feeds have been full of posts, first about the shocking revelation that a “beloved” author of dozens of children’s books in the Ultra-Orthodox community had molested dozens of boys, girls and women in his role as a therapist. And then the following shock that he had committed suicide. How could such a thing have happened, community members and leaders alike are asking. The answer is so simple that it, in and of itself, is almost shocking.
Penina Taylor
Editor in Chief
