Sowing the Seeds of the New Jewish Food Movement with Nigel Savage, Founder of Hazon

Nigel Savage, founder and executive director of Hazon, will be discussing the New Jewish Food Movement on Thursday, February 18, 2010 at 7:00 pm at Congregation Bonai Shalom.  Boulder Tuv Ha’Aretz, an Hazon Community Supported Agriculture (“CSA”) program, is presenting this event, and encourages the Boulder Jewish community to come and learn about this exciting new movement.

Nigel Savage, founder of Hazon (Hebrew for “vision”) might be from Manchester, England, but he also has many friends in Boulder.  He has known Rabbi Marc Soloway of Congregation Bonai Shalom since their days at Limmud UK, some 15 years ago and many people from our community have gone on Hazon sponsored bike rides.  B’Yahad TREX has twice recruited and organized “Team Boulder” to participate in the Hazon/Arava Institute Israel Bike Race.

In 2000 Nigel led Hazon’s first major project, a 3,000-mile Cross-USA Jewish Environmental Bike Ride, in which participants cycled from Seattle, WA to Washington, DC, teaching and speaking along the way. They ended at the White House where they received a national award from the EPA.  Hazon now produces a series of bike rides and hikes, in the US and Israel. Many Boulderites have gone on Hazon bike rides, among them Butch Weaver, Bruce Shaffer, Arieh Markel, Joe Secor, Peter Ornstein, Bary Schwartz, Lois Kramer, Mat Markman, Joscelyn Blumenthal, Jeff Skovron, Caren Phillips, Julie Shaffer and Rabbi Marc Soloway.

Hazon works to create a healthier and more sustainable Jewish community and a healthier and more sustainable world for all by raising awareness.

In 2004, Hazon launched the first Community-Supported Agriculture project in the American Jewish community, called Tuv Ha’Aretz. By Spring 2010, Tuv Ha’Aretz will be launched in 40 locations nationally from Berkeley to Long Island and from St. Paul to Atlanta, as well as in Canada, as well as our own Boulder Tuv Ha’Aretz. Hazon’s food work also includes an annual food conference, a food curriculum (written by Nigel and Anna Stevenson) and the award-winning blog, “The Jew & The Carrot.” (One of the “Outside the Bubble” Jewish blogs linked on BJN’s front page — Ed.)

Nigel has taught in a variety of settings, including the General Assembly of the United Jewish Communities (now the Jewish Federations of North America), the Wexner Heritage Conference, the UJA Young Leadership Conference, the leadership retreat of the Dorot Fellows in Israel and the World Union of Jewish Students. His articles have appeared in various publications including The Forward and the Jerusalem Report.

Before founding Hazon, Nigel was a professional fund manager in the English equivalent of Wall Street, where he worked for the Rothschilds and was co-head of UK Equities at John Govett & Co. He has an MA in American Jewish History from Georgetown, and learned at Pardes, Yakar, Hebrew University and Jerusalem Fellows.

He serves on the board of the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, is a founder and advisory board member of Limmud NY, and a member of the international Limmud board. In 2008 Hazon was recognized by the Sierra Club as one of 50 leading faith-based environmental organizations; Hazon was in the Slingshot 50 for the fourth consecutive year; and Nigel was named a member of the Forward 50 – together with Rahm Emanuel, Jon Stewart and Sarah Silverman, among others.

Nigel is infamous in the UK for his cameo appearance in the cult Anglo-Jewish comic movie, “Leon The Pig Farmer”, and was the Executive Producer of the British independent movies “Solitaire For 2” and “Stiff Upper Lips”.  He is also believed to be the first English Jew to have cycled across South Dakota on a recumbent bike.

Visit this link for more information about Hazon events in Colorado, and here is a recent BJN story about Boulder Tuv Ha’Aretz, explaining how you can get involved.

If you have any questions, please contact me at boulderjewishcsa@gmail.com