Secretary Vilsack Hosts Social Justice Seder at USDA

David Streeter — April 29, 2011 – 10:41 am | Democrats Comments (0) Add a comment

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack hosted a social justice seder Wednesday at the Department of Agriculture along with Jewish Funds for Justice (JFJ) and the Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA). The seder raised awareness on hunger in America and promoted the fair and ethical treatment of workers and local farmers.

The Washington Post noted:

A succinct haggadah composed for the event summarized the Passover story and provided four major talking points for the tables to consider as they blessed the service’s four cups of wine: hunger and access to healthful food; examples of modern-day slavery (in the form of the Immokalee tomato workers) and others who grow our food; sustainable eating; and committing to action in these matters on a personal basis.  

And:

[T]he group broke the symbolic bread of poverty and affliction as they read and discussed sobering USDA statistics: One in six Americans does not have access to enough food. Some 28 million Americans received benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in 2008; 44 million do so today.

During the seder, all of the participants affirmed their commitment to these three principles of social justice:

I will commit to buying products from companies with good ethics.

I will support restaurants that treat their workers with respect.

I will teach a course on food justice.

Empire Kosher Poultry CEO and NJDC Board Member Greg Rosenbaum, whose company sponsored the seder, was proud to participate and told The Washington Post, “We support local farmers and workers’ rights. We are the world’s largest producer of kosher chickens and turkeys.” The Washington Post noted that “Empire also donates 50,000 pounds of poultry to food banks and kitchens each year.”

In addition to JFJ and PJA leading the seder, it was reported that “conversations were started, bonds were formed and business cards were exchanged among various representatives of federal Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.” Participants from the Jewish community included Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, and Uri L’Tzedek: Orthodox Social Justice.  

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