Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on September 13, 2022

The return of communal Saturday lunches at Bnai Jeshurun, an historic synagogue in New York City, was supposed to be a cheerful moment after years of the pandemic spent celebrating the weekly Shabbat holiday apart.

Rabbi Shuli Passow announced the return of Community Kiddush last week, along with a few changes to the event, like better seating for families and a less crowded buffet. Oh, and one slight change to that buffet: Lox will be eliminated from the menu so we can do our part to reduce the environmental impact of pollution and overfishing.

Though Passow acknowledged some would find it an heretical move, she could not have been prepared for the kvetching that ensued. The lack of lox quickly made news in New York Jewish Week, the Forward, and the local West Side Rag, where one representative commenter called the decision sanctimonious. Many questioned the link between lox and overfishing.

In the process, an otherwise very-local story revealed a lot how people think through complicated moral choices about food today.

The term lox, which has been around for eight millennia, is today used loosely to mean a variety of different cured salmons. In the 1950s, hundreds of appetizing shops cropped up in New York City selling lox and other cold accompaniments for bagels. Traditionally it was cured with salt, a process that has already gone out of style amid a broader decline in salty foods. Most Jews actually eat smoked salmon even if they call it lox.

Eating fish isa more complex affair these days, owing to concerns over climate change and the sustainability of the worlds food supply. Many species of salmon are endangered due to overfishing, logging, and electrical dams. Environmentalists often argue against eating fish at all.

Bnai Jeshurun, the second synagogue built in New York City, was founded in 1825 by young German- and Polish-American Jews who preferred less formal worship with time set aside for explanations and instruction, without a permanent leader, and with no distinctions made among the members. The congregation has maintained that progressive tradition in its current home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, one of the most liberal neighborhoods of New York.

So perhaps its no surprise that Bnai Jeshurun would be among the first synagogues to question the sanctity of lox. What we eat and how we eat it should intentionally express our values, Passow wrote in her original missive about the new Saturday lunches, sounding as much like an ag-tech entrepreneur as a religious leader.

Expressing values is as strong a Jewish tradition as bagels and lox, and congregants made their feelings known, forcing the synagogue to issue a follow-up titled, Statement on lox at community Kiddush.

Bnai Jeshurun did not bring back the synagogue-provided lox, but clarified the rules and changed its reasoning,citing higher costs and a desire to provide more vegetarian options at communal meals. We inaccurately stated that consuming lox contributes to the overfishing of salmon, read the statement. Most lox is, in fact, made from farmed Atlantic salmon.

There was no citation for that claim, and the synagogue didnt respond to an email seeking one. The majority of all salmon worldwide is farmed, according to an industry group, so it stands to reason that most salmon turned into lox is farmed, too. But seafood, especially salmon, is rampantly mislabeled, and in any event, you can hear a hundred rabbis asking in unison, what makes fish farming ethical? It still consumes resources and contributes to climate change. Vegetarianism is my religion, wrote the Polish-American and Jewish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer, who wasnt devout in most other respects.

Having clearly touched the third rail of Jewish food politics, the synagogue chose to back away from its salmon shonda slowly and Solomonically: Some felt that we implied that eating lox is immoral or that [Bnai Jeshurun] is boycotting lox or lox providers, the statement continued. This could not be farther from the truth. Moreover, should anyone sponsoring Kiddush wish to include lox in the menu, they are welcome to do so.

Excerpt from:

Bnai Jeshurun synagogue takes lox off menu, citing "values" - Quartz

Category: Synagogue
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