Jewish Veg

Jewish Veg has successfully engaged the Jewish community in education and celebration of veganism as a Jewish value throughout our many programs, events, and initiatives. Our speaking engagement program is a core component of our work. We also engaged entirely new audiences this year with our national speaking tour, featuring orthodox rabbi akiva gersh, and several presentations at large companies such as microsoft. An overview: - over 25 speaking presentations at Jewish institutions nationwide. - 1,000 audience members reached with the message of a compassionate, vegan judaism - 26 new presentations created for 19 total speakers -over 125% increase in total presentations the speakers training course is designed to teach volunteers the basic tenets of Jewish veganism and they finish with a 45-minute slideshow presentation of their own. The program allows for a significant expansion of our outreach into the Jewish community. As a result, we have added 16 new speakers to our roster this year. We are very excited to share that we have begun to work with b-mitzvah students. (a bmitzvah is a Jewish coming-of-age ritual and is one of the most important lifecycle events.) Jewish Veg staff consulted with students, parents, and rabbis on everything from the food provided to guests to the sermon delivered by the student. Our tour for rabbi akiva gersh, an israeli orthodox Jewish vegan and rabbi, took place this year over nine days and eight venues with ten presentations being delivered on april 17-23. From princeton university to the minneapolis jcc, rabbi akiva taught Jewish veganism to nearly 500 attendees. He taught lectures, gave sermons, sat on panels, guided discussions, and ultimately introduced a new and eager audience to the religious obligation, and the modern urgency, of ethical eating. Throughout 2023, our speakers gave presentations at Jewish institutions on a monthly or bimonthly basis. At Jewish Veg, we know the importance of community-building as the main factor in preventing isolation and recidivism for ethical eaters. That's why we intentionally build programs and experiences that bring Jewish vegans-and not-yet-vegans-together. We are proud to share an overview of our 2023 impact: -5 major holiday celebrations with over 500 live attendees -8 new cities developing their own Jewish vegan friendship groups -over 250 people reached through plant pathways program -Jewish Veg has joined forces with other major vegan, Jewish, and vegan- and-jewish organizations in 2023 to effect the greatest possible impact on the Jewish community as a whole. -in partnership with plant-powered metro new york, Jewish Veg ran our first 21-day jumpstart program with 57 participants.