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Tu B’Shvat Food Forest Festival

FIG | Food Integrated Gardens and Wine on the Vine celebrated the holiday of Tu B’Shvat on February 9 with a daytime permaculture food forest workshop and an evening kabbalistic fruit seder in Jerusalem’s Ein Karem neighborhood, overlooking the Jerusalem Forest.

Paz Faigenbaum, master permaculturist and founder of F.I.G. (Food Integrated Gardens) taught an introduction to food forests. A food forest, or forest garden, is a diverse planting of edible plants that attempts to mimic the ecosystems and patterns found in nature. It is a resilient, long-term source of food security and sustainable food production. During the workshop, the permaculture concepts were woven in with Jewish agriculture principles.

After the workshop, Faigenbaum led a sunset Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement class, teaching deliberate mindful movements for strength, flexibility, and holistic integration of body and mind.

The kabbalistic fruit seder in the evening featured guided meditation; insightful and radical Torah teachings about Tu B’Shvat; a delicious kosher, organic, gluten-free vegetarian dinner; the seder ceremony, showcasing local fruit and wine, including unique, ecologically grown wine from Tabor Winery, as well as delicious Teperberg wines; and a joyous, sacred community song-circle and niggun around the fireplace.

Special guests included Rabbi Ruth Gan Kagan, Dr. Michael Kagan, Rabbi Daniel Raphael Silverstein, Melanie Landau, Jeremy Pesach Dahvid Stadlin, Rishe Groner, Dr. Mira Neshama Niculescu, Yitzchok Meir Malek and more!

Food Integrated Gardens (FIG) is a permaculture startup that connects people with nature, the land of Israel, and the Jewish festivals. To learn more about FIG, visit www.foodingardens.com [2]; Instagram: pazfig, Facebook: FIG Food Integrated Gardens.

Wine on the Vine redefines and revitalizes how people relate to Israel’s culture, through investing in Israeli wine production. To learn more about WOTV, visit wineonthevine.org [4] or https://www.facebook.com/wineotv/ [5].

This event was made possible through the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation’s Grassroots Events program.