LoKo’s mission is to educate the Boston Jewish community about the importance of kashrut as an age-old system of humane and sustainable meat production, and its relevance for Jews today as we make decisions about how we eat. LoKo runs workshops for synagogue, school, and other groups. These workshops include observing shechita, participating in the kashering process, discussion with our shochet, and a rabbi-led learning session about the ways in which Jewish law and tradition intersect with our growing understanding of the impact our food choices have on our world. In this way, LoKo aims to deepen the Jewish practice of each participant. Judaism views the care, slaughter, and consumption of animals as holy acts that must be carried out with yirat shamayim – awe of G-d. In directly supporting these holy acts, LoKo participants must ponder more deeply the relationship between G-d, human beings, and animals. Why is Halacha so exacting in its standards for animal care, slaughter, and processing? How are we accountable to the animals we eat and to those responsible for them? Through LoKo, Boston Jews actively wrestle with these questions.
A growing segment of the Jewish community is concerned that keeping the ancient spiritual tradition of kashrut conflicts with ethical food choices, and as a result, some are choosing not to keep kosher. In fact, Jewish law has emphasized local, humanely raised, sustainable food for thousands of years, and new Jewish leaders are working hard to ensure that kashrut stays true to its roots. By bringing together farmers, shochets, and rabbis to spark discussion with Jews from diverse communities, we hope to spread awareness that the new ethical standards for food choices that are becoming so important to Americans are in fact part of an ancient system of Jewish practice that is well worth preserving.
