Farm 2 Table Tu B’Shevat

Todd Ginsberg is a 2014 and 2015 James Beard Foundation Semifinalist for Best Chef: Southeast and a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. He started his career at The Dining Room at The Ritz-Carlton in Atlanta. He partnered with Jennifer and Ben Johnson and Shelley Sweet to open New York Jewish deli-style restaurant The General Muir in 2013, followed by Fred’s Meat & Bread and Yalla!, both in Krog Street Market, in late 2014, and TGM Bread in early 2016. Most recently, in June 2017, Todd and his partners opened their own food hall on Fifth Street in Atlanta’s Tech Square called The Canteen, featuring second locations of Fred’s Meat Bread and Yalla!, as well as the new TGM Bagel and Square Bar. Up next: Wood’s Chapel BBQ, in the historic community of Summerhill in Atlanta, opening early 2019.

Rabbi Justin Goldstein
Rabbi Justin Goldstein was born and raised near Chicago, Illinois. Justin discovered his love of Scripture while attending Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, where he began studying in 1999. Leading up to his graduation in 2003, Justin produced an original translation and commentary of most of the Book of Genesis and was inspired through that process to eventually invest years learning traditional Jewish texts and moved to Los Angeles, California to begin rabbinical school. Ordained in 2011 by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University where a deepened respect and admiration for Jewish culture and heritage crystallized, Rabbi Goldstein contextualizes life in the 21st century within the timeless wisdom of the Jewish tradition.

Following his studies, Justin and his family moved from Los Angeles to Bangor, Maine to serve in his first rabbinic position at Congregation Beth Israel, a 125-year-old community which is the longest perpetually functioning synagogue in the state. A small but active and committed community, Rabbi Goldstein fostered the continuity of a multi-generational congregation while bringing an innovative spirit and creative approach to establishing a culture of learning. While in Maine, Rabbi Goldstein was a volunteer board member of Maine Interfaith Power and Light and also assisted with the Advisory Panel for the Judaic Studies program at the University of Maine. Currently, Justin serves as the rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel in Asheville, NC where he lives with his wife and daughter.

A 2012-2013 Rabbis Without Borders Fellow, Rabbi Goldstein is committed to respecting all expressions of the Jewish tradition, recognizing that there is truth even in perspectives with which we may disagree and that a truly pluralist era in our history would benefit the Jewish people and the societies in which we live.

In addition to being published in various compilations, learning guides and websites, Rabbi Goldstein teaches and lectures on Judaism, Rabbinic wisdom, social responsibility, environmental justice, and food security. He is a frequent contributor to Shema, The Jew, and the Carrot, The Forward and Hazon.

Described as an exciting, innovative and dynamic rabbinic presence, Rabbi Goldstein is committed to pluralism and egalitarianism as an ideal and in practice. Understanding that the Jewish tradition thrives on multiple viewpoints and is made more healthy by various perspectives, Justin believes a bright future of coexistence is possible and seeks to foster respectful dialogue and peaceful communication.

“My goal as rabbi is to help others cultivate their relationship with Torah and Jewish wisdom in order to find meaning and joy.”

KOL Foods formed in 2007 with a groundbreaking effort to produce the first glatt kosher, organically raised, local, grass-fed meat. Founder and CEO, Devora Kimelman-Block, established a three-pronged partnership with a synagogue in Washington, DC, a slaughterhouse and a local farmer to produce the meat. Scores of kosher consumers, who until then could only buy kosher meat raised in confinement, were eager for this product. In just its second offering, the company generated sales of more than 2400 pounds of beef through a single email. Jews from 14 different area synagogues, ranging from Reform to Conservative to Orthodox, purchased this meat.

kolfoods.com