Last year, people were grabbing hot dogs, burgers and skewers out of the rabbis’ hands — if the rabbi himself hands it to you, you know it’s kosher — so the cooks are redoubling their efforts this year to cater To Life! A Jewish Cultural Street Festival on Sunday, Sept. 18.
Rabbi Joey Felsen and the Jewish Study Network saw a need for more kosher-food vendors at the festival this year.
Last year, they ran out of food in about an hour, after serving more than 600 people. This year they’ll plan for about 1,500 customers and they’ll be barbecuing all day, by popular demand, Felsen said, explaining that people requested they return. What’s more, people told them they were moved that rabbis would spend the day grilling so that others could eat kosher.
Last year’s customers included many who did not regularly eat kosher, but Jewish Study Network rabbis thought they should be encouraged to do so at a Jewish street festival.
“We don’t do it as a profit-generating thing. We do it because we feel that people deserve to have good kosher food at a Jewish street fair,” Felsen said, adding that they sell the food for $2 to $4 with the goal of breaking even.
The network is a nonaffiliated association of six married couples based in Mountain View who put on programs and adult education courses to educate about Judaism. Though they serve the entire Bay Area, they work mostly between San Francisco and Santa Cruz.
The rabbis set up shop in the Bay Area in 2001.
Because they were so busy last year, Felsen said, they did not get to publicize the Jewish Study Network as they would have liked. But this year they hope to be better prepared with signs and information explaining the connection.
“We’re all exhausted by the end of the day,” he said, referring to last year’s efforts. “We keep coming back because we know that it’s worth it and people appreciate it.”