"It's a big deal to take the life of a living thing in order to consume it," said Roger Studley, the husband of a Conservative rabbi in the Bay Area. "I would say it's OK to do that, but you want to minimize the suffering of the animal."
Studley, who helped organize the ritual slaughter for the Hazon Food Conference in December, decided to leave his university job to start a business emphasizing kosher, organic-raised and local items, KOL Foods West.
He is part of a close-knit network of Jewish activists that also includes several of the guests at the Sabbath potluck in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood.
The dinner was one of a semi-regular series of "sustainable Shabbats" organized by Sarah Newman and Nadya Strizhevskaya that rotate among various homes or apartments in the Westside neighborhood.
"Shabbat is already a time to lead the most sustainable lifestyle possible," said Newman, a researcher and blogger for the film company Participant Media. "If you are an observant Jew, you are already putting in the time and energy to make this ritual. We're trying do the same type of thing with the meal."
Late on a recent Tuesday afternoon, Newman and Strizhevskaya met some of the other dinner guests at the farmers market in Culver City, discussing whether one vendor's olives would make the cut (no -- unclear if they were kosher) and what everyone might bring. Because some of the diners are vegetarians, there would be no meat.
Everyone had to bring food that was homemade and from local sources, preferably organic. No paper goods would be used. Even the soda water would be produced on the spot, to avoid having to buy bottled water.
"Even if my potatoes don't come out perfectly, the consciousness about it raises the flavor," Aviva Bernat, a doctor, said at the market, where she bought red, purple and Yukon gold potatoes. She later added rosemary from her sister's yard.
Bernat, like others at the Shabbat dinner, took a turn explaining what she had made.
On the sprawling table in Arch and Andorsky's art-filled home were 20 or more dishes: homemade challah bread, sprouted black-eyed pea hummus dip with garlic and lemon, cauliflower with curry yogurt dressing, strawberry and apple pies, a pizza topped with caramelized onions.
Newman held up her bowl of ratatouille and pointed to the zucchini and heirloom tomatoes that she had canned at home. Using ingredients grown locally rather than those shipped thousands of miles reduces pollution, she said.
Strizhevskaya displayed her quiche, made with kale, peppers, onions, rosemary and marjoram -- all from the Culver City market.
"When we go through this very long process of preparation, we become more at one with the creation all around us," Strizhevskaya told the group. "We stop taking God's gifts for granted. For me, that's what Judaism is all about."
As dinner drew to a close, the friends sang the "grace after meals" in Hebrew:
Because of His great goodness, we have never lacked food. . . . You are blessed, Lord, who provides food for all.
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mary.macvean@latimes.com
duke.helfand@latimes.com
