Mission
A project supported by Be’chol Lashon, this cookbook aims to celebrate the racial and ethnic diversity within the Jewish community. We want to celebrate the myriad unique experiences that each of us has as a product of our identities. We will pair recipes with poems, stories, essays, and photographs from submitters so that it becomes more than just a cookbook but also a mosaic of experiences from a plethora of backgrounds.
Submissions for Tlaim:
The Patchwork Cookbook
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Meet the Team

Alana Chandler
Alana Chandler (she/they) is a Chicagoan and Japanese-Jewish student studying Materials Science and Engineering. Chandler is interested in cooking and food justice. Since their first year of high school, Chandler has run a baking blog @chow.by.chandler and esp
Having experienced feelings of both invisibility and hypervisibility as a Jew of Color, they hope this cookbook will serve as a resource for others to connect through and celebrate our multifaceted identities.

Dammara Rose Kovnats Hall
Dammara Rose Kovnats Hall is an educator and entrepreneur. She grew up in the Canadian prairies and completed a degree at the University of Winnipeg before moving to New York where she received a degree in Childhood Education and Jewish Studies. Dammara then studied at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Israel for two years and she holds a Masters in Jewish Education from Hebrew College. Dammara taught at Rodeph Sholom School as the head Elementary Jewish Studies teacher and received the 2021 Robert M. Sherman Young Pioneers Award for her innovative and inclusive approach to teaching. Deeply committed to the future of Jewish education, Dammara sits on the board of directors for the Jewish Education Project and is a part of UJA’s Jewish Life Shared Society Committee.
Dammara trained with The National SEED Project (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) at Wellesley College and is also the Person Of Colour belonging-space creator/facilitator for At the Well. She also serves as a mentor for the Senior Educator Learning Fellowship for Pardes. Dammara founded Jewish Cocktails, a fun and exciting kosher cocktail business where she teaches Torah through mixology. A graduate of culinary school, she has worked at Jean George’s ABCv and Eleven Madison Park, including their Rethink team which serves marginalized communities.
Dammara loves to travel and has visited over 30 countries on five continents. She enjoys hosting Shabbat meals and riding motorcycles. Dammara splits her time between Israel and New York.

Léa Jean-François
Léa Jean-François (she/her) is a Caribbean-Jewish recent graduate of Barnard College where she studied Environmental Science and Biology. Léa has spent her summer after college studying organic farming and is now conducting research investigating diseases related to the essential tissue barriers. Léa values growing, cooking, and eating food that is supportive of the land, closely connected to the local community, and shares nourishment. Léa has long awaited a JoC cookbook to share/learn of one another’s culture, and hopes this cookbook will allow JoC to find comfort through cuisine.

Healy Shir Slakman
Healy Shir Slakman is a Tisch Fellow and 5th-year Rabbinical Student at Hebrew Union College in New York. She is serving 4th year as the Student Rabbi at Brooklyn Heights Synagogue and leads the community’s young professional musical Shabbat series called The Other Friday Night. She has also worked as the rabbinic intern at Temple Micah in Washington DC and plays musical Shabbat services for communities across Brooklyn. Raised in a Sephardic/Ashkenazi Israeli/American Jewish home, Healy has been compelled by Jewish music, food, community, and ritual from a young age. In her studies, she explores biblical commentaries, customs, and characters through the creation of multimedia art and paintings. She is also interested in approaching the complexities of Jewish culture, identity, and tradition through cooking, sharing recipes, and telling stories.

Yishaq Ofori-Solomon
Yishaq Ofori-Solomon (they/them, he) is an African Jewish undergraduate student at Warren Wilson College. They are interested in history, politics, culture, and food. Yitshaq has been published by various Jewish publications and was even shortly an editor at TribeHerald.
Support
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Arielle Mindel (Jan-June 2021).
Zandra Campbell (Feb-May 2021).
Jess Cohen