Professor Gross Shares History of 1883 Banquet at Trefa 2.0 in San Francisco

Update: Dr. Gross published an editorial in the news outlet JTA about reactions to the event. "Despite some reports in the Jewish press," she writes, "this was not a petulantly defiant celebration of non-kosher food. Rather it was a thoughtful reflection on the ways in which many American Jews eat and Jews in the food industry make their living."

National Public Radio covers a dinner in San Francisco that commemorates the so-called Trefa Banquet, or Highland House Affair, of Cincinnati in 1883. The banquet is often portrayed as a moment of birth for the Conservative movement, when a number of American Jewish leaders in attendance were outraged by the non-kosher menu items at a dinner celebrating newly trained rabbis. But Dr. Rachel B. Gross points to the latest historical research suggesting that the kashrut violations of the Trefa Banquet were in fact normal for a celebratory meal among American Jews in the late nineteenth century.

The Jewish News of Northern California reports on the Trefa 2.0 dinner in San Francisco with archival images of the banquet menu from 1883, and further elaborates on Dr. Gross's talk at the event.

Forward, the online magazine, gathers reactions to the Trefa 2.0 meal from comments sections and social media to summarize the controversy surrounding the event in San Francisco.