LA County Library offers a series of virtual roundtable conversations exploring the intersections between community service in libraries and in faith organizations. These interfaith dialogues will bring together religious leaders from a diversity of traditions to discuss the ways in which libraries and faith-based organizations can work side by side to encourage soulful wellbeing in our communities. The purpose of these conversations is to encourage a broader understanding of the types of organizations that provide care and service to our communities, an understanding that promotes opportunities for partnership and connection between libraries and faith organizations.
This panel discussion on Faith and Plant-Based Diets will be moderated by Richard Foss and features faith leaders Rabbi Jonathan Bernhard, Kate Carpenter, and Ven. Hui Ze Shih.
Rabbi Jonathan Bernhard is the Director of Clergy Engagement at the Center for Jewish Food Ethics and co-found the Valley Chevra Kadisha. In July 2025 he will become the rabbi at Temple Shalom of the South Bay.
Kate Carpenter is the clerk of the Animal Kinship Committee, an ad-hoc committee of Orange Grove Meeting in Pasadena.
Richard Foss Is journalist, author, culinary historian, and lecturer based in Manhattan Beach, California. He is a board member of the Culinary Historians of Southern California.
Venerable Hui Ze Shih is a Buddhist monastic from Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights. He is currently in charge of Interfaith as well as Outreach programs in the temple.
