Smoked Salmon Strata
A Yom Kippur break-fast bake + some hopeful climate news
Last Sunday, the day before erev Rosh Hashanah, my family joined 1,000 other New Yorkers at Rooted: A Jewish Day of Service for the Earth. Our particular activity was to help clean up trash along Coney Island Creek.
And oh boy, there was a lot of trash. Plastic straws and chip bags and bits of packaging foam and bottle caps and cigarette butts and…you get the idea. But it was also beautiful. In my 21 years as a New York City resident, I had never been to that particular blue-gray stretch of tidal coastline. While we were there the wind blew soft and brisk. An egret majestically soared over our heads. People worked side by side to untangle the seaweed from its prison of plastic debris. And kids took breaks from cleaning to scribble pictures into the damp sand and delight over a found horseshoe crab shell.
It was a lovely and meaningful day. And yet the truth is no matter how much we cleaned up, the trash will be back tomorrow. And sometimes, caring about the fate and future of the planet feels exhausting—like we are up against much-too-powerful headwinds. Do our efforts really matter? Or are they just an earnest but pointless drop in the bucket?
But here’s another truth: real, impactful climate progress is happening around the globe. Not fast enough yet perhaps—and with absolutely no thanks to the Trump administration, which seems weirdly obsessed with living in a coal and gas-centered past. (This guy is such a great business man? The one who is letting other countries leave the United States in the dust on the development and implementation of clean energy?)
But yes, it is happening. As climate activist and writer, Bill McKibben reported in his newsletter recently: China, India, and parts of Africa, among other places, are rapidly scaling up solar and other renewable energy:
China’s solar exports last year alone were sufficient to cut long-run global carbon emissions by 4 billion metric tons.
Pakistan, which has for years treated gas generation as the backbone of its power network, has been asking suppliers to defer shipments of liquefied natural gas after a surge of solar imports suppressed grid demand.
Across Africa, solar panel imports from China rose 60 percent in the last 12 months, and 20 African countries imported a record amount over that period, Ember said in a separate study recently.
New numbers show India installed more solar generating capacity in the first six months of this year than all the gas-fired capacity it has installed ever.
Read those numbers again. And then read Bill’s whole newsletter because wow, that is good stuff! There is so much horrible, doomsday-coded climate news that it feels like such a breath of fresh air (yes of course pun intended) to see numbers that trend in a more hopeful direction. It makes me so happy to read this news.
It also makes me jealous. I want in! Even if our current administration is run by greedy climate dinosaurs. One of the best ways to tap into climate hope in a tangible way is to install solar panels on your roof and start relying on the free gift of the sun’s power, rather than fossil fuels. As a renter in NYC, my family does not get to make the call about solar installation. And unfortunately our building owner isn’t ready to make the transition. I’ve asked politely. Twice. :)
So I’m shifting my focus from our home to my synagogue, which: 1. also has a roof that gets good sunlight. and 2. has a synagogue president that is potentially open to the idea. Why am I telling you this? (Aside from making you all my virtual accountability partners so I actually try to make it happen?)
Because you might be able to do it too. Adamah, the same organization that ran the beach clean-up in New York, also runs the Climate Action Fund, which offers significant financial grants and loans for synagogues, JCCs, and other Jewish institutions to invest in climate-friendly projects. Here are some more hopeful numbers from Adamah’s website:
“Since 2023, Adamah’s Climate Action Fund has provided $1.3M+ in loans and grants to 51 projects, saving Jewish institutions over $801,000 annually in energy costs while cutting 2,630 metric tons of CO₂.”
The deadline to apply for Adamah’s Climate Action Fund is November 6. If you are a synagogue president, board member, or dedicated lay leader, or staff at a JCC, Jewish school, or other institution, now is the perfect time to learn more about how you might join the clean energy revolution and make real, tangible difference in your community and the world.
Learn more about Adaham’s Climate Action Fund and apply here.
More Break-Fast Dishes from The Jewish Table Archives
Leek, Kale, and White Bean Gratin
Shallot and Chive-Stuffed Bagels
Streusel-Topped Blueberry Coffee Cake
Smoked Salmon Strata
Serves 6 to 8
This week’s recipe takes all of your favorite bagel platter flavors (smoky lox! briny capers! creamy, starchy comfort!) and combines them into a beautiful, golden strata. You can prep the strata (up through step 3) the afternoon or evening before Yom Kippur break fast and let it chill in the fridge to bake up fresh after the holiday. Or, bake it all the way through and then rewarm as needed. Either way, it is destined to be the hit of your Yom Kippur break fast.
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