Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner at the Big IF rally

Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner spoke to an audience of 45,000 people at the Big IF rally in Hyde Park to call on governments to tackle the causes of hunger ahead of the G8 meeting next weekend in Northern Ireland.

High profile figures including Bill Gates, Rowan Williams, actor David Harewood and TV presenter Myleene Klass were among the other speakers who attended the mass rally and added their voice to the campaign. West London Synagogue hosted an interfaith service before the event, with Baroness Neuberger making the keynote address.

Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner’s speech:

Today is the Jewish Sabbath – Shabbat.The Hebrew Bible teaches about food and Sabbath. When the Israelites were wondering in the desert, God gave us food in the form of manna. Each day there was enough manna for just that day. But on Shabbat, God and people rested and there was no manna on the Sabbath. Instead, there was what could be called centralised resource planning by God and a double portion on Friday, just before the Sabbath. People had to restrain themselves and make the food last.

From the earliest times, we have had to learn about fair distribution and about restraint. Now is the same. There is enough food in our world but we need to be active and demand from the G8 that food is given to all, wherever we live, whatever our background.

On this Sabbath, let’s demand that the world leaders understand about what is fair for everyone. There is enough for everyone. Now is the time to say “enough”.