It’s Time to Think Bigger: Solving Global Hunger

As Jews gathered around the Seder table this year—as we have for thousands of years—to recount the story of our liberation from Egypt, one line echoes with timeless urgency: “Let all who are hungry come and eat.” This isn’t just a ritual incantation— it is a call to action. Jewish tradition doesn’t merely ask us to acknowledge the poor; it compels —commands us—to feed them.

But in 2025, we must ask: is inviting one hungry person to dinner enough?

We live in a vastly different world than the one in which our sages composed the Haggadah. Today, our reality is shaped by complex food systems, global networks, and technological capabilities our ancestors couldn’t have imagined. And yet, hunger remains one of the most persistent and potentially solvable problems we face.

According to global estimates, nearly 9 million people die annually from hunger and hunger-related causes. That’s roughly 25,000 people per day, including more than 10,000 children –every day! These numbers should shake us to our core. They demand more than symbolic action—they demand a movement.

Thankfully, we don’t have to start from scratch.

In Israel, organizations like Leket Israel have built innovative, effective models for food rescue and redistribution, providing hundreds of thousands of meals to people in need. It’s a national-scale response that works—proof that coordinated, compassionate action can move the needle.

In India, the organization I lead, Gabriel Project Mumbai (GPM), runs a comprehensive intervention for infants suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), saving lives every single day. Our work addresses the most vulnerable children with targeted care, nutrition, and support.

Gabriel Project Mumbai’s Infant Malnutrition Program in tribal villages in India – photo is AI generated to protect the privacy of children

But while efforts like ours and those in Israel are powerful, this is really a global crisis effecting the lives of millions—and one that cries out for a comprehensive global solution.

Our tradition offers more than poetic aspirations. The prophet Isaiah calls on us to “share your bread with the hungry,” and imagines a future in which “they shall not hunger nor thirst.” These are not metaphors. They are calls to action. And in a world with enough food to feed everyone, the persistence of starvation is a moral failure.

What if we applied the ingenuity behind Leket and GPM on a global scale? What if we brought together tech innovators, logistics experts, food producers, and faith-based organizations to build a global food recovery and distribution infrastructure? What if we invest in smallholder farmers in developing regions. These farmers produce a significant portion of the world’s food, yet many struggle with poor access to credit, markets, and resilient farming techniques. By providing them with tools like drought and salinity-resistant seeds – see the groundbreaking work of the Israel-India Salicrop group, mobile-based weather forecasts, and training in sustainable practices, we can increase yields, boost incomes, and reduce food insecurity from the ground up. When combined with better infrastructure and policy support, these grassroots solutions have the potential to create long-term, systemic change.

The resources exist. The talent exists. What we need now is the collective will.

The Jewish people have always been at our best when we think boldly—when we dream beyond our borders and act beyond ourselves. Let us take the next step in our national and spiritual journey. Let us go beyond welcoming a guest to our Seder table. Let us work to ensure that no one, anywhere, goes to sleep hungry.

Is this idea naïve? Perhaps. But history is full of once-unthinkable achievements made possible by people who dared to believe in something bigger. The global eradication of smallpox was once considered unrealistic. So were organ transplants. Even the ability to cure genetic diseases through genome editing was dismissed as science fiction—until it wasn’t. Again and again, humanity has proven that when we set our minds to something, we can accomplish the extraordinary.

Imagine future generations looking back at this moment and saying: “They did it. They ended hunger.” Imagine how proud future generations of Jews would be of their ancestors, their culture and their People?

Perhaps in Passovers to come, on Seder night, we will add a new section to the Haggadah—one that tells our children and grandchildren that there was once hunger in the world, but our ancestors heard the call of the Almighty, saw the suffering of the starving, and came together to end global hunger—once and for all.

What a legacy that would be—not just for Jews, but for all of humanity.