PARNASSAH

Build with Purpose · Earn with Integrity

A monthly Chaburah for food and beverage professionals who believe that how you build matters as much as what you build.

What This Is

A room full of builders.

Parnassah is a monthly learning circle — a Chaburah — for people in the food and beverage industry who want to stay anchored to something while they work. We come together to learn, to connect, and to take care of each other.

The group is intentionally diverse. From fully secular to Hasidic. What we share is this: we are building things, and we believe Torah has something to say about how we do it.

Founded

March 2026

New York City

Cadence

Monthly

Rotating locations across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and New Jersey

Industry

Food & Beverage

Founders, brokers, distributors, rabbis, investors

Open to

All Backgrounds

No level of observance required. Builders of integrity welcome.

Ready to pull up a chair?

Who We Are

Built on the highest form of Tzedakah.

The Rambam — Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, the 12th-century scholar whose legal and philosophical works are still studied in yeshivas, law schools, and universities around the world — taught that there are eight levels of giving. The highest is not writing a check. The highest is giving someone Parnassah.

"The highest form of Tzedakah is giving someone Parnassah — a job, a partnership, a referral. Helping someone stand on their own so they never need charity."

— Rambam (Maimonides), Mishneh Torah · Gifts to the Poor, 10:7

That idea is the foundation of this Chaburah. We are a room full of people who can give each other Parnassah. Make introductions. Refer business. Hire. Partner. Show up. That's the whole thing.

Learn Together

Each session opens with a Shiur — a Torah lesson — tied to a real theme in business and life.

Connect Deeply

No elevator pitches. Real introductions. The kind where you actually remember someone's name.

Give Parnassah

A referral. A hire. An introduction. This is what the room is for.

Sessions

Where we've been. Where we're going.

Session 1 · Complete

Passover — Parnassah & Tzedakah

Friday, March 21, 2026 · 10:00 AM · New York City

Our founding session. The room came together for the first time. Dr. Avi Becker — joining live from Jerusalem — gave opening remarks across thousands of miles. Rabbi Etan Epstein of the New Rochelle Torah Center delivered a Shiur on Passover, and the group discussed the Rambam's eight levels of Tzedakah and what it means to give someone Parnassah.

Session 1 · Opening Remarks

Dr. Avi Becker

Scholar · Jerusalem

Dr. Becker joined live from Jerusalem to open our founding session. At 89 years old — having grown up in Syracuse, studied at Torah Vodaas and Yeshiva University, raised five children, and returned to Israel in his later years — he brought a perspective on Parnassah, purpose, and building a life that no one else in the room could.

Session 1 Speaker

Rabbi Etan Epstein

Founder, New Rochelle Torah Center & the 300 Club

Rabbi Epstein delivered a Shiur on Passover and the Rambam's eight levels of Tzedakah — and what it means, in a room full of builders, to give someone Parnassah.

threehundredclub.org — 5 minutes of Torah daily nrtorahcenter.org

Session 2 · Completed

Bikurim — The First Fruits

Friday, May 15, 2026 · Corient Group, 101 Park Avenue, New York City

What do you do with what you were given? Our second session explored the ancient practice of Bikurim — the offering of the very first fruits of the harvest, not the surplus — as a lens on gratitude, responsibility, and how we give. The Lubavitcher Rebbe's teaching on "Today I declare..." reminded us that blessings are not historical events. They are daily miracles that require daily recognition. And from Pirkei Avos — the Ethics of the Fathers — the principle of the Chassid: what's mine is yours. Not that you give everything away, but that you give with joy and dignity, so the person receiving it feels like family, not charity.

Session 2 · Speaker

Rabbi Avrohom Rapoport

Rabbi, Chabad at the Shore · Known online as Rabbi Raps

Rabbi Rapoport grew up in Atlantic City, where his parents ran a Chabad. He began his career as a filmmaker before becoming a rabbi — and figured out how to do both at once. Known to hundreds of thousands online as Rabbi Raps, he delivers Torah with humor, zero pretension, and a storyteller's instinct. He shared the story of Atlantic County Sheriff Joe Donoghue — a man who, as a hungry child, was caught stealing fruit from a local grocer. Instead of calling the police, the grocer handed him a broom and offered him a job. That first job led to three more, then a career in law enforcement, and eventually the county sheriff's office. One act of compassion redirected an entire life. That is Parnassah at its highest.

Session 2 · From the Room

Harris Cutler

Race West · Fourth-Generation Produce Family

Harris Cutler has been in the produce business since he was 15. In college, he put on his only suit and took the subway to the Philadelphia Produce Market — alone — to learn. He found Phil Scalaros, a dealer, and asked if he could watch. Scalaros told him: figure out what I want from you yourself, and if you can't, out you go. Harris stayed four years. Scalaros eventually drove to Scranton and became his father's biggest customer. One internship, earned through silence and attention, changed the family business. His advice to the room: get interns. Pay them well. Put them next to your best people. What you are really doing is creating a virtuous cycle of growth, mentorship, and Parnassah.

Watch the full recording →

Join

Pull up a chair.

Parnassah is invite-only and intentionally small. If you work in food and beverage and you're serious about building with integrity, we'd love to hear from you.

Contact

Get in touch.

Questions about Parnassah, speaking, hosting, or making a Shidduch? Reach out directly.

Get In Touch

Parnassah

Food & Beverage Chaburah · New York City

info@parnassahchaburah.com