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Farm Continued from Page 1
Mikki Rosenberg and his wife
Hannah celebrate their wedding
a bit differently from how they
planned. Photo by Rabbi Yaakov Hoffman
NOVEMBER Election Day Mixes New and
Familiar If they hadn’t already voted
by mail, Jewish voters got in
line to make their voices heard.

Polling places in Philadelphia
featured signs about social
distancing and lots of hand
sanitizer. Although there was
plenty of anxiety in the air,
there was levity as well: At the
Commodore John Barry Arts
and Cultural Center, one poll
worker convinced his family
that another poll worker, Rabbi
Alan LaPayover, was Bernie
Sanders. DECEMBER
There’s Still Plenty to Do
for Chanukah This Year in
Philadelphia Jewish
organizations celebrated the Festival of
Lights with virtual perfor-
mances, art installations, care
packages, cooking classes,
socially distanced candle
lighting ceremonies, magic
shows, trivia games and more.

Health Care Workers Receive
First Vaccine Doses
When the Pfizer-BioNTech
COVID-19 vaccine
was granted emergency use autho-
rization by the Food and Drug
Administration, Jewish health
care workers shared what it was
like to receive this protection
while working to save lives on
the front lines of the pandemic. l
spanzer@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0729
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM in Wynnewood). The family
house had a garden, and
Glasman spent as much time
in it as he could. His first job
was to clean up a local garden,
where the time he spent
immersed in thoughtfully
planned agriculture nurtured
something in him.

He studied
sustain- able tourism and hospitality
in France and, for 10 years,
worked in sustainable tourism
and agro-tourism in South
America, France and Israel.

It was in Israel that he met
his wife, Rachel, a New Jersey
native. In 2016, the newly fused
Glasmans moved to California,
and Yitzchak Glasman got his
first experience as a garden
designer. After spending time in
Lancaster so Rachel Glasman
could more easily commute to
her job at Franklin & Marshall
College, they moved to
Wynnewood, where Yitzchak
worked as a freelance garden
designer, showing families how
to grow their own food, and as
a Jewish educator. When he
lost his teaching job due to the
pandemic, it left him with time
to fill and long-dormant ideas
to nurture.

He decided to follow his
dream: to build an organic
farm created with principles of
Jewish permaculture. Shalem
Farm would be the name.

Shalem means “complete”
in Hebrew, Glasman explained.

He feels that shalem captures
something about his project,
which melds permaculture and
Jewish principles of ecology.

By creating a diverse, self-sus-
taining organic farm, Glasman
believes that there are many
lessons to be taught to those
who are curious about the
undergirding principles of
such a project.

Glasman imagines that
Shalem Farm, a project for
which he seeks to raise $53,000
via the Jewish crowdfunding
platform Jewcer, will be a
pluralistic, welcoming environ-
ment for Jewish students and
a destination for field trips,
gardening workshops and
holiday retreats.

“It could be a place where
we can learn, work, practice,
relax, have fun and connect,”
Glasman said, comparing
his vision to the Pearlstone
Conference & Retreat Center
in Reisterstown, Maryland.

Pearlstone, similarly suffused
with Jewish principles, sits
on 180 acres. At the moment,
Glasman is looking to make
10 work.

“From a
commercial farming perspective, that’s
not huge,” said Nati Passow,
co-founder and executive
director of the now-defunct
Jewish Farm School. “But
from an educational farming
perspective, that’s a really nice
size.” Passow is excited to see
what Glasman can do with his
own site, a practice that Jewish
Farm School eschewed in its
work. Though the farm school
is no more, the educational
materials that they developed
were compiled and made freely
available to people interested in
learning or teaching. Glasman
has used those materials for
reference in the creation of
Shalem Farm’s educational
programs. “There’s a lot of potential
here,” Passow said.

In addition to the guidance
he’s received from Passow,
Glasman has gotten helpful
advice from Mark Lichty, who
owns land in Doylestown.

Though Lichty is not Jewish,
he is interested in land regen-
eration as a bulwark against
climate change, and when he
heard about Glasman’s project,
he was only happy to pitch in.

“He’s a passionate guy, and
he’s got a deep background in
this,” Lichty said. “He’s a very
committed person.”
Nice as it is to have that
kind of support in his corner,
Glasman’s project will not be
without difficulty. That’s true
for any venture that seeks to
JEWISH EXPONENT
The future site of Shalem Farm
Yitzchak Glasman wants Shalem
Farm to be a pluralistic, welcoming
environment for Jewish students.

Photos by Yitzchak Glasman
work the land, but Glasman’s
Shalem Farm has an added
hassle. Part of the idea for
Shalem Farm is that it will
be a land regeneration project,
converting land that was previ-
ously used for conventional
monoculture into the teeming
Jewish landscape he envisions.

The money he hopes to raise
through Jewcer will be used
to cover regeneration costs, as
well as materials, labor and the
creation of a nonprofit entity to
support the farm’s educational
activities. It won’t be easy, and
Glasman’s fundraiser has a
long way to go. But with his
journey to Doylestown taking
as long as it has, raising money
to do what he loves is just
another step. l
jbernstein@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
DECEMBER 31, 2020
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