H EADLINES
Farm Continued from Page 1
Drawing Jewish 20-somethings
to Farming?” on Jan. 27, three
Jewish college students discussed
their experience working on
farms and its connection to their
Jewish identities.

Jessica Schenk, a sopho-
more at University of Vermont,
and Simmy Decker, a junior at
Brandeis University, have both
participated in World Wide
Opportunities on Organic
Farms, more commonly known
as WWOOF-ing. Th e program
links visitors with a global
network of organic farmers to
promote a cultural and educa-
tional exchange and build a
global community focused on
sustainable farming.

Decker has worked on farms
in Israel, the Pacifi c Northwest
and Hawaii. Producing fruits
and vegetables reminded her of
the Jewish tradition of recog-
nizing where food comes from
in the blessings before meals, a
corrective to a food production
system that relies on discon-
nection and distance.

“We devote that time before
we eat our food to think about
how our food grows, whether it
grows in the ground, whether
it comes from a tree,” she said.

Schenk decided to start
WWOOF-ing due to the
pandemic, which closed the
summer camp she was planning
to work at and moved her
classes online. She changed her
plans and worked on farms in
Pennsylvania and Tennessee,
where she learned how to care
for cows and harvest vegetables.

Th e experience completely
changed the way she thought
about eating. She grew used
to cooking based on what was
in season and available, rather
than what she could fi nd on
supermarket shelves.

Now, she goes out of her
way to select less-than-perfect
produce, knowing that it may go
to waste due to superfi cial fl aws.

“Something that I’ve been
trying to do more recently is
that even if something doesn’t
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Clockwise from top left: Jessica Schenk, Simmy Decker, Rabbi David
Glanzberg-Krainin, Rabbi Andi Merow and Klielle Glanzberg-Krainin talk
about sustainable farming.

Courtesy of Beth Sholom Congregation
look perfect, that doesn’t
mean that it’s not still going
to be delicious, or, you know,
completely edible or just good
when cooked. So I try to be less
picky about the food that I’ve
been eating,” she said.

Glanzberg-Krainin was
drawn to agriculture from a
young age and grew up growing
vegetables in her grandparents’
garden in Vermont. She worked
on a farm near their house for
several summers during college.

She spent last year on a farm
in Israel, where she studied
permaculture, the design of
agricultural frameworks based
on natural ecosystems. She also
interned on an urban farm in
West Philadelphia in the fall.

She loved the work, and is
now interested in pursuing a
career in sustainable agricul-
ture and food justice.

Nati Passow, operations
manager at Dayenu: A Jewish
Call to Climate Action, said
young adults’ interest in
farming experienced a revival
between 10 and 15 years ago.

“Our society is one in which
people are largely disconnected
from their food, disconnected
from the earth,” he said. “It’s
been a kind of reawakening of
sorts, a resurging interest in
fi nding work that feels more
physically meaningful.”
Passow was the co-founder
and executive director of
Jewish Farm School, a Jewish
sustainable agriculture organi-
zation in Philadelphia that
closed in 2019. He said many
of the young adults who partic-
ipated in its programs, like
summer camps and alternative
college breaks, felt like they
didn’t have a Jewish home in
synagogue life. Joining the
farm school seemed diff erent.

“Th ey fi nally felt like they
had people who were simulta-
neously interested in Judaism,
interested in creating a robust
and vibrant Jewish life and
doing so also in an environ-
mentally sensible way,” he said.

While the organization no
longer runs programs for young
Jewish farmers, it created a “seed
packet” of tools and resources
to be used by synagogues, day
schools and Jewish individuals
interested in seeking a spiritual
connection to their food.

Th e Jewish farm movement
is far from over in the
Philadelphia area.

Farmer and
Jewish educator Yitzchak Glasman
is planning to start building
Shalem Farm in Doylestown
this month. The organic farm
will be an education site for
Jewish sustainable agricul-
ture, and Glasman is using
some of the JFS “seed kit” to
develop his programs.

Th e pandemic also has height-
ened interest and concern about
food production systems. Passow
said many organic farming
programs are working to meet
demands for donations to food
pantries in the face of widespread
hunger and unemployment.

Farming presents job alterna-
tives to students like Schenk and
Decker, whose plans for work
and school changed in the face
of remote classes and shutdowns.

Glanzberg-Krainin said
Judaism and farming have
provided comfort in the face of
uncertainty. “When you’re farming, you
can do everything right and
then still have a crop failure
because of the weather or like
any number of things,” she
said. “I feel like a big part of
what’s important to me about
Judaism, or I guess just being a
religious person more broadly,
is just like being aware of the
mystery of the things that are
out of our control.” ●
spanzer@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0729
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