what the earth is experiencing.”
“Why it needs to rest and heal and regenerate,” he added.

Plus, even if organic farms like ACRe and Shalem aren’t literally
observing shmita, they are pursuing the same goal that the Jewish tradi-
tion implies: sustainability.

Th e purpose of resting and recharging is to ultimately return and last
longer, according to Glasman.

“Durable, long-term, long vision,” he said. “It’s a simple concept but
it’s so useful in this capitalist society where everyone wants to produce,
produce, produce.”
Useful, but still for the most part impractical, according to Perri
Dejarnette, the assistant director of stewardship at the Pearlstone Center,
a Maryland retreat center with an eight-acre organic farm. Dejarnette
does not think of herself as a capitalist; yet she can’t escape its all-encom-
passing nature, she said.

At the same time, she agrees with Glasman: It’s valuable, both inher-
ently and communally, to try and carve out spaces where you can.

Maybe you make like the Levins and Glasman and detox the land to
purify it; or perhaps you follow the Levins’ lead in using land to build
a more community-minded education space; or maybe you do what
Pearlstone does and donate more produce to emergency recovery eff orts
and off er employees extra days off .

“It’s just another time for us to really go ahead and donate more pro-
duce, and also just being more open to the idea of radical rest,” Dejarnette
said. But even while Pearlstone does these things, they feel a little hollow,
according to the assistant director. She said there’s a disconnection
between following the spirit of shmita and observing shmita itself.

Shmita is community-oriented, according to Dejarnette. If you want to
live like that, you need the people around you to do it, too. Communities
have to plan in seven-year cycles to make sure they have enough food for
the year of rest. Community members also must uphold the standard of
letting the commons lie fallow.

Capitalism is at odds with those goals.

“We can only work within our current economic system,” Dejarnette
said. “I’m stuck in this world, so I have to play the game.”
Jews outside Israel may not have to practice shmita, but Dejarnette
believes it might benefi t American Jews to live according to it anyway.

“If we thought of everything as commons, maybe we’d take better care
of it,” she concluded. “Maybe we’d have more empathy.” JE
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com
“Launching during the shmita year is appropriate.

Taking a breath from commercialenterprise,
showing why we do what we do.”
MALYA LEVIN
William and Malya Levin’s South Jersey property
From video footage by Greg Ulan
34 MARCH 31, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM