1st ToF Page | jewishfarmernetwork

The Torah of Farming- Insta (Banner (Landscape)) (1).png

A 7 week online educational journey through ancient, visionary Jewish agricultural wisdom – culminating with in-person regional gatherings in Western Massachusetts, Western North Carolina, and Northern California!

Join us this fall for our new offering! The Torah of Farming is an introduction to the foundational texts of Jewish agricultural wisdom, developed specifically by and for Jewish Farmers. The goal of this class is to connect Jewish farmers with

the ancient, visionary agricultural wisdom and practices of the Jewish tradition
each other!

This course is for you if you…

are Jewish AND a current, lapsed, or aspiring farmer
are within driving distance of Northampton, MA; Fairview, NC; or the Bay Area
want to learn about Jewish agricultural texts, ethics, and wisdom
want to connect and build community with other Jewish farmers near you!
have been yearning for someone to lay down the basics of Jewish farming for you!

The details:

Sundays, October 23rd - December 4th
7:30-9:30 PM EST // 4:30-6:30 PM PST
Sliding scale $36 - $108 with scholarships available
12 farmers per cohort

What topics will be covered?

Jewish agricultural calendar, shabbat, and shmita
Jewish approaches to animal, soil and tree stewardship
Jewish food justice principles

Week 1: Getting to know you/weaving our stories as modern Jewish farmers into the story of the Jewish people - Shani Mink/SJ Seldin

Week 2: Jewish Agricultural Calendar with Anika Rice
Week 3: Shmitah/Shabbat as radical rest for farmers and their land - Sara Just-Michael (GrowTorah)
Week 4: Jewish Food Justice - Nili Simhai and Rebecca Leung (Abundance Farm)
Week 5: Jewish Soil Stewardship - Shamu Sadeh, (Adamah/Hazon)
Week 6: Jewish Livestock Ethics - Jonathan Bernhard (JIFA)
Week 7: Torah of Place - connecting to your local community/well of wisdom w/a curated text study from Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb about being guests on native land

The Torah of Farming- Insta (Banner (Landscape)) (4).png

Teachers/Facilitators

Liel Green (they/them)

Liel Green first began farming in high school as part of Growing Youth Organizers, a coalition of young people committed to ending food apartheid and providing accessible political education for all ages. They graduated from Smith College with a degree in Jewish Studies, the Study of Women and Gender, and a Five College Certificate in Queer, Trans, and Sexuality Studies where they completed their thesis project on Queer-Jewish Futurity and Shabbat. Liel has worked as a Jewish Justice Educator and Farmer at Abundance Farm, as a co-director of Rowe Young People’s Camp, and as a crew member on Astarte Farm. Liel believes that through the loving and full integration of our whole selves, identities, histories, and traditions we can begin to move towards more meaningful solidarity with movements for healing and liberation of both people and land. Rootedness in and an exploration of the relevancy of Jewish- agricultural knowledge has enabled Liel to feel like they could even begin to move and collaborate towards collective visions of Olam Ha-ba, the World to Come. Liel loves their brilliant and beautiful community, creating big art with friends, dovening [praying], glitter, matzah ball soup, and zines.

Shani Mink (she/her)

Shani Mink is a seasoned farmer, experiential Jewish educator and the executive director of the Jewish Farmer Network. Shani began her farming journey at the age of 18 and has since worked on farms up and down the East Coast and abroad as a field hand, educator, manager and consultant.

SJ Seldin (they/them)

SJ Seldin is co-founder and board chair of Jewish Farmer Network. SJ is also a co-founder and farmer/steward at Yesod Farm+Kitchen, a Jewish community farm dedicated to collective liberation through Jewish agriculture, mutual aid, and growing relationships across difference on 16 acres of ancestral Tsalaguwetiyi (Cherokee) and Catawba lands near Asheville, NC. SJ loves to mikveh (ritually immerse) in wild living waters, to talk about yovel, and to dream about Olam Ha'Ba (the World to Come).

Anika Rice (she/her)

Anika Rice is a researcher and educator, studying agrarian change, gender and migration at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She works with farming communities affected by climate change and migration in rural Guatemala, and with Jewish food systems and farming education in the US. Anika loves weaving, foraging medicinal plants, the Jewish agricultural calendar, and backpacking.

Sara Just-Michael (she/her)

Sara Just-Michael is the co-executive director of GrowTorah. She joined the GrowTorah team (aka the ‘farmily’) in 2018 as a part-time educator and media manager. In her current role, Sara manages school and camp garden programs, teaches in several gardens on a weekly basis, serves as the director of Camp GrowTorah, and much more. She grew up in New Rochelle and now lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Sara is passionate about experiential Torah learning, environmental halacha, crafting, potatoes, and zaatar.

Nili Simhai (she/her)

Nili Simhai is the Director of Environmental and Agricultural Education at Abundance Farm, an earth-based, community building venture in Northampton, MA that integrates Jewish tradition, regenerative agriculture, and food justice. She has been recognized for her leadership in counseling thousands of educators and Jewish spaces in the tenets of Jewish environmental education and prior to her position at Abundance Farm Nili was the Director of the Teva program for fourteen years.

Rebecca Leung (she/her)

Rebecca Leung serves as a farm educator and farmer for Abundance Farm. Rebecca facilitates classes for LGA, Gan Keshet preschool, and ALMA, and co-facilitates the Shefa teen food justice and farming program with Rose. Before coming to Abundance Farm, Rebecca worked on a variety of small to large scale sustainable production farms. Rebecca is a queer Toisanese/Chinese mixed race Jew interested in liberatory Jewish practices grounded in land and growing practices.

shamu-at-desk-2014_15688225326_o - Shamu Sadeh.jpg

Shamu Fenyvesi Sadeh (he/him)

Shamu Fenyvesi Sadeh is the co-founder of Adamah. He teaches Judaism and ecology, turns the compost piles, maintains the orchards, and mentors staff, Adamah Fellows and others at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center on traditional Mahican land in the NW corner of Connecticut. He has been a wilderness guide, writer and professor, and learned to shlepp the material and spiritual from his parents and ancestors.

Rabbi Jonathan Bernhard (he/him)

After 25 years at a wonderful congregation, Rabbi Jonathan Bernhard decided it was time for a change and for a different way of serving the Jewish and of following his passions. Among other areas, Jonathan now works in animal welfare education and raising awareness in the Jewish community about our sacred obligations and their implications. He is a past president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, the co-founder of the Valley Chevra Kadisha and the vice chair of the Sandra Caplan Community Beit Din. He and his wife Laurie live in the San Fernando Valley and they have 3 grown sons, 2 small dogs and 3 noisy chickens.

Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb (she/her)

Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb is one of the first women to become a rabbi in Jewish history. She is a pioneer Jewish feminist, a writer, visual artist, ceremonialist, community educator, reparationist and master storyteller. This year is her rabbinic jubilee.

FAQ

Do I need to be local to one of the 3 named sites in order to participate? Yes. The goal of this program is to connect Jewish farmers regionally to one another. If you’re local enough to drive to one of the culminating gatherings – at Abundance Farm in Northampton, MA; Yesod Farm+Kitchen in Fairview, NC; or the Bay Area – you’re local enough to participate. We are very much hoping to expand this regional cohort model to more locations in the future!

Do I have to attend the in-person gathering? We strongly encourage all participants to sign up with the intention of attending the in-person culminating gathering.

Am I Jewish “enough” to participate? Yes!!! Jewish Farmer Network formed from the need and desire for a Jewish community that centers and uplifts Jewish agrarians, from every point of the kaleidoscope of Jewish (and agricultural!) identity, background, and experience. We are not gatekeepers or arbiters of who is Jewish. If you hold Jewish heritage or identity, you are welcome. If you come from a multi-tradition household/family, you are welcome. If you are a Jew-by-choice, you are welcome. If you have never stepped into a Jewish space before, you are especially welcome. Come as you are, as you are. We are thrilled to meet you, to learn from you, and to craft ever-more accessible spaces for learning and connection.

Do I need to be a farmer to apply? No! Farmers and agriculturalists of all kinds, at any stage of your journey (current, future, lapsed, retired, questioning) are welcome to apply! We welcome gardeners, seed keepers, shepherds, land stewards, landscapers, vintners, brewers, compost people, foragers, arborists, fermenters, herbalists, natural crafts makers, hydroponics people, aquaponics practitioners and other food system folks. If you are or are seeking to be in relationship with land and/or the abundance of the earth, we know there’s something for you here. Even if you’re just curious, you are welcome to apply. Please note that due to a limited number of spots, we will be prioritizing applicants who are active farmers.

Teachers/Facilitators

FAQ

This project is made possible by:

Stay Updated