As we approach Thanksgiving, Jordan spoke with SJ Seldin of the Jewish Farmer Network to learn more about the importance of uplifting the story of Jews as people of the land, how ancestral technologies can contribute to modern day ecological movements, and shed some light on how fighting for Indigenous sovereignty is inextricable from fighting for Jewish liberation. Check the conversation out below!
Jewish Farmer Network was created in 2017 as an expressed need by Jewish Farmers, who are largely invisible to mainstream Jewish institutions and secular farming organizations-- I certainly hadn't heard much about Jewish farming tradition, with the exception of the Adamah Fellowship.
What does the Jewish Farmer Network look like, and what makes it special?
Jewish Farmer Network is composed of 2000+ Jewish agrarians around the world who come together – across so many dimensions of difference in experience and identity – to learn and build community at the intersection of Judaism and agriculture. As far as we know, we are the only organization in the Diaspora dedicated to supporting Jewish farmers. Our programs include an annual conference, affinity groups for Jewish farmers who are queer and disabled, Shmita Plots, the Jewish Seed Project, the Jews and Land Study Group, monthly community calls, and more! We are currently supporting an emerging affinity group for Jewish farmers who are Black, Indigenous, Jews of Color, and/or Mizrahi, as well as a group for white Jewish farmers who want to deepen their anti-racism work together.
Jewish farmers are the living legacy of Judaism as a 5000+ year old agrarian tradition. Jewish Farmer Network works to connect Jewish farmers to Jewish ancestral wisdom that is directly relevant to their work as land stewards, growers of food, and folks on the front lines of climate collapse. We believe that this wisdom, in the hands of Jewish farmers, is a force for collective liberation of all lands and all peoples.
Part of your work is uplifting historic and modern stories of Jews as as people of the land. How does that inform the work you're doing today?
Jews have been farming continuously in every land we have lived, across millions of miles and thousands of years. Yet, these are not the stories Jews tend to share with each other about who we are and what we do. Antisemitic stereotypes that paint Jews as weak, urban middlemen and professional elites erase the possibility – in the minds of Jews and gentiles alike – that a Jew could be a farmer and that a farmer could be a Jew. When we tell our stories as Jew farmers, we undermine both those stereotypes and the antisemitism that those depictions reinforce.
The negative result of these tropes is very real for our community. Our Jewish farmers talk about the derision of their families and Jewish communities, who say to them, “Jews don’t farm” and “Jewish farmer? Isn’t that an oxymoron?” Our farmers tell us they often feel like they have to choose between the work that nourishes them and their sense of belonging in Jewish community. By sharing the stories of Jewish farmers, we affirm our existence: making current Jewish farmers feel less alone and allowing aspiring Jewish farmers to imagine that a vibrant life as both a Jew and a farmer is possible.
Among gentiles, the invisibilization of Jewish farmers means that we are more vulnerable to exploitation in our work. Non-Jewish farm owners and farm managers often do not understand the needs of many Jewish farmers for time off on Shabbat and Jewish holidays. Jewish farmers often don’t have the information we need to self-advocate for our observance needs without risking our jobs – which for many farmworkers includes putting our on-farm housing at risk, too. Jewish Farmer Network is in the early stages of developing a training resources for both farm owners and farm workers about labor protections and the Jewish calendar. We hope that more farms can be safe and affirming places for Jewish farmers to learn and work.
As a follow-up, what are the ancestral technologies that are relevant to today's social, economic, and ecological struggles?
This year, 5782, is a shmita year. The Jewish calendar, which is an agricultural calendar, operates on sacred cycles of seven. The week is comprised of 6 days of work and Shabbat, a day of rest in which Jews are commanded to be present with creation as creation, rather than as creators or destroyers. Shabbat is one of the earliest examples of labor protections: free people, indentured servants, and animals are all included in the rest of Shabbat.
We experience this same pattern of Shabbat on the scale of years, in which six years are spent growing crops and engaging in commerce. On the seventh year, the shmita year, Jewish tradition commands us to allow land to rest and to release: debts are forgiven, those in bondage are set free, fences are removed, all lands become the commons, and farmers abstain from growing annual crops (lettuce, cucumbers, eggplant, etc). The explicit purpose of shmita is “so that all may eat.” This paradigm requires a diversified, interdependent food system with robust systems of communal food storage and food redistribution. A shmita world requires knowledge of wild foods, orchards of perennial fruit and nut trees, and extensive planning to preserve enough food in the previous six years to feed everyone in the shmita year. Shmita is grounded in an understanding that the land does not, cannot, belong to humans. Shmita affirms that no one should be in debt or imprisoned indefinitely. Shmita affirms that if we want a world in which everyone is fed, we have to plan for it and we have to do it together. Shmita is a system of equity, redistribution, and restraint.
There are so many more! Take a look at this great graphic from Jewish Farm School z”l that shares more about the core teachings of Jewish agriculture.
Something as broad as a Jewish Farmer Network seems to have a lot of scalability. What's your vision for how the network will scale, and for what its long-term impact on Jewish community and the world will be?
We know that there are many more Jewish farmers out there, and we can’t wait to meet them! We want to support the growth of bioregional communities of Jewish farmers – folks who are close enough to gather for Jewish holidays, for work parties, and to share resources locally. We are excited to continue supporting the projects, affinity groups, and educational needs of Jewish farmers as they emerge. Jewish Farmer Network exists because our community of Jewish farmers asked for a way to connect with each other and our Jewish agricultural wisdom. We’ll keep tending to the needs and desires at the intersection of Judaism and agriculture in the ways our community asks us to.
The long-term impact of Jewish Farmer Network includes shifting collective understanding: farming is essential to Jewish culture and the Jewish tradition. We are building Jewish communities in which Jewish notions of “success” include Jewish people who are stewarding land, animals, and crops. We are building Jewish communities that see and honor the contributions of Jewish farmers. We are building a community of Jewish farmers who are empowered by Jewish wisdom to contribute to the creation of a more just, kind, and regenerative food system for all.
We're right around the corner from Thanksgiving, a day once considered to celebrate abundance and inequality that is now recognized by many in the Indigenous community as the National Day of Mourning. How do you view the struggles for Indigenous sovereignty, for a world beyond racial capitalism, for food sovereignty, as intertwined? How do you see them as related to the struggle for Jewish liberation?
Indigenous sovereignty, a world beyond racial capitalism, and food sovereignty are inextricable. Jewish liberation requires all three.
For all communities to have access to nourishing and culturally-relevant food, Indigenous people must be able to sovereignly steward their ancestral lands. For all communities to have access to nourishing and culturally-relevant food, land and resources must be distributed differently than the status quo of racial capitalism.
For Jewish people to be free, we must understand the ways our food and land sovereignty has been taken from us. One of our core programs at Jewish Farmer Network is the Jews and Land Study Group, an offering that was originally developed by Jewish Farm School z”l, which explores Jewish relationship to land from our origins as a people through to modern day Jewish farmers in North America/Turtle Island. As Jewish people, some of our core cultural wounds come from being forcibly removed from ancestral lands and then repeatedly displaced. This history lives in us, and it impacts our relationship to food, land, farming, community, resource accumulation, and modern liberation movements. There are ways to seek safety in land as Jews that just perpetuate the cycle of violence done to us. There are ways to be in relationship with land, food, and Indigenous peoples that bring us all closer to collective liberation.
When Jewish farmers are able to learn these histories and to learn Jewish agricultural ethics, the imperative becomes clear: to be a Jewish farmer is to participate in growing a world in which everyone eats. To be a Jewish farmer is to participate in growing a world in which Indigenous peoples are able to steward ancestral homelands. To be a Jewish farmer is to participate in growing a world in which debts are regularly forgiven, resources are regularly redistributed, and land is collectively stewarded for the sake of collective nourishment. Jewish Farmer Network seeks to support our community of Jewish farmers in courageously wrestling with the questions of how to grow this World to Come, Olam HaBa.
If there are any people interested in becoming part of the Jewish Farmer Network, or in following along, where can they find you?
Check out our offerings–all of which are free or sliding scale–at jewishfarmernetwork.org. Scroll to the bottom to sign up for our much beloved monthly newsletter. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook. If you are a Jewish farmer, join this Facebook group to connect with peers and mentors in real time! If you want to support our work, donate here. If you know a Jewish farmer or the family of a Jewish farmer, let them know we’re out here!