Bringing Torah to Life Through Nature at SAR's Gan Ilan

In this monthly feature, we showcase one of our Shorashim Partners - this month features SAR Academy & ELC

Gan Ilan, the SAR GrowTorah garden program, was one of our very first Shorashim Partner schools, starting in March 2016!

The program is dedicated in memory of Ilan Tokayer Z”l, who loved life, nature, and Torah. What started as 6 garden beds in a hexagon shape overlooking the hudson river, became 12 garden beds making a giant Magen David. In summer of 2020 we added an additional garden space exclusively for the Early Learning Center in their new building, where the garden beds are built at the appropriate height for our young learners. We also engage outdoor sensory bins and a composting tumbler for the ELC. 

Every year, we adapt the program slightly at SAR, and this year, with the help of Sharon Black, Gan Ilan was incorporated into the Specialties branch of SAR. Every week, students in grades 1-4 attended lessons in Gan Ilan rooted in texts and values from the weekly parsha as part of the LIT program (Literature Integrated Torah). It has been a delight to adapt our curricular offerings for each school, and bring to life Torah through nature. Everything we teach in Gan Ilan is to embody those values and bring an aliyah for Ilan’s Neshama. Thank you so much to the Tokayer family and the Neta Ilan Foundation for being such steadfast supporters of this initiative!

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At GrowTorah, we are privileged to work with many extraordinary partners, including those in our Shorashim program. For each of our Shorashim partners, we build beautiful vegetable gardens on-site, where our staff teach weekly lessons for the students throughout the growing season. One of our phenomenal partners is SAR Academy, is a coeducational, private Modern Orthodox Jewish day school in Riverdale, NY.