GrowTorah Monthly Newsletter - September 4, 2021 | Elul 27, 5781

Dear GrowTorah Farmily,

Welcome to the new GrowTorah Monthly Newsletter. This month you’ll find program updates from our jam-packed summer, team updates, and resources for you!

Starting this Rosh Hashana, is a Shnat Shmita, a Sabbatical year. While most of the laws surrounding this Mitzvah apply only in Eretz Yisrael, we love to explore the value of this mitzvah with our students, and glean what lessons we can in our own lives. GrowTorah’s founding coincided with the end of the last shmita year, and in 5782 we are taking stock of all we have built, feeling profound gratitude for the support we have received, and laying the groundwork for the next phase of our journey.

Throughout 5782, we will share with you how we are thinking and teaching about shmita, and in October, we’ll announce some shmita program offerings. We encourage you all to invite the cycles of rest, release, and rejuvenation into your own lives, especially after all of the turmoil of the past two years.

Thank you for your continued support.

Shana Tova,

Sara Just-Michael & Yosef Gillers, Co-executive Directors

RESOURCES FOR YOU

WEEKLY PARSHA PUBLICATION

Many of us feel compelled to act for the environment, but do not always know exactly how to relate to these feelings from a Torah context. We are delighted to present to you our environmental Torah inspired by the weekly parsha. Sign up here to receive this weekly dvar Torah. This project grew out of our merger with Canfei Nesharim, and came to fruition through the efforts of many of our summer Inchworms!

To partner with us in providing the community with this vital resource, click here. 

ROSH HASHANA & SUKKOT

With Tishrei almost here, we wanted to share with you some of our favorite resources, for kids, adults, and everyone in between to help you celebrate the chagim. Enjoy these educational and inspirational resources for Rosh Hashana and Sukkot. 

PROGRAM UPDATES

CAMP GROWTORAH

With 60 campers last week, Camp GrowTorah was double the size of last year! Campers spent time learning how to show compassion for all of Hashem’s creatures with the chickens and goats on the farm. They learned about the mitzvah of Bal Tashchit, and did many projects using plants - including natural tie dye, plant weaving, and more. 

Every day, campers explored a different Torah theme from last week’s parsha during special Torah learning time, then explored those themes further throughout their activities on the farm. We want to give a special thanks to our incredibly hard-working staff and volunteers for creating such a special week together. 

CAMP ANAFIM

We are so proud of our educators who brought GrowTorah garden programming to thousands of campers at Jewish summer camps in 2021: Judy Brenner at Camp Moshava I.O., Miriam Seidman at Congregation Ohr HaTorah, Eli Bursztyn at Kaplen JCC on the Palisades, Liz Abercrombie Jacoby at Moshava Ba’ir Greater Philadelphia, and Menuchah Schuman at Moshava Ba’ir New Jersey, Sarah Rovin at Camp Yavneh and Nicole Hebel at Chabad of Greenwich.

The Camp Anafim Partnership was funded in part by a Covenant Foundation 2020 Ignition Grant. We are thankful to Covenant for helping us expand the Anafim program to include camps as well as schools—thanks to their support, students are now engaging with GrowTorah’s unique experiential Torah education somewhere in the United States year-round!

SHORASHIM SCHOOL PARTNERS 

Part of our summer was tending gardens at our Shorashim partner schools, with the help of enthusiastic volunteers from school communities. We loved spending time with families in our Shorashim school gardens. 

In the next few weeks, we are proud to be bringing GrowTorah educators to teach at 13 schools in the Metro NYC area during the 2021–2022 school year: Barkai Yeshivah, Ben Porat Yosef, The Frisch School, Kaplen JCC on the Palisades, The Leffell School, Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls, The Moriah School, North Shore Hebrew Academy, SAR Early Learning Center, Academy, and High School, Temple Sinai of Bergen County, Yavneh Academy, and Yeshiva of Flatbush.

SCHOOL ANAFIM - BRANCHING OUT ACROSS THE USA

July’s Anafim school garden educator training was a success! We are currently supporting our educators as they finalize plans to launch their school garden programs next week. 

It is a privilege to be bringing GrowTorah’s experiential environmental Torah learning to students at the following schools: Berman Hebrew Academy (Rockville, MD), Chabad of Greenwich (Greenwich, CT), Congregation Ohr HaTorah (Atlanta, GA), Gesher Jewish Day School (Fairfax, VA), Hillel Torah (Skokie, IL), Westchester Day School (Mamaroneck, NY), and Yeshiva Har Torah (Little Neck, NY). 

The Anafim Partnership was made possible in part by a Covenant Foundation 2020 Ignition Grant—we are deeply grateful for their support.

TEAM UPDATES

WELCOME SPENCE

We are thrilled to welcome our newest Garden Educator, Spence Weitzen, to the team! Spence loves to learn and teach Torah. He holds a Masters in Jewish Education from YU’s Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education, and he has taught both indoors and outdoors at several yeshiva day schools in the area, as well as at several Jewish summer camps. To learn more about Spence, his work, and one of his best-ever Purim costumes, click here.

INCHWORM FAREWELL AND HIGHLIGHTS

This summer we were blessed with 7 fantastically talented college-age students who participated in the 3rd annual GrowTorah Inchwormship, our college intern program. Our Inchworms worked on several projects this summer, including our Weekly Parsha Newsletter (see below for more information), and much more. Some of these projects are public facing, and many are internal, helping us do the work we do, behind the scenes! We are so grateful for their talent, passion, and commitment to our mission. 

This was our longest newsletter, ever. We are so proud to share with you all that is happening in the Farmily.

If you made it this far, Thank you!