Portland Jews unite to share in harvest

By DEBORAH MOON

article created on: 2009-02-01T00:00:00

Four Jewish organizations in harness with a Jewish organic farmer plan to cultivate Judaism’s agrarian roots and plant the seeds for community supported agriculture, gleaning and family education in Portland.

Community supported agriculture groups, known as CSAs, allow community members to pre-purchase shares of an entire season’s produce from a local farmer.

Havurah Shalom, Congregation Neveh Shalom, the Mittleman Jewish Community Center and Sauvie Island Organics have teamed up with Hazon, a national Jewish organization devoted to sustainable living, to launch Tuv Ha’aretz (Hebrew for good for the earth/best of the earth). Hazon’s Tuv Ha’aretz program combines use of CSAs with innovative programs exploring the relationship of food and Jewish tradition.

“Judaism is an agricultural religion in its roots, so it’s really exciting to be able to reclaim some of that,” said Deborah Eisenbach-Budner, Havurah’s educator and the first Portlander to contact Hazon about bringing their CSA program to Portland.

When Jordan Epstein, chair of Neveh Shalom’s environmental committee Shomrei Teva also contacted Hazon, the two congregations decided to create a program for the entire Jewish community. When the MJCC agreed to serve as a Southwest drop point for the CSA, the community-wide program had a hub.

SIO owner Sharie Raider, who has hosted four Shabbat on the Farm events for Havurah Shalom, said one need look no further than the “blessings over bread and wine to see there is, everyday, a connection between Judaism and agriculture.”

Raider is a member of Havurah Shalom and has two children attending Portland Jewish Academy, which shares the MJCC campus.

Last year Tuv Ha’aretz was active in 15 communities across the United States. This year 32 communities are participating in the program, with many of the first-time groups needing to establish a relationship with a local farmer and create a CSA program.

SIO is already a well-established CSA in Portland, last year providing nearly 40 kinds of produce to 250 households for 30 weeks. This year Raider said the farm wants to expand to 400 shares, giving it the capacity to include many Portland Jewish families.

“We are partnering with Sauvie Island Organics, one of the most venerable CSAs in Portland,” said Hannah Treuhaft, who with Shoshanna Krall represented Portland at Hazon’s food conference in December, which was preceded by one day of programming on creating a CSA. “Sauvie Island Organics is established and so well run that it will be easier for us to get started.”

Portland also has a leg up on some other cities because of the city’s culture.

“Many Jews are doing it (CSAs) anyway being this is Portland and that is part of the culture here, but they’re not necessarily linking it to being Jewish,” said Eisenbach-Budner, noting Tuv Ha’aretz will forge that link.

“Tuv Ha’aretz will create a nexus for Portland’s Jews and friends to come together and discuss issues of food justice and sustainable living,” said Krall. “This is Portland, so many of us are interested in these subjects already.”

That is certainly the case for both Krall and Treuhaft. Krall, a teacher, is one of the founders of Beit Kayam, the environmental Jewish communal house in Northeast Portland. She also completed Hazon’s Adamah apprenticeship program in 2007.

And Treuhaft, a former Judaic studies teacher at PJA and now education and program director at Sojourn Theater, spends summers as the volunteer coordinator of Plate and Pitchfork. She arranges educational dinners featuring a farm tour, lectures from a farmer, chef and winemaker, followed by a full outside dinner designed to connect people and the food on their plate with the food in the ground.

While the CSA with SIO is the only part of Portland’s program that is fully planned, educational offerings and gleaning opportunities are also in the works. Treuhaft said Hazon has a full slate of family and adult programs, some of which will come to Portland in the coming year.

Gleaning, the act of gathering useful produce after the harvest, is slated to be part of the Portland program. Raider said that in the fall, SIO’s fields often reach the point where a crop is no longer producing enough to harvest to meet the needs of 400 households. At that point, Raider said, volunteers from Tuv Ha’aretz will be invited to come to the farm to harvest those crops for donation to those in need.

To sign up for the CSA, visit www.sauvieislandorganics.com.

For more information on Tuv Ha’aretz, call Havurah Shalom at 503-248-4662 or email Epstein at myaakovm@comcast.net or htreuhaft@gmail.com.