JOFEE Network Gathering 2017 program book

Jewish Outdoor, Food, Farming & Environmental Education

JOFEE

JOFEE Network Gathering

September 14-17, 2017 Pearlstone Center, Reisterstown, MD

JEWISH INSPIRATION. SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES.

Printed on recycled paper

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JEWISH INSPIRATION. SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES.

Welcome Dear Friends, While we are in community this weekend, the recitation of Selichot – prayers for forgiveness – will be said late on Saturday night.

During Selichot, which marks the transition from the month of Elul towards Rosh Hashanah, I often feel the poignant sentiment expressed by Alan Lew, that “this is real and you are completely unprepared.”

This year, his words speak to my core more than ever before.

Yet, this year, I am heartened that we are all together as a JOFEE community.

JOFEE (Jewish Outdoor, Food, Farming & Environmental Education) is a purposefully wide, inclusive frame. It includes garden wagons at JCCs, higher welfare eggs, synagogue food policies, the "Flora of Torah," and so much more. We are educators and community organizers, farmers and scholars, newcomers and veterans doing this work. It relies on education, action, and advocacy to move forward our messages and work.

It is my hope during this time of year – as we look inward – that the ideas, programs, and experiences that we create at the JOFEE Network Gathering will inspire us to turn outward.

I hope that individually you will be inspired, and that collectively, we can take action.

I hope that during the gathering you will think critically about your current work and expand your vision of what is possible.

I hope that this gathering is a space that welcomes all the differences voices, facets, and components of our work.

As we look at a world with seemingly deeper divisions, this space has been one that for me has allowed the wholeness of myself to come together. As we look towards a new year, I hope it is one in which we continue to build a healthier, more sustainable, more just Jewish community and world for all.

I look forward to learning – and becoming prepared – with all of you.

Judith Belasco Acting CEO & Chief Program Officer, Hazon

September 14-17, 2017 • Pearlstone Center • JOFEE Network Gathering 3

Table of Contents Welcome from Judith Belasco........................................................................... 3 Upcoming JOFEE Events...................................................................................... 5 Social Media Information.................................................................................... 5 Pearlstone Center Orientation Sheet.............................................................. 6 About Hazon............................................................................................................ 7 About JOFEE............................................................................................................. 8 About Jewish Community Farming................................................................. 8

Childcare Information.........................................................................................16 Presenter Bios........................................................................................................17 Hampton Creek Sponsorship Information..................................................24 Indigenous People of the Land.......................................................................24 Thank You................................................................................................................26 Maps....................................................................................................................28-31

Schedule Thursday............................................................................................................... 9 Friday...................................................................................................................10 Saturday..............................................................................................................13 Sunday.................................................................................................................15

JOFEE Network Gathering Themes This year’s JOFEE Network Gathering aimed to highlight the new, innovative, and substantial work happening across the JOFEE field.

We are proud to present organizations, individuals, and topics from around the world for communal learning and sharing this weekend.

In order to frame this work we have organized our gathering around the following four themes:

JEWISH NATURE CONNECTION

Showcasing initiatives that engage Jewish people holistically in the context of ecology, the outdoors, and the environment.

HOW JEWS EAT

Exploring the complex, historical, fun, thoughtful, and enigmatic relationship Jewish people have with food from the seed or egg to our mouths.

JEWISH SUSTAINABILITY ACTION, ACTIVISM, AND ADVOCACY Tackling the Jewish response to climate change, unprecedented political occurrences, and educating the next generation in the classroom, from the pulpit, at the JCC, or in the field.

JEWISH COMMUNITY FARMING

Supporting the emerging and ongoing education and engagement of Jewish Farmers and Educators. These sessions are planned by the Jewish Community Farming Field Building Initiative.

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Upcoming JOFEE Events September Hazon, CT: High Holidays Retreat – Sept. 20-Oct. 1 Urban Adamah, CA: High Holidays Celebration – Sept. 20-30 Wilderness Torah, CA: High Holidays Campout – Sept. 20-21; Sept. 29-30 October Hazon, CT: Sukkahfest – Oct. 4-15 Coastal Roots Farm, CA: Sukkot Harvest Festival – Oct. 8 Pearlstone Center, MD: HARVEST Family Farm Festival – Oct. 8 Living Tree Alliance, VT: Sukkot on the Farm: Festival of Impermanence – Oct. 6-8 Urban Adamah, CA: Eat, Pray, Lulav – Oct. 8 Beantown Jewish Gardens, MA: Sukkot Harvest Festival – Oct. 10 Urban Adamah, CA: Settle in the Sukkah (Settlers of Catan Tournament) – Oct. 7 Eden Village Camp, NY: Sukkot Festival – Oct. 8 Wilderness Torah, CA: Sukkot on the Farm – Oct. 5-8 Abundance Farm, MA: Sukkot Harvest Festival – Oct. 8 Ekar Farm, CO: Sukkot Harvest Festival – Oct. 8 Netiya, CA: Food, Faith, and Field Symposium – Oct.29

January Pearlstone Center, MD: Tu B’Shvat Family Farm Festival – Jan. 28 Pearlstone Center, MD: Tu B’Shvat Seder – Jan. 30 March Living Tree Alliance, VT: Our Festival of Joy: Shugar and Shmooze Living Tree Alliance – March 18 Pearlstone Center, MD: Pesach at Pearlstone – March 30-April 8 Hazon, CT: Pesach at Isabella Freedman – March 30-April 8 Abundance Farm, MA: Community Matzah Baking and Maror Harvest April Pearlstone Center, MD: AVIV Family Farm Festival – April 8 Hazon: Sustainable Israel Tour – April 29-May 6 May Living Tree Alliance, VT: Shavuot on the Mountain – May 19-20 Pearlstone Center, MD: Shavuot Beit Midrash – May 18-21 Abundance Farm, MA: Community Volunteer Day – May 6

November Hazon: Israel Ride – Oct. 31- Nov. 7 Hazon, CT: Adva Reunion – Nov. 17 December Hazon, CT: Silent Meditation Retreat – Dec. 24-31

Get social!

Share your pictures and videos on social media with

#JOFEE #JNG #jofeenetworkgathering #Pearlstone @hazonvision @pearlstonecenter

@hazon @Pearlstone5425

/hazon.org /Pearlstone.Center

If you are not on social media but would still like to share your pictures and videos, you can email them to daniel.morchy@hazon.org.

September 14-17, 2017 • Pearlstone Center • JOFEE Network Gathering 5

About Us Pearlstone offers an ideal setting, for both overnight and daytime events. Pearlstone Center promotes environmental awareness by modeling bio-sustainable business practices and facilities management. We also promote inter-group and interfaith exchange and strive to further the missions of other non-profit organizations.

Kashrut Our facility follows the kashrut guidelines put in place by the Orthodox Union (OU). What this means: no outside food or soft beverage is permitted into the Main Building. Any wine/alcohol brought to the main building must be Kosher, unopened and approved upon arrival.

For parents of infants, please have your group leader contact an event coordinator with any questions about baby formula/food.

Guests may bring water bottles and/or travel mugs into the facility, but they are not permitted in our dining rooms.

What is Kashrut?

Kashrut or Kosher means many things to different people.

Generally, the Kosher Law prohibits mixing dairy and meat in a meal.

Meals Meals and meal times have been coordinated by your group leader and our staff.

Meals are typically served buffet style and we ask our guests to help busing their own tables.

Any guest with dietary restrictions or need for special accommodations are encouraged to provide that to their group leader in advance. While on site, any special requirements can be found on the side counter or by speaking with a staff member.

The beverage station is open during all hours the building is open, offering coffee, teas, cold water, and other beverages along with recyclable & compostable cups.

WIFI Free WIFI is accessible to all of our guests and no password is required.

Main Building Hours 7:00 AM-10:30 PM Monday through Sunday 7:00 AM-11:00 PM on Friday and Saturday Transportation Free parking is available during your stay. Transportation options are listed on our website, pearlstonecenter.org We encourage you to use the directions located on our website and not your GPS.

Accommodations Check in is at 3:00 PM and check out is at 10:00 AM. Your room key will be your responsibility while at Pearlstone and if lost or not turned in, a fee of $25 will be charged to the group. Your accommodations have been arranged by the group leader in either our private Guest Rooms, Gardenview Lodge, or Cabins.

Linens, pillows and towels are provided for the duration of your stay. In rooms, guests will find basic toiletries such as soap and shampoo. Daily housekeeping is not provided and there are no TVs or telephones in rooms.

The Pearlstone Farm Our farm embodies healthy and sustainable living through education grounded in Judaism, agriculture, and ecology. The cropland includes certified organically grown vegetables, fruit trees, berries, grains, herbs, flowers, two greenhouses, and educational gardens. Our animal pasture houses goats, chickens and sheep year round where each spring, kids are born. Guests are welcome to walk around the farm and animal pasture (not in fenced area).

General Rules 1. Pearlstone is a kosher facility and laws of Kashrut prohibit any outside food to be consumed in the main building. Any items purchased outside of the facility may be consumed outdoors, in lodging rooms, or in communal lounges.

2. Possession or use of illegal drugs is strictly prohibited.

3. No amplified music in common building areas and public areas and accommodation areas is permitted on Friday sundown through Saturday sundown—weekly.

4. Smoking or using other tobacco products is prohibited in all buildings, meeting rooms, and guestrooms. Smoking is permitted in designated outdoor areas only.

5. Fireworks, scooters and skates are prohibited.

6. No pets/animals are allowed except for certified and trained service animals with notification.

7. Shirts, pants, and shoes are required inside all public areas at all times.

8. The lighting of candles for Jewish religious purposes is permitted in designated areas. All other lighting of candles /incense is prohibited unless approval is provided by the event coordinator.

9. Guests must respect personal and public property. Repair costs for damages incurred to property will be billed to the group responsible for such damages.

10. A zoning law requires that there be no outdoor “organized” program or activities after 11:00 PM on weekdays or after midnight Friday and Saturday. Guests are asked to refrain from making noise in common areas and sleeping rooms between the hours of 11:00 PM and 7:00 AM. 11. Vending or selling merchandise is prohibited in public areas and to persons outside your own group membership.

12. Access may be restricted to certain areas of our property during the summer camp sessions.

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About Hazon JEWISH INSPIRATION. SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES.

The word “hazon,” in Hebrew, means vision.

We work to create a healthier and more sustainable Jewish community, and a healthier and more sustainable world for all.

We are based in New York City and at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, in Falls Village, CT, and we have staff in Colorado and Detroit. We welcome participants, staff members, and board members of all religious backgrounds and none, and we work closely with a wide range of institutions and leaders across the Jewish world.

Our programs are multi-generational and provide entry points for people of all backgrounds who are concerned about the environment and the world. Hazon serves a national and international population; members of every denomination and those who are unaffiliated; intergenerational from children to seniors – including families and singles, with a particular focus on young adults interested in developing the skills to take on leadership roles in their communities and make a difference in the world.

We effect change in three ways: • Transformative Experiences: Immersive multi-day programs that directly touch people’s lives in powerful ways • Thought Leadership: Changing the world through the power of new ideas and fresh thinking, including writing, teaching, curriculum-development, and advocacy • Capacity-Building: Not just working with people as individuals, but explicitly supporting and networking great projects and partners in North America and Israel If you are interested in partnering with Hazon, please email Eli Massel, elisheva.massel@hazon.org.

September 14-17, 2017 • Pearlstone Center • JOFEE Network Gathering 7

About JOFEE

JOFEE stands for Jewish Outdoor, Food, Farming & Environmental Education.

JOFEE experiences connect people to Judaism, community, and the natural world through hands-on, thoughtful, and engaging Jewish programming across ages, backgrounds, and religious approaches. From pre-school to retirement, JOFEE has something for everyone.

Tens of thousands of people engage in JOFEE activities every year, from learning about Jewish harvest rituals, to composting, to eating more sustainably or starting a CSA; from transitioning facilities to greener initiatives, or standing up for our environment, to praying outside. Combining methods from the best environmental and outdoor education training with Jewish learning, wisdom, and traditions, JOFEE programs create entry points to Jewish life and social action across the globe.

The JOFEE Community is made up of farms, camps, schools, advocacy groups, retreat centers, and communal organizations working across the world to create programming which honors our ancestral wisdom and earth-based traditions.

As a community of partners with like-minded values, JOFEE organizations collaborate on a number of field-wide programs, including the JOFEE Fellowship, the JOFEE Network Gathering, the JOFEE Leadership Initiative, and more.

About Jewish Community Farming Over the last two years, building on the evidence of the 2014 JOFEE report, leaders of Jewish farm-centered organizations have moved to identify and define a new field of Jewish Communal Farming (JCF). Initial efforts have developed a working definition of a field of “organizations and communities that use farming, gardening, and food as a means to build Jewish identity, Jewish community, and make the world a more just and sustainable place.”

Building on the these initial efforts, leaders, funders, and field stakeholders have developed an initiative to advance and accelerate the development of this field. The goals of the JCF Field Building Initiative are to: • Support and strengthen existing programs • Develop best practices and tools for emerging programs • Establish a network and communities of practice that will generate broad excitement, understanding, and interest within the Jewish Farming community as well as with funders, community members, and potential partners As part of this larger effort, the JCF Field Building Initiative has partnered with the Jewish Farm School to offer the Jewish Community Farming track at this year’s JOFEE Network Gathering. The JCF track has sessions for farmers and farm educators and is open to all JOFEE Network Gathering participants, but is specifically geared towards enhancing the educational and technical competencies of our Jewish farming organizations.

If you want to learn more about the JCF Field Building Initiative please contact our program manager Jonathan Dubinsky at jonathan.jcffbi@gmail.com.

8 JOFEE Network Gathering • September 14-17, 2017 • Pearlstone Center

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 12:30-1:30 PM Lunch Harvest Dining Hall Enjoy delicious, kosher, farm to table food from the Pearlstone Farm! The Harvest Dining Room is strictly kosher – please leave all water bottles and outside food on the counter just outside the dining room doors.

1:30-2:15 PM Why are we here and what are our goals?

Beit Midrash room Nati Passow & Hannah Slipakoff Welcome to the first Farmer and Educator gathering of the Jewish Community Farming Field Building Initiative (JCF-FBI). Come together to gain a sense of why we’re here, what we’re collectively hoping to get out of the next few days, and how this fits into the wider field building initiative.

2:30-4:15 PM What are Jewish Farming and Jewish Food Justice?

Beit Midrash room Nati Passow & Hannah Slipakoff Many of our organizations and programs highlight the justice component of the Jewish agricultural traditions. And yet we still struggle to articulate a clear approach of how to engage in local, regional, and national food justice efforts. Together we will explore a theory of Jewish agriculture and craft a shared language around doing Jewish food justice work. Please note: This session is both for farmers and educators in the JCF track. We hope to develop a shared language that is relevant to all of us working in the field.

3:15-4:45 PM Re-Wilding Ourselves: The Wild Woman Archetype and JOFEE Front Porch Daniella Aboody Returning to the Wild is more than just being out in nature; It is a deeply personal process of re-wilding oneself from the inside out, and reawakening one’s innate, instinctual wild animal body.

Throughout history and across cultures, women especially have been taught to suppress, conceal and control their wild feminine nature. In this session, we will allow ourselves to unleash and embrace the authentic Wild Woman within each of us. Furthermore, we will examine the presence of the Wild Woman archetype within Judaism and its relevance in the JOFEE movement today. Together we will explore these themes through creative movement and expression, nature connection techniques, and open discourse. All beings and bodies welcome!

4:30-5:00 PM Welcome to the Farm at Pearlstone Beit Midrash room Pearlstone Farm Staff The Farm at Pearlstone is one of the largest and most successful Jewish Community Farms in the country. Meet some of the farm staff, get oriented to the scope and operations of the farm, and harvest some seeds from the local plants.

5:00-5:45 PM Welcome to the JOFEE Network Gathering 2017!

Jubilee room Hannah Henza, Judith Belasco, Jakir Manela, & Steven Green Join us for a warm welcome and introduction to the Gathering.

We will say hello, laugh, and get a better understanding of what to expect over the next few days.

5:45-6:00 PM Parents’ Info Session (Mandatory) Upstairs Lobby If you are participating in childcare come meet our staff, get an availability schedule, and provide important information we might need to care for your young ones.

6:00-7:00 PM Dinner Harvest Dining Hall 6:45-7:10 PM Ma’ariv Vineyard room Elan Margulies Those interested in creating an egalitarian minyan please join us for an evening service.

7:15-8:30 PM The State of the JOFEE Movement Jubilee room Michael Fraade, Becca Gan Levy, Andrew Gurwitz, Nancy Shaw, Judith Belasco (moderator) JOFEE is growing and expanding rapidly. Listen in as four representatives from the field speak with each other about the innovations, opportunities, and challenges that are taking place in JOFEE programming today and as we look toward the future.

8:45 PM Campfire Fire Circle (by the pasture) Yoshi Silverstein, Michal Wetzler, and Joe Murray Join the JOFEE Community for an opening night bonfire! Expect great conversation, good vibes, and music.

September 14-17, 2017 • Pearlstone Center • JOFEE Network Gathering 9

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15 7:30-8:30 AM Animal Care on the Farm Pasture Miki Levran and Sarah Roven Join the Pearlstone JOFEE Fellows in early morning farm chores – gather eggs, milk a goat, and feed some sheep! Appropriate for all ages. Wear closed toe shoes and long pants, if possible.

sages who, from Talmudic times to modern day, investigated the inclusion and the meaning of each plant in order to understand the purpose of the text. The flora of Jewish tradition provide rich metaphors, allegories, symbols, and parables, which can prompt Jewish learning for a wide range of audiences and settings – the garden, farm, camp, classroom, and synagogue. This is a fun interactive session that includes plenty of nosh.

Rise and Shine Yoga Jubilee room Sara Shalva Join Pearlstone’s Assistant Director and certified yoga instructor, Sara Shalva, for an early morning wake up routine. This moderately paced yoga practice is a great way to start your day!

Jewish Infographics and Resources for Sustainability Stone room Leib Kaminsky This session will explore ways to use Jewish ecological infographics to teach Jewish environmental education. We will look at infographics on multiple Jewish environmental topics developed

by Jewish Eco Seminars (JES), based on articles and source sheets developed by Jewcology and Canfei Nesharim.

Avodat Lev Fire Circle Shani Mink and Mira Menyuk This morning service is a unique blend of renewal and egalitarian melodies sung together to welcome the new day. It loosely follows the format of a traditional minyan.

Traditional Egalitarian Shacharit Service Beit Midrash room Abby Woloff We will gather together to welcome the new day in this traditional egalitarian minyan.

8:00-9:00 AM Breakfast Harvest Dining Hall JCF Member Organization Breakfast – CLOSED SESSION Orchard room Breakfast for organizations actively involved in the JCF field building initiative.

9:00-10:15 AM Engaging Young Adults through Jewish Food Vineyard room Paul Entis Getting involved in the Jewish community is a valuable way for young adults to connect with Jewish values as they network socially, professionally and philanthropically. In this session we’ll discuss how to use Jewish food as a tool to meet your organization’s goals. Together we’ll talk about how Jewish food can engage young people through volunteer service, social gatherings, food justice conversations, recipe sharing, holiday meals and reality-style competitions.

Edible Judaism: Discovering the Flora of the Torah Deck Rabbi Bill Kaplan Come experience the “Edible Judaism” educational model. Flora and nature imagery permeate the Torah with over 100 plants mentioned by name. We will explore the commentaries of our

Looking at the Hazon Seal of Sustainability Orchard Room Rachel Aronson and Brittany Feldman How can you take what you’ve learned at the JOFEE Network Gathering and make your Jewish organization healthier and more sustainable?

Where would you begin? How can you overcome common hurdles?

Jewish greening leaders will share their experiences in Hazon’s Seal of Sustainability, a certification for Jewish institutions that marks them as good stewards in regards to climate change, animal welfare, and the environment. Find out how to join the next cohort of the Seal, and create a plan to improve your organization’s sustainability.

Sustainability beginners and experts welcome!

Farmers – Running a Mission Driven Farm: Integrating Judaism, Justice, and Sustainability Beit Midrash room Becca Gan Levy, Shamu Sadeh, Ayelet Singer, Greg Strella, and Hannah Slipakoff (moderator) As Jewish Community Farms, our projects have several different goals; producing healthy and sustainably grown food, connecting young people to the land, engaging with local and regional food justice issues, and many more. How do we balance these different intentions and embody our missions in the physical design of our farms and spaces. Learn from four exciting JCF projects.

Educators – Jewish Calendar Activity Earth room Nili Simhai, Jacob Fine, and Rose Chernoff This session will present an activity (and new tool!) that is designed to ground the various individuals at your Jewish institutions in the holidays and the flow of the year – natural, agricultural, personal, school year, etc. It also teaches the relationship between the rhythms of this land and Israel, and fosters interest in each other’s work and worldview.

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FRIDAY, SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 15 10:30-11:45 AM Integrating Israel into the JOFEE World Vineyard room Michal Wetzler Together we will learn and practice how to bring Israeli values and culture into the JOFEE world through a reflection of Michal’s year of action as “Shlicha” at Pearlstone Center. In this past year of shlichut it has become clear that there is a natural relationship between Jewish outdoor education and the Israeli values of exploration, love of nature, and connection to land as indigenous people.

Creating Ethical Food Policy that Can Change Public Policy – a JIFA Session Orchard room Melissa Hoffman and Sarah Chandler In this session you’ll learn about how creating an ethical food policy – what some are calling community food covenants – at your local Jewish institution can help create a better future for global agriculture and build community. Learn about past victories that have improved the lives of many animals and how to duplicate them!

Natural Dying and Papermaking with Local Plants Deck Rachel Asarnow Join this session and learn how to turn local plants into paper using the richness of place-based Torah teachings. We’ll process plants that we cooked into pulp and form it into sheets of paper using both Asian and Western techniques. We will combine some pulps we’ve made with purchased pre-made pulps. We’ll also learn about ways to decorate, press and dry handmade paper. You may get wet as papermaking involves water.

Farmers – Budgeting, Financial Management, and Revenue Generation Beit Midrash room Greg Strella and Janna Siller Jewish Community Farms rely on a range of income streams, from grants and donations, to produce sales and program fees. Learn about how the Farm at Pearlstone and Adamah manage their finances and have the chance to workshop some of your own financial questions.

Educators – Building Community Partnerships: Working Across Race, Class, and Religious Lines Earth room Devorah Brous, Bill Kaplan, Nati Passow, and Hannah Slipakoff Many JCF initiatives have found that they have been able to expand their impact and engage a wider audience through a variety of partnerships. Learn how three organizations have utilized these types of collaborations to work across race, class, and religious lines, and how being intentional and strategic is essential for success.

12:00-1:00 PM Lunch Harvest Dining Hall Join your small groups for a personal debrief and check-in – tables will be marked in the dining hall.

Hazon Seal of Sustainability Table Harvest Dining Hall Rachel Aronson If you represent a Seal of Sustainability Site, meet Rachel Aronson at the marked table for a check-in and catch up over lunch!

1:15-2:30 PM JOFEE and Advocacy Orchard room Rachel Aronson, Joan Plisko, and Sue Salinger In addition to learning about and starting programs related to food, farming, environmental health, and sustainability, many individuals and communities are ready to speak up. Learn how JOFEE organizations advocate for issues that they care about, from public health, to renewable energy, to climate change, to a safe and secure food system. Leave with tools to start advocating with your JOFEE community.

Colorado – Organizing Together – Closed Session Vineyard room Becky O’Brien If you live or work in Colorado be sure to attend this communal organizing session.

Betzalel’s Workshop Palm room Elan Margulies Jewish communities have created their own ritual objects for millennia. Together we will use craft and creativity to build meaningful Jewish experiences. Participants will work on a project to take home.

Hitbodedut: Talking the Walk and Walking the Talk Stone room Rabbi Psachyah Lichtenstein Come explore the unstructured, spontaneous and individualized form of Jewish prayer and meditation, Sitting, standing or walking?

Talking, singing, or in silence? In a synagogue, in your room, or in the field? Let’s talk about Hitbodedut – practical advice, deep history, and it’s connection to JOFEE. As Rebbe Nachman says “When a person meditates in the fields, all the grasses join in his prayer and increase its effect and power.”

The Many Faces of JOFEE: How We Weave Our Work Into Traditional Community Centers Deck Nicole Cruz and Ryan Kaplan Join a current and form JOFEE Fellow, as they share their experiences bringing JOFEE work into more traditional Jewish communal organizations.

FRIDAY, SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 15 1:15-2:30 PM

2:45-4:00 PM

Farmers – Farming Techniques Part 1 Beit Midrash room Becca Gan Levy, Janna Siller, and Greg Strella Gather with other JCF farmers to learn and share best practices.

This session will focus on crop planning, no-till production, and harvesting and processing

Farmers – Farming Techniques Part 2: Application/Specific Skills Beit Midrash room Shamu Sadeh and Hannah Slipakoff Part 2 of the Farming Techniques will look at livestock and pest management, and will also include some time for less formal sharing of questions and answers with other JCF farmers.

Educators – Experiential Farm-Based Activities Round Robin Earth room Maya Havusha, Sarah Rovin, and Michal Wetzler This session will introduce two activities that connect the farm to key Jewish rituals. A “boreh pre hagafen” activity will have participants harvest grapes, press them into grape juice, and discuss why grape juice and wine is so important to the Jewish people. The “Hamotzi” program entails winnowing, threshing and grinding wheat from our farm while exploring the relationship between bread, Judaism, and blessing.

2:45-4:00 PM How Do You Talk to Kids About Eating Animals – a JIFA Session Stone room Melissa Hoffman and Margot Sands What role does Jewish humane education play in JOFEE? JIFA and JOFEE educators will share their process for implementing the newest programs and tools in Jewish communities seeking to build more compassionate, sustainable future generations. Learn, by example, how you can bring these programs to your own communities, families, and students!

Forest School at Pearlstone Front Porch Mira Menyuk and Joe Murray Long ago native peoples all over the world lived in harmony with the earth. The landscape was their supermarket and the natural world around them was their intimate friend. Come hear about how Forest School and Tiyul programs at the Pearlstone Center are recreating this model in our youth today. Learn from the past and what we are doing now.

“Taking it Out, Bringing it In” (building nature curriculum for toddlers – 5 year olds) Vineyard room Johanna Perlin Nature is bountiful! There are shapes, sizes, colors, and textures, smells, and tastes; an enormous variety of substances. In a world of catalogs and consumable objects, designed spaces and programmed activities, sometimes it helps to remember that the natural world is already full of multi-dimensional, powerful education opportunities for children.

Children need the experiences and challenges nature presents to develop skills that will carry them into adulthood. Our Jewish texts are grounded in nature. Our souls need the day-to-day appreciation for the miracle of the world. Investigate intriguing nature-inspired outdoor and indoor classrooms then add a Jewish lens.

Educators – 8 Shields Program Design Lab Earth Room Aya Baron This interactive workshop will explore Wilderness Torah’s pedagogical approach to program design and provide participants with an opportunity to apply this model to creative Jewish farmbased activities.

4:15-5:30 PM Shabbat Prep and Community Building 5:45 PM Communal Candle Lighting Jubilee room Rabbi Lee Moore Meet for a communal candle lighting service with a few words of wisdom and Torah.

5:55-7:00 PM Communal Egalitarian Maariv Service Jubilee room Maggid Zelig Golden This egalitarian service will blend traditional prayers with JOFEE style melodies and musicality. Join us as we welcome Shabbat together, as one community.

7:00-7:45 PM Dinner Harvest Dining Hall 8:00-9:30 PM Torah Lishma Jubilee room Laura Bellows, Maggid Zelig Golden, Nili Simchai, Sara Shalva (moderator) Join us for a communal Torah learning session – educators from around the country come together to share their perspective on Earth-based Torah and the place it holds in their lives.

9:30 PM Tisch Beit Midrash room Join us Shabbat evening for singing, Torah, and spiritual community building.

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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 8:30-9:30 AM Breakfast Harvest Dining Hall 9:30-11:00 AM Morning Yoga Practice Jubilee room Sara Shalva Join Pearlstone’s Assistant Director and certified yoga instructor, Sara Shalva, for an early morning wake up routine. This moderately paced yoga practice is a great way to start your day!

Animal Chores on the Farm Pasture Miki Levran and Sarah Rovin Join the Pearlstone JOFEE Fellows in morning farm chores – gather eggs, milk a goat and feed some sheep! Appropriate for all ages.

Traditional Egalitarian Shacharit Service Beit Midrash room Abby Woloff We will gather together to welcome the new day in this traditional egalitarian minyan.

11:00-11:30 AM Kiddush Front Lobby 11:45 AM-12:45 PM Lunch Harvest Dining Hall Join your small groups for a personal debrief and check-in – tables will be marked in the dining hall.

1:00-2:30 PM Gender and the JOFEE Movement Jubilee room Judith Belasco, Devorah Brous, Becca Gan Levy, Shamu Sadeh, Joanna Ware (Moderator) It isn’t often talked about but it is often thought about – join us for this powerful conversation about the role gender plays in the JOFEE space and how the field is responding.

2:45-3:45 PM Pearlstone Master Plan Tour Front Porch Jakir Manela Pearlstone Center is embarking on a multi-year master plan – join Pearlstone Director, Jakir Manela, on a tour of the property and get a sense of where they are headed!

2:45-3:45 PM See, Smell, Touch, Taste, and Feel Your Way into a Meaningful New Year Deck Becky O’Brien Enjoy an outdoors Shabbat walk and use all five senses to awaken your mind and spirit to the abundance and diversity of nature around us while connecting it all to themes of the upcoming holiday season. We’ll also spend some time exploring the uberflexible idea of the “five senses” as a thematic core around which a variety of programs can be designed for all ages, budgets, time frames, and times of year. Come as you are and leave personally refreshed, with a new resource in your JOFEE toolbox!

Meet the Trees Front Hill Elan Margulies Come explore the forest for the trees! Join us on a gentle walk to hear well-rooted legends and hone your tree identification skills in this outdoor workshop.

Ultimate Frisbee – pick-up game Fire Circle Pick up a disc and enjoy your afternoon with friends new and old.

4:00-5:15 PM Beit Midrash Learning Jubilee room Michael Fraade, Maggid Zelig Golden, Rabbi Lee Moore, Nati Passow Start as one community and break out into smaller groups of Torah study based on your interest. This earth-based study session will include lessons on Animal Welfare and Kashrut, Shmita, and beyond.

5:20-6:15 PM Sudah Shlishit Harvest Dining Hall 6:15-7:45 PM Walking on Eggshells? Not us! Challenging Conversations for the JOFEE Movement Jubilee room Cara Silverburg, Michal Wetzler, and Nati Passow (Moderator) When it comes to topics like Israel, gender equity or social justice, sometimes we avoid engaging in deep and honest conversations.

In this interactive session, we will name uncomfortable yet important issues within the JOFEE movement. In particular, we will explore concepts of Jewish indigeneity, how Israel relates to our Jewish identities and work, and how recognizing the global context of colonization that JOFEE operates within can provide meaningful avenues for aligning our values and ideals with our movement work. Our goal is not to solve the world’s problems, but rather to collectively and bravely pose questions that may open the door to future conversations.

September 14-17, 2017 • Pearlstone Center • JOFEE Network Gathering 13

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 7:45-8:00 PM Community Havdalah with the JOFEE Fellows Jubilee room

10:00-11:00 PM Selichot Beit Midrash room Rabbi Jacob Fine The mood of repentance becomes more urgent as the month of Elul nears its end. Please join us in these prayers of divine forgiveness and reflection.

8:00-9:00 PM Hot Snack Main Lobby 9:00 PM Campfire Fire Circle Jakir Manela In addition to having a great time, we will be holding space in order to continue conversations that started throughout the day - if you felt something was left unsaid, you need to dive deeper, or you are just looking to unwind and relax join our community bonfire – there is no better way to say goodbye to Shabbat than around a campfire.

Climate on the Bimah Pearlstone is one of over fifty faith communities in this region that are raising up climate justice and environmental sustainability this weekend as participants in Climate in the Pulpits Maryland, a program of Interfaith Power & Light (DC. MD.NoVA) and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.

In Maryland, please join us to speak out for the Maryland Clean Energy Jobs campaign, which will expand and strengthen our state’s renewable energy law: www.ipldmv.org.

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SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17 7:30-8:30 AM Animal Care on the Farm Pasture Miki Levran and Sarah Roven Join the Pearlstone JOFEE Fellows in early morning farm chores – gather eggs, milk a goat and feed some sheep! Appropriate for all ages.

Rise and Shine Yoga Jubilee room Sara Shalva Join Pearlstone’s Assistant Director and certified yoga instructor, Sara Shalva, for an early morning wake up routine. This moderately paced yoga practice is a great way to start your day!

Avodat Lev Fire Circle Zach Goldberg and Mira Menyuk This morning service is a unique blend of renewal and egalitarian melodies sung together to welcome the new day. It loosely follows the format of a traditional minyan.

Traditional Egalitarian Shacharit Service Beit Midrash room Abby Woloff We will gather together to welcome the new day in this traditional egalitarian minyan.

7:45-9:00 AM Gender Equity Focus Group – CLOSED SESSION Orchard room 8:00-9:00 AM Breakfast Harvest Dining Hall 9:15-10:15 AM Connecting with Preschoolers Vineyard room Amanda Glucklich and Josh Kleymeyer We will explore the many ways infants through 5-year-olds learn and you will leave with some simple tools to create educational Jewish animal & agricultural programming with or without the farm! Get ready to get your hands dirty.

9:15-10:15 AM Ecological Curriculum Planning Beit Midrash room Abrah Dresdale The Ecological Curriculum Planning session brings cycles of learning together with cycles of nature, and maps them onto the ancient Hebraic framework of arba ruchot, or four winds. Together, we will learn this curriculum design approach for creating earth-based, connective, and transformative experiences. This methodological approach lends itself to planning Jewish environmental programs as well as developing social justice advocacy projects.

Jewish Community Farming in North America – Past, Present, Future Earth room Scott Hertzber, Shani Mink, and Sarah Seldin The emerging Jewish Community Farming field draws from many sources of inspiration, including the rich history of the American Jewish farming colonies. Though most of us know that Judaism is an agrarian tradition linking back to biblical times, the history of American Jewish farms from the 19th and 20th centuries is often forgotten. Come learn about the history of Jewish Agricultural Society, the contemporary Jewish farming movement, and the upand-coming Jewish Farmer Network.

10:30-11:45 AM Open Space Discussion Jubilee room Facilitated by Aya Baron We covered a lot of topics this weekend at JNG - this is your chance to dive deeper into various aspects of previous conversations or bring up new topics you wish we had discussed. Our conversation will be led in an “Open Space” format – allowing us to break into smaller groups for audience suggested topics.

12:00-12:30 PM Closing Circle Jubilee Room 12:30-1:30 PM Lunch Harvest Dining Hall Pack-out will be available. Join your small groups for a final debrief and check-in – tables will be marked in the dining hall.

Advocating for Food Justice in Our Communities Stone room Michael Fraade Access to fresh food is a basic human right—so how can we help ensure that our neighbors always have it? In this session we will examine some strategies that the Louisville JCC has used to create meaningful food justice-centered partnerships and think about ways that our communities can address their own food-related needs. We will also study Jewish sources on the subject and share our food stories with each other.

September 14-17, 2017 • Pearlstone Center • JOFEE Network Gathering 15

Childcare Information This year we are pleased to welcome some of our youngest JOFEE community members to the Network Gathering. While this is very exciting, we need to share a few things that will help keep everyone safe and having lots of fun.

First things first - if you see a child wandering around by themselves (who is clearly not part of a game, or otherwise with direction) look for one of our staff members. They will be clearly identified by either a Hazon t-shirt or a Hazon name-tag. Please be respectful of the roll our staff have in not only keeping our children safe, but also making this conference run smoothly. Should you find a child but not a staff member, please walk with your new friend to the main Pearlstone office.

Our team is joined this weekend by Sunny Cooper and Annie Jones – both long-time environmental educators and both first-aid certified.

Sunny Cooper is a trained and seasoned youth-based environmental educator. She has worked in both classroom and field-based settings with youth and adults of all ages. Sunny specializes in animal care and education with birds-of-prey and reptiles, having worked at the Cosa River Science School, the Carolina Raptor Center, and currently with Wildlife Rehab Inc of North Carolina. In her other life, Sunny works as a front-end supervisor for Whole Foods in Charlotte, NC. She holds a B.S. in Biology as well as a B.S. in Environmental Studies with an Environmental Education certification from Warren Wilson College.

Annie Jones has worked as an early-child and youth educator for over 10 years. She specializes in taking indoor activities outside and bringing life lessons to any situation. Annie has worked for summer camps, religious schools, daycares, and more all while sharing her incredible spark for life. Annie is also a Certified Plant Professional currently residing in Black Mountain, NC where she manages and operates Mellie’s Garden Shop.

She is completing a B.A. in Religious Studies from Transylvania University.

Childcare Schedule Follow the signs for Childcare, located just outside the main building.

Thursday 5:45-6:00 pm, Upstairs Lobby – MANDATORY info session 7:00-8:45 pm Friday 9:00-11:45 am 1:15-4:00 pm 8:00-9:30 pm Saturday 9:30-11:00 am 1:00-2:30 pm 4:00-5:15 pm 6:15-7:45 pm Sunday 9:00-11:45 am

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Presenter Bios Daniella Aboody is an alumni of the JOFEE Fellowship and works as a Youth Mentor with Wilderness Torah in the Bay Area. She carries a deep love of community building, Earthconnection, movement and expression, and Jewish spirituality. She is particularly passionate about connecting others to the natural world and to their own sense of creativity, exploration, wildness and wonder. Daniella is an alumni of the Urban Adamah fellowship, and holds a BA in International Development and Dance from UC Berkeley.

Rachel Aronson serves as the Manager of Greening Initiatives at Hazon. She is an educator, dialogue facilitator, and nature lover living in Brooklyn. Previously she has worked for Resetting the Table, where she worked to open conversation about Israel across differences on college campuses. Rachel is a former Emerson National Hunger Fellow and has a Bachelor of Arts in cultural anthropology and environmental studies from the University of Vermont. She is thrilled to be part of the first JOFEE cohort!

Rachel Asarnow is an artist, teacher and organic gardener. She works with people of all ages and focuses on community building and being creative while caring for the environment. She is based in the NY/ NJ area and spends a lot of time in Massachusetts as well.

Aya Baron serves as the Wilderness Torah Youth Programs Manager. Previously, Aya worked as an educator and program designer at Urban Adamah and Eden Village. She is particularly passionate about cultivating a regenerative Jewish culture, developing programming to honor rites of passage for youth, and working with young girls. Aya holds a degree in Contemplative Education from Brown University and a certificate in herbal medicine from the California School of Herbal Studies.

Judith Belasco is the acting CEO and Chief Program Officer at Hazon. She leads the incredible team that runs all of Hazon’s programs, including JOFEE, retreats at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, Teva, Adamah, Hazon Seal of Sustainability, Siach, food programs, and more. Prior to joining Hazon, Judith was the Program Coordinator at Linking Food & the Environment (LiFE) at Teacher’s College, Columbia University. Judith is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and graduated with a Masters of Science in Nutrition and Public Health from Columbia University and holds a Bachelors degree in Urban Studies from Vassar College. Judith lives in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY with her husband and two children.

Laura Bellows is an emerging leader in the field of Jewish environmental and justice education.

After nearly 15 years as an educator, organizer, and advocate for just communities, she is now pursuing rabbinic ordination at Hebrew College (class of 2018). Previously, Laura served as Director of Congregational and Community Programs for the Teva Learning Alliance, building relationships with congregations nationally to promote environmental justice, respond to global climate change, and inspire transformative Jewish education. She has taught and worked with the National Havurah Committee, Jewish Farm School, Hazon, Limmud, Brandeis Collegiate Institute, Prozdor, and AVODAH, and continues to teach courses on art, justice and spirituality at schools and congregations in the Boston area.

Laura holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Oberlin College. When not immersed in Torah study, Laura enjoys exploring the Torah of the world through music, pottery, puppets and her bicycle.

Devorah Brous is a community organizer with two Masters degrees in Development Studies and Israel Studies from Hebrew University and has been trained extensively in facilitation, mediation, and nonviolent communication.

She immigrated to Israel and lived there for 15 years, where she organized on the front lines as the founder of Bustan (orchard), a Jewish/ Bedouin civil rights and environmental justice NGO. Since moving to LA in 2008, she became a UC Master Gardener, a Food Preserver, a certified Composter, and she became certified in Bio-intensive gardening and Permaculture design. Devorah is passionate about fermenting and canning homegrown food; aquaponics; and wildcrafting medicine for family and friends. She speaks Hebrew and Arabic and believes in the power of the land to bring us all together. She lives with her husband Laurence Weber; their two little wizards, Sela and Zeke; and seven happy hens.

Sarah Chandler is the CCO (Chief Compassion Officer) and team leader at Jewish Initiative for Animals (JIFA) where she works to support Jewish institutions to establish meaningful food policies rooted in Jewish ethics and animal welfare. She previously served as the Director of Earth Based Spiritual Practice for Hazon’s Adamah Farm and teaches, writes, and consults on a national level on issues related to Judaism, the environment, mindfulness, food values, and farming.

Rose Cherneff serves as the Farm Manager for Abundance Farm. Rose got her start in the farming world as a teenager working at The Food Project in Boston, MA. Since then she has worked for a variety of educational and production farms throughout New England including Sawyer Farm – a horse powered CSA, Villageside Farm – a diversified vegetable operation, and Rebel Hill Farm- a native and perennial plant nursery. Rose is interested in the ways in which farming and land-based relationships can help bring people together, and how connecting with each other can help us connect to the land.

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Presenter Bios Nicole Cruz is the Youth & Family Program Manager at the Peninsula Jewish Community Center in Foster City, CA. She was a part of the first cohort of the JOFEE Fellowship and continues to infuse JOFEE into her work at the JCC. Abrah Dresdale, M.A.L.D., is a social permaculture educator/consultant, faculty at University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and holds a Master’s Degree in Sustainable Landscape Design. She has taught workshops at Brandeis Summer Programs, Moishe House, Teva Seminar, Wilderness Torah, Jewish Farm School, and Siach Vision 2022 on topics ranging from ecological curriculum planning to Jewish rites of passage to the Hebrew calendar and its agricultural traditions. Currently, she’s writing “The Social Permaculture Guidebook.”

Paul Entis directs the Jewish Food Experience®, an initiative of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. He’s worked in the nonprofit world for 20 years as a fundraiser, event planner, administrator and program director. Paul served as the Site Director for AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps’ DC program and Hillel Director at the University of Southern California and UMass/ Amherst. He is interested in food as a social justice issue and volunteers at N Street Village helping prepare nutritious meals for the agency’s clients.

Brittany Feldman is the Program Coordinator for Environmental and Outdoor Engagement at Hazon Detroit. In her role she works to connect a wide range of age groups to the city of Detroit through outdoor adventure programming. She also works on the Seal of Sustainability program which is currently helping 10 Metro-Detroit Jewish institutions become healthier and more sustainable. Prior to joining Hazon, she worked as an Outdoor Educator at a summer camp and a Program Coordinator at a Nature Center. In her spare time she enjoys biking, kayaking, and cooking.

Rabbi Jacob Fine serves as the Director of Abundance Farm and Director of Jewish Life at Congregation B’nai Israel in Northampton MA. For the past 15 years Jacob has worked and taught in the field of Jewish environmental and agricultural education. He has served as a rabbi and educator for a number of leading Jewish environmental organizations including Teva, Adamah, Hazon and the Jewish Farm School. A Wexner Graduate Fellow and former Rabbi and Assistant Director at Hillel at the University of Washington (2007-2011), Jacob was ordained as a rabbi from the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies where he also received a M.A. in Rabbinic Studies. Jacob is a graduate of Vassar College where he received a B.A. in environmental studies and religion. Jacob has authored widely used curriculum including “Jewish Food Rules: Principles of a Contemporary Jewish Food Ethic,” and teaches widely on issues related to Judaism, ecology and food justice.

Michael Fraade is the JOFEE Director at the Louisville JCC, where he manages the J’s garden, runs educational programs, and coordinates the Gendler Grapevine Fresh Stop Market at the J, a sliding scale local produce market, with local nonprofit New Roots. His work has included creating community partnerships with other Louisville organizations, including within the Jewish and interfaith community, to organize around JOFEE and food justice. His favorite vegetable is okra.

Becca Gan Levy is the Farm and Sustainability Director at the Boulder JCC where she takes care of the goats, chickens, bees, vegetables, and fruit trees at Milk and Honey Farm. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Washington University in St Louis, she started working on Jewish community farms, combining her technical skills with her love for food, nature, and tradition. She has a Certificate in Ecological Horticulture from UC Santa Cruz and has a Masters Degree in Agriculture, Food, and the Environment from Tufts University. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family in the CO outdoors, performing domestic chemistry experiments, and sharing her knowledge with her community.

Amanda Glucklich entered the JOFEE world as an Adamah Fellow in the Spring of 2013. She is excited to continue her journey as a Jewish outdoor, food, and farm educator by working as the Youth Farm Educator at Milk & Honey Farm, at the Boulder JCC. She has worked for 15 years as a cook and in the last few years has honed her skills in farming and homesteading. Amanda seeks to teach the world about her passion – food, and how we can use it to connect to our Jewish ancestors and their roles as agriculturalists.

She is thrilled to join the Boulder Jewish community after living as a Moishe House resident for the last two years in Denver, CO. In her free time you can find her organizing community, cooking, tending to her herbal medicinal garden, and trying to convince someone to start making their own pickles instead of buying them from the store.

Zach Goldberg is a former JOFEE Fellow and current MS Candidate in Geography at Penn State University, where he is accessing the rich cultural knowledge and plant diversity around the world, such as in Morocco, Ethiopia, and Israel. Previously, Zach has worked as educator at Eden Village Camp, Ramah in the Rockies, and Congregation Bonai Shalom. His JOFEE roots even go back to McGill University, where he organized students groups, including the Ghetto Shul and The Shefa Project. He hopes to remain engaged in the JOFEE community through attending retreats like the network gathering and sharing his passion for farming.

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Zelig Golden holds a Masters in Jewish Studies from the Graduate Theological Union and will soon receive rabbinic ordination through ALEPH, supported by the prestigious Wexner Graduate Fellowship. Zelig was ordained Maggid

by Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi ztz”l. He previously worked as an environmental lawyer protecting food and farms and has long guided groups into the wilderness. His vision for a thriving, earth-based Jewish tradition developed out of a lifetime of nature connection, Jewish leadership, and commitment to environmental advocacy. Zelig invokes mentorship, facilitation, and ceremonial tools to guide an annual cycle of land-based festivals, nature-based rites of passage, and mentorship for emerging leaders.

Steven Green is Director of Grants Management/ Program Officer for the Jim Joseph Foundation and has been working for the Foundation since June 2011. His focus at the Foundation includes facilitating grantmaking operations, management of the administrative team, external budget review and analysis, and a portfolio of grants.

Andrew Gurwitz is the Associate Director of Eden Village Camp where he leads operations, visioning, and strategy. He directs Eden Village’s sustainability and food initiatives and manages Eden Village’s strategic and new initiatives, which include Eden Village’s new summer camp in California (opening in 2018) and the Jewish Community Farming Field Building Initiative. He has a variety of experience in camp, non-profit, operational, and startup environments, including helping launch the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda, co-founding a technology start-up, and consulting for several new businesses and non-profits. He graduated from the University of California Berkeley.

Maya Havusha is California girl through and through, Maya is making her East Coast debut this summer at Eden Village Camp. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Maya knew she needed a lifestyle change and found herself drawn to the Bay Area and UC Santa Cruz where she received her B.A. in Environmental Studies and discovered a love for outdoor experiential education.

Having spent nine summers growing and learning as a camper and staff member at Jewish summer camp in Southern California, she feels there is nothing more rewarding than experiences shared at camp.

Her curiosity, spontaneity and free-spirited nature have allowed this social butterfly to flutter through many fields, from farm and garden educator to coffee professional to restaurant manager in San Francisco and finally landing as Program Director at Eden Village. Maya is giddy and excited by this new chapter in her life and still can’t get over the fact that fireflies are actually real.

Hannah Henza is the JOFEE Program Manager at Hazon. She works to collaboratively build the JOFEE filed, specifically leading and directing the JOFEE Network Gathering, the JOFEE Leaders Institute, and supporting the JOFEE Fellowship. Previously Hannah has worked in non-profit event management and fundraising for a variety of different organizations including the Greensboro Jewish Federation. She holds a B.A. in Anthropology from North Carolina State University and is pursuing a M.S. in Nonprofit Management from Gratz College. She lives in a tiny house on wheels in Greensboro, North Carolina with her husband and cat.

Scott Hetzberg owns Jug Bay Market Garden, a small organic family farm in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Just 20 miles from Washington, DC, the farm grows a wide variety of vegetables, cut flowers, herbs and berries.

Melissa Hoffman is the Humane Education and Program Specialist at JIFA where she works with Jewish institutions and communities to develop materials and programs that foster compassion, respect, and responsibility for all living beings.

She earned her M.S. in Animals and Public Policy from Tufts University, has worked extensively as a cantorial soloist and Jewish educator, and is an animal care volunteer at the International Bird Rescue in California.

Leib J. Kaminsky works with nonprofit conservation organizations and social justice groups assisting them in building partnerships.

He received his BA from the University of Pennsylvania in Environmental Science and Master’s Degree in Environmental Education from the University of Michigan, and has worked with urban youth in the outdoors for more than 25 years. He is on the advisory council for Avodah and consults for Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development (ICSD), Eshel, YLACES (Youth Learning as Citizen Environmental Scientists), and MobilizeGreen.

Ryan Kaplan is the Birthright Israel Engagement Associate and one of two JOFEE Fellows located at Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. Ryan grew up in the Atlanta Jewish community and attended Georgia State University, where he graduated with a B.B.A. in Marketing. Ryan is also a Birthright Israel Fellow, has staffed 5 Birthright Israel trips, and has traveled to Israel a total of 7 times. Ryan is incredibly passionate about experiential education and is looking forward to bringing sustainability and healthy living to the Jewish young professional community in Atlanta.

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Presenter Bios Rabbi Bill Kaplan is the Executive Director of Shalom Institute, a year-round experiential Jewish education and retreat center located on 220 acres in Malibu, Ca. and the home of the Shemesh Organic Farm and Camp JCA Shalom, a JCC overnight and day camp. Bill is entering his 28th year with Shalom Institute, a year-round center that provides high quality experiential retreats, camps, and programs, for the community and for synagogues, day schools, JCCs, Jewish federations, and other Jewish communal institutions. As an educator, Bill uses nature and biblical gardens creatively to teach Torah, Israel, ecology, Jewish culture, holidays, and history in a model he calls “Edible Judaism”. Bill has a BA from Wesleyan University, an MBA in Non-Profit Management from American Jewish University, and his rabbinical ordination from the Academy For Jewish Religion in Los Angeles.

Josh Kleymyer is the JOFEE Manager and Young Professional Manger at the Mayerson JCC in Cincinnati Ohio. He is part of the programming team there and fully focused on JOFEE related programs for all ages. He has extensive experience working at summer camps and afterschool programs within the Jewish communal world and holds a B.A in Fine Arts Graphic Design and Sculpture from Ohio University. Prior to joining the JCC, Josh worked as a professional brewer in Cincinnati, where he still lives with his wife.

Miki Levran was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and is excited to pack up her things and join the Pearlstone team in Baltimore. Her passion for Jewish outdoor education quickly stemmed as she attended Tamarack Camps, a Jewish summer camp, while growing up. When the time came, she knew it was inevitable for her to become a camp counselor. Miki was also an outdoor educator at Tamarack Camps, where she led adventure and wilderness courses to visiting school and corporate groups. She has led multiple teen travel trips hiking and backpacking through the National Parks of the American East and West, Alaska and Canada. Miki graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in African Studies and a minor in Environmental and Sustainable Studies and went on a six week study abroad program in Tanzania. Miki loves to travel, hike and explore the streets, food and nature of cities around the world!

Rabbi Psachyah Lichtenstein is a dedicated teacher, farmer, and artist. He serves as Creative Director at the Pearlstone Center outside of Baltimore, MD. Psachyah has been teaching Jewish mysticism and mentoring for over 20 years. He homesteads in a restored log cabin hewn in 1764 with his best friend and wife Kalilah, along with their 7 children, 11 goats, 5 sheep, 35 chickens, 14 ducks, 2 rabbits, 3 border collies, and 1 goose.

Jakir Manela is a Teva-trained JOFEE educator, Executive Director of the Pearlstone Center, and Hazon board member. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 2004 and has worked as a Jewish environmental educator and nonprofit leader ever since. After founding Kayam Farm at Pearlstone in 2006, Jakir now leads the amazing Pearlstone team engaging over 20,000 annual participants in immersive retreats, sustainable agriculture, dynamic Jewish education, and community sustainability initiatives. Jakir lives just up the road from Pearlstone with his wife, Nets, and their four sons.

Elan Margulies is the Director of Education for Hazon. Elan aims to inspire joy and reverence for the natural world by introducing students to earth-based Jewish traditions and the wonders right outside their door. In his free time, he enjoys finding wild edibles, brewing ginger beer and working with wood and metal Mira Menyuk is Lead Educator at the Pearlstone Center. Mira enjoys teaching on the farm and in the forest and has been teaching in the field of Jewish education for the last 5 years.

Shani Mink was first introduced to the world of JOFEE education at Eden Village where she worked as a farm educator. Shani has been working in agriculture five years, including management of her campus community garden, completion of a Permaculture design course at Hava vi’ Adam, and participation in the ADAMAH fellowship. She was a pioneer in the very first cohort of the JOFEE fellowship in which she worked at both Pushing the Envelope Farm and right here at the Pearlstone Center. After finishing the fellowship, Shani took on the role of farm steward in which she tends the fields and cares for Pearlstone’s furry and feathered friends. When she is not farming, Shani is working with her good friend Sarah Seldin to fill the need for an inclusive, international network of Jewish Farmers. Shani is passionate about Jewish environmental education and is excited to see how the Jewish Farmer Network will change the landscape of Jewish life.

Rabbi Lee Moore is Director of Jewish and Organizational Learning for Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah. She holds an MS in Environmental Policy from the University of Michigan – where her thesis addressed Shabbat as an Environmentally Sustainable Institution – and a BA in Religious Studies from Wesleyan University. Prior to becoming a rabbi, Lee worked in the fields of organizational development and spiritual retreat production, spent many moons living and studying in Israel and recorded Rava d’Ravin, an album of Hebrew and English chants.

Lee was ordained in 2010 from the Hebrew College Rabbinical School and has been with LKFLT ever since. She has especially contributed to the foundation’s shift toward a Living Torah approach, contributing

20 JOFEE Network Gathering • September 14-17, 2017 • Pearlstone Center

conceptual work on models like Jewish Sensibilities and developed the Jewish Sensibilities Deck. Lee also provides spiritual leadership for Hillel at Kent State in her hometown of Kent, Ohio.

Joe Murray has been teaching nature connection since 1997 and has made it his life’s work to learn from the indigenous peoples of the earth and share the old ways with as many people as possible. During that time he has mentored thousands of kids and helped design the curriculum for several wilderness schools and is a founding member of the nonprofit Ancestral Knowledge Becky O’Brien is the Boulder Director for Hazon.

In that capacity she has been leading JOFEE programs and consulting with others on leading JOFEE programs for nearly 7 years. From bike rides and moonlight hikes, to chevruta and classroom learning, she’s always excited to connect others to the earth that sustains us through creative educational experiences. She has a Masters in Religious Studies from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Nati Passow is the co-founder and executive director of the Jewish Farm School. He lives in West Philadelphia with his family and is continuously working on creating some form of an urban eco-topian intentional community in his backyard.

Johanna Perlin has worked in Jewish Early Childhood Education for over 34 years as both a teacher and a director. She holds a Master’s degree in education from Wheelock College, a Bachelor’s degree in education from University of Massachusetts, and a certificate in early childhood Jewish education from Hebrew College. Through her own enjoyment of nature, Johanna has become passionate about ensuring that children have multiple opportunities to connect with nature and knowledgeable about the research that correlates nature with healthy development. Her nursery school became the first school in Massachusetts to be awarded Nature Explore Outdoor Classroom certified. She is a partner in Second Nature Design, which provides consultation and training on creating multi-dimensional outdoor spaces. Her work was recently recognized on the Nature Explore Outdoor Classroom website, natureexplore.org.

Joan Plisko is the Community Sustainability Director for the Pearlstone Center where she weaves environmentally healthy practices into the existing operations and programs of Pearlstone and provides community engagement opportunities for creating a more sustainable culture in Baltimore’s Jewish community. Additionally, Joan is President of Plisko Sustainable Solutions, a women-owned micro business that develops and implements environmentally healthy solutions in the healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing sectors. Joan has a Ph.D. in Environmental Systems Engineering from Clemson University, an M.E. in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia, and a B.S. in Commerce and Engineering from Drexel University.

Sarah Rovin studied Psychology and Environmental Studies at the University of Oregon where she fell in love with farming and the outdoors. Through her studies and adventures in Oregon, she began to take action for environmental justice through community organizing on her campus. She reconnected to Jewish community through a year in the AVODAH Jewish service corps living communally with other service corps members and working as case manager at a social service agency on the Southside of Chicago. Through the connections she made in her community in Chicago she discovered the JOFEE world, combining her love of farming and nature with Jewish community. She now works as a JOFEE fellow at the Pearlstone Center running immersive Jewish outdoor programs. When she is not getting her hands dirty in the garden, she loves to sing with her friends around the Shabbat table and get lost in the city riding her bike.

Shamu Sadeh is the co-founder and director of Adamah, and prior to that he worked as the Director of Teva. He teaches Judaism and ecology, turns the compost piles, maintains the orchards, and supervises and mentors staff and Adamah Fellows. He lives in Falls Village Ct, with wife Jaimie and kids Yonah, Ibby and Lev. Sue Salinger creates the direction of and manages Hazon’s program in Metro Detroit.

She leads a dedicated team that is re-imagining what it means to be Jewish in a city and region undergoing rapid change, through partnering to build capacity within existing Jewish institutions in Jewish Outdoor, Food & Environmental Education, and creating new programs and experiences that bring people together across difference around health and sustainability. Sue was the Director of Lifelong Learning at Temple Emanu-El in Oak Park, Michigan, and Director of Education at Congregation Nevei Kodesh in Boulder, Colorado. She graduated with a Masters of Fine Arts in Writing and Poetics at Naropa University, an MA in Communications and Philosophy at the European Graduate School in Switzerland, and is A.B.D. towards a PhD in Communications Philosophy at EGS. While at Naropa, Sue was a teaching assistant to Rabbi Zalman Shachter-Shalomi, zt”l. She’s a Master Gardener and lives in Sylvan Lake, Michigan.

Margot Sands is the Lead Educator and JOFEE fellow at Ekar Farm in Denver, CO. She’s an alumni of FoodCorps and Urban Adamah, and a certified K-12 teacher with a Masters in Education. Her Jewish journey continues on as she learns Torah at her local Shul, hosts OneTable Shabbat dinners, and discovers new wisdom in nature.

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Presenter Bios Sarah Seldin writes, farms, and plays in the wilderness. She is the Coaching and Consulting Intern at the Organic Growers School. Sarah completed full season internships at Living Web Farms in 2016 and The Lord’s Acre in 2015.

She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in December 2014, where she studied American history, culture, and socioeconomic (in)justice. Sarah is also the co-founder, along with Shani Mink, of the Jewish Farmer Network.

Sara Shalva is the Assistant Director of the Pearlstone Center, where she focuses on strategic retreat and program management and systems. Previously she served as the Chief Program Officer, Jewish Life and Learning at the Edlavitch DCJCC. In that role, she infused joyful Jewish content into all programs and departments. Sara graduated cum laude from Mary Washington College with a BA in Political Science, and, as a Taub Fellow, from NYU with dual masters in Nonprofit Management and Judaic Studies. Over the last fifteen years Sara has split her time between Israel and the United States, working in formal and informal educational and administrative settings serving teens and adults in the Jewish community and beyond. She is a certified Bikram Yoga Instructor and lives in Reisterstown with her two children and her husband Rabbi Benjamin Shalva.

Nancy Shaw brings more than twenty years experience to Wilderness Torah, where she’s responsible for fundraising, marketing and operations. Nancy previously served as director of the Craigslist Foundation, manager at the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, founder of the environmental responsibility program at Blue Shield of California, and in marketing for Fortune 500 companies. Nancy received a BA from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Presidio Graduate School. Her Jewish community experience includes serving on her synagogue’s board and on the executive committee for the 2009 Hazon Food Conference. She lives in Berkeley with her husband and their dog.

Janna Siller leads the Adamah crew in growing organic vegetables for CSA distribution, valueadded production, Isabella Freedman food service, and donations, while maintaining the fields as resonant learning space for fellows and visitors. She teaches classes on practical farming and gardening skills as well as classes that explore the big picture systems, policies and issues that shape what we eat and how it is grown.

Cara Silverberg is a dancer-musician-herbalisteducator living in Western Massachusetts.

Her work focuses on place-based identity development and youth leadership through community education and summer camps. Cara is currently pursuing an M.A. in Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation at the School for International Training in Brattleboro, VT. She is passionate about facilitating community experiences that allow people to explore and express themselves, their relationships with the earth, and their relationships with each other. Within the Jewish environmental world, she is passionate about exploring Jewish indigeneity and the role of decolonization in our personal and collective work. She has worked with Adamah/Teva/Hazon in numerous capacities since 2005 and currently serves as a mentor for the JOFEE Fellowship.

Yoshi Silverstein is Director of the JOFEE Fellowship, A landscape designer, writer, and educator with over fourteen years of experience in JOFEE and related fields, Yoshi holds a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Maryland and a B.A. in European Cultural Studies and Near Eastern/Judaic Studies from Brandeis University. He has worked as Education Director at the Pearlstone Center (back when it was still Kayam Farm) and has taught throughout the US and Israel, including several seasons as a Teva educator and stints at Camp Wise in Cleveland and Camp Solomon Schechter in Olympia, WA. Originally from Spokane, WA, he now lives in the Bushwick Plains of Northern Brooklyn with his wife Abby, daughter Freya, and their pup, Norman Jellybean.

Nili Simhai serves as the Director of Outdoor Education for Abundance Farm. Nili served as the Director of Teva, a leading Jewish environmental education organization, for fourteen years. A recipient of the Covenant Award for excellence in Jewish education, Nili has been recognized for her leadership in training and counseling hundreds of educators in the tenets of Jewish environmental education. One of her current passions is outdoor classrooms in Jewish institutions. Nili also works as an Engagement Officer for PJ Library, where she helps Jewish Day Schools and other community organizations engage families with young children.

Ayelet Singer’s farming journey began in 2010 after graduating from Oberlin College with an Environmental Studies degree and a found passion for Food Justice and policy work.

Immediately upon graduation, she headed to Falls Village, Connecticut where she was a summer Adamah fellow and got hooked on farming. She then relocated to California for two years, where she apprenticed and then helped supervise at the UC Santa Cruz Farm and Garden Program, earning a certificate in Horticulture and Agro-ecology. Since returning to the east coast in 2013, Ayelet has been managing farms in the Hudson Valley. After two years of production-focused farming, Ayelet is combining her love of farming, food, education, and community at Eden Village.

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Hannah Slipakoff is Jewish Farm School’s Program Manager. As a member of the 2017 JOFEE Fellow Cohort, she curates and facilitates Jewish Farm School’s food justice and urban sustainability programs while managing a small urban farm for KleinLife JCC in Northeast Philadelphia. She’s been growing food for a decade and has been blessed to learn and work on several different farms and food justice training programs in Philadelphia, upstate New York, and Northeast Ohio.

Greg Strella and his team steward 180 acres of meadows, forest, farm and water to honor and enliven Pearlstone Center’s mission and values.

In addition growing organic vegetables for more than a decade, Greg has served in leadership positions for Baltimore City Public Schools’ Great Kids Farm, Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, and Future Harvest: A Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture.

Joanna Ware has over 15 years of facilitation experience, with a particular focus in LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) education and training, community organizing, diversity training, anti-sexism and anti-violence education, white anti-racism education and organizing, storytelling, and organizational change. For over 7 years, Joanna worked with Keshet to organize, train, and support Jewish institutions to be more LGBTQ inclusive and welcoming, and to support LGBTQ Jewish leaders to create change in their communities. Joanna has a dual Bachelor’s degree in Gender Studies and Middle East Studies from Antioch College.

Michal Wetzler is 28 years old, from Kibbutz Kfar Hachoresh in Israel. In the IDF she was a combat engineer instructor. She has a B.ED in informal education, majoring in the history and nature of Israel. She owns a small tour guide business and has vast experience leading a wide range of groups, indoor and outdoor. She also ran a community forest project in her Kibbutz back home, to connect between the members of the community, and between the community to the forest and nature around. Now she is finishing her year as a “Shlicha” (emissary of the Jewish agency) in Pearlstone center , where she has done immersive Israel education with kids and adults and worked to bring more “Achdut” (unity) within the worldwide Jewish family. In her spare time she loves to hike, travel, dance and scuba-dive.

Abby Woloff is the Director of Programming at Pearlstone Center. She holds a master’s degree in social work, is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW-C) and has worked in hospice and as a therapist with a focus in grief and trauma.

She has worked with the Sulha Peace Project in Israel which encourages people from the Abrahamic traditions to practice coexistence through prayer, study and dialogue. Her graduate degree in social work (University of Maryland) focused on the areas of clinical study of aging and on nonprofit management/community development. Working as part of the Pearlstone team Abby has combined her passion for building warm, inclusive communities, Jewish education and social justice while helping individuals connect to themselves, the community, and the land. Abby loves spending time with her husband Isaac, and their son Shaya.

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Hampton Creek Sponsorship Information Hampton Creek, a producer of egg-free alternatives, has generously provided kosher, vegan, egg-free mayonnaise for our snacking enjoyment. You will find this delicious animal-free alternative throughout the conference and at your local grocery – enjoy!

Hampton Creek is on a mission to bring delicious, accessible, healthier and more sustainable food to everyone, everywhere. Fueled by the question "What would it look like if we started over in the food system?" our world-class team of scientists and researchers leverage cutting-edge robotics to screen through the vast plant kingdom to identify new applications in food. Our Michelin star chefs combine these ingredient discoveries with decades of culinary expertise to create great tasting, high-quality products including mayo, dressings, cookies, and cookie dough. The company was founded by CEO Josh Tetrick in 2011 and is headquartered in San Francisco, CA.

Indigenous People of the Land Acknowledging Traditional Territory: We feel bittersweet gratitude for the beauty and abundance of this land, as we recognize that we are occupiers in it. Before European colonization, the Susquehannock and Piscataway tribes lived along the Patapsco river, which runs alongside and through what is now Baltimore City and County. We acknowledge that this conference is being held on the unceded ancestral lands of the Susquehannock and Piscataway Nations. We recognize the Piscataway’s continued, present-day connection to their land, water and community. We offer our respect to native elders – past, present, and emerging.

24 JOFEE Network Gathering • September 14-17, 2017 • Pearlstone Center

JEWISH OUTDOOR, FOOD, FARMING & ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION a Field, a Movement, a Community

check out the new portal to the JOFEE world at

JOFEE.ORG

Thank You Special thanks to: • Everyone who presented or taught a session or otherwise shared their expertise with the community • JOFEE Fellows who have flown in from all over the country to share their voices and experiences on the ground with the broader JOFEE community • JOFEE Network Gathering Steering Committee and Advisors: Co-chairs Jakir Manela & Sara Shalva, and members Adam Berman, Zelig Golden, Lauren Greenburg, and Ariela Ronay-Jinch • Pearlstone Center staff: • Director of Guest Services, Laura Leventhal • Director of Business Development, Rachel Feldman • Executive Chef, Sallie D'Alonzo • Director of Land Stewardship, Greg Strella • Program Director, Abby Woloff • And the entire Pearlstone team who helped make this weekend come alive • The Hazon staff for their unwavering commitment to creating healthier and more sustainable Jewish communities, including Judith Belasco, Meredith Levick, Yoshi Silverstein, Rachel Aronson, Lisa Kaplan, Amy Hannes, Daniel Morchy, Elan Margulies, Jaclyn Schwanemann, and all of our additional administrative staff who make the financials, record-keeping, and registration possible • Hannah Henza, JOFEE Program Manager at Hazon, who is the incredible force behind creating this year’s JOFEE Network Gathering and without whom this gathering would not have happened • All of you, for participating in this gathering, for growing the movement of thoughtful, Jewish education, and beyond

Additional gratitude to supporters of the JOFEE field who are joining us: Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta Leichtag Foundation Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah Oreg Foundation The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore The Glazer Foundation The Jim Joseph Foundation The Morningstar Foundation The Natan Fund

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Making Community Connections Jot down the names and contact information of people you want to keep in touch with.

September 14-17, 2017 • Pearlstone Center • JOFEE Network Gathering 27

Earth Stone

Unisex

Beit Midrash

Women’s Men’s

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Citron Alcove Elevator

Palm Myrtle Willow

Women’s

Wellspring

Men’s

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Harvest Dining Hall

Bar rage Beve

Orchard

Coats & Luggage

Rear Lobby

Elevator

Resource Rm Program Office Program Director & Farm Director

Men’s

Farm Office

Women’s

Executive Director

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Vineyard

CAMPFIRE

PAVILION TWO

BASKETBALL

BIG MAX BARN

PLAYGROUND

SPRAYGROUND

BASEBALL SOCCER

ZIP-LINE

POOLS

PAVILION THREE BASKETBALL

LAKE

CAMPFIRE ANIMAL PASTURE

PARKING

LODGES

CABINS

RETREAT CENTER

VOLLEYBALL

EDUCATIONAL FARM

PAVILION ONE

ROPES COURSE

RETREAT

AMENITIES

FARM

TRAIL

ROAD

CAMPFIRE

CAMPUS

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THE JOFEE COMMUNITY

JOFEE partners are farming, teaching, advocating, building community, and more.

While sharing in the broadest sense a JOFEE vision, each offers its own unique mission, contributing to creating connections between Jewish tradition and the natural world.

Is your organization doing JOFEE work? Email info@jofee.org to connect.