I recently returned from a weekend at Kayam Farm at the Pearlstone Retreat Center in Maryland where I attended the  3^rd annual Kayam Beit Midrash.

For the past three years Kayam has put on a weekend of learning traditional and modern texts, interactive discussions, and communal celebration on the topic of Judaism, agriculture and sustainability. What began in its first year as a forty-person gathering has become an intergenerational, pluralistic gathering that this year drew over 200 Jewish farmers, rabbis, educators, lay leaders, and scholars from across the country.

It was an exciting weekend for me as an aspiring rabbi not only because I got to connect with friends and colleagues from across the Jewish environmental world, but because I felt in this diverse community a swelling energy, excitement, and thirst for deep learning of Jewish texts and deep conversation about how these texts relate to our lives as farmers, teachers, and consumers today.

The topic of this year’s Beit Midrash (House of Study) was “Tzedek Tzedek Tirdof” “Justice Justice Shall you Pursue.” This phrase from Deuteronomy 16:20 is often quoted by those in the Jewish world working on social justice, community organizing, and economic equality. Though there are discussions of social justice in the Jewish environmental world, and though many of our agricultural laws attempt to address social and economic injustice, there is often a noted a gap between the worlds of Jewish social justice and Jewish environmentalism.  Lack of dialogue or synergy between organizations working on these two issues can make each less effective, robust, and impactful. At the Beit Midrash this year, however, we came together as a community dedicated to bridging this divide and exploring the interconnection between a healthy, vibrant earth and a healthy, vibrant society.

Through the fifteen learning sessions and three keynotes throughout the weekend, we looked at agriculture and social justice through a myriad of angles. In one session we discussed the connections between farming and childbirth through the lens of Torah, while in another session we learned about the Food Aid programs in this country and the challenges our current system faces. Throughout these sessions we also looked at the agricultural principles found in the Torah, including leket (allowing the poor to glean), shechicah (leaving forgotten bundles for the poor), ma’aser (the tithe designated for the poor), pe’ah (leaving the corners of one’s field for the poor). We challenged one another to think about the values behind each of these principles and the practicability of implementing these principles in today’s agricultural world.

In the closing keynote on Sunday, we heard from three inspiring individuals who began projects in attempts to implement some of these Torah-based agricultural laws in ways that acknowledges how agriculture is practiced today. Julie Stultz Fine discussed Harvest Against Hunger, an AmeriCorps program she began in 2008 to develop local gleaning programs throughout Washington State. In discussing the challenges and successes of this program Julie helped us think through what it really means to take Jewish texts seriously in setting up gleanings operations at farms today. For instance, while gleaning may be a beautiful idea that conjures up romantic images of Ruth in Boaz’s field, most farms today are located far from those in need. Even if gleaning were to be put into effect, how would hungry people in an urban center today find the nearest farm to glean at? As most farms are out of the reach of public transportation, how would they get to the farm and back with their gleanings? Would this be the farmer’s responsibility or the responsibility of the gleaners?

In a world where most people are disconnected from the growing cycle, how would those in need know when to come glean and what was available? These questions fostered productive discussion about how we connect our texts, written for an ancient society, with our modern world.

Also on this panel, Gary Oppenheimer, founder of AmpleHarvest.org discussed the nationwide campaign he has begun to connect small-scale gardeners to local food pantries with the goal of diminishing huger, providing healthier local foods to those in need, and putting excess food to use. Gary’s efforts are a response to the recent rise in personal and community gardens and, as he writes on his website, the estimated 100 billion pounds of food that is thrown away annually in the U.S. and the fact that one out of every six Americans does not have access to healthy fresh food at their local pantry. Utilizing the incredible power of the internet Gary has found a way to connect the supply and demand sides of this equation and thereby help create a healthier environment and healthier people.

Discovering how to bridge our values, our textual learning and our actions is a lifelong pursuit. As we travel on this path we find that it becomes all the more dynamic, thought provoking and exciting the more we are able to find fellow travelers to challenge, support, and inspire us on our journey. May each of us within our own tradition continue to find and create opportunities like the Kayam Beit Midrash where communities like this can coalesce.

My photo via Wikimedia Commons