JEWISH FARM SCHOOL

Since 2013, JFS has been focusing our programs in the Philadelphia area that connect the local Jewish community with the vibrant urban agriculture and food justice movements.

We ground our work in the notion that Jewish agricultural traditions compel us to create a food system that:

1. Centers the needs of the most vulnerable;
2. Encourages gratitude and generosity;
3. Values physical labor, treats workers and animals fairly, and integrates cycles of sacred rest;
4. Facilitates emotional and spiritual connection to food, plants, nature, and wilderness;
5. Celebrates through feasting and fasting;
6. Redistributes land and wealth;
7. Puts limits on power.

We believe in healing. When Jews can connect with the earth, with food, and with the values of liberation, we are better equipped to acknowledge and transcend our historical traumas.

We are called to mobilize the resources, strengths, and potential within the Jewish community towards action for justice and social change.

We take a hands-on educational approach that is grounded in larger historical and social contexts and is holistic in both form and content.

We envision a world anchored by just food systems; fair working conditions; right relationship to land and water; and new economies that liberate.