The Kibbitz
What drew you to farming? I grew up in suburban New Jersey, in a modern Orthodox community. My parents are fairly outdoorsy. I can’t quite remember when I first got inter- ested in agriculture, but I can say that when I was in college, my first year, I had a professor in environmental eth- ics who said, You seem really interest- ed in food ethics. I get a CSA [Commu- nity Supported Agriculture] subscrip- tion from an organic farm down the road. Why don’t you call them and see if you can get an internship? I called and asked if I could have an intern- ship. And the guy said, I don’t do in- ternships, I pay people for their time, and I said, Great, can I have a job? So I ended up spending the rest of my un- dergraduate career also working on this organic farm. I came out of uni- versity with a degree in philosophy, but also nearly four years of practical experience in organic agriculture. You went from always being out- doorsy to realizing that agriculture was something that you can literal- ly sink your hands into. Farming was not a Jewish practice for me at first. That didn’t come until a couple of summers later, when I started working at Eden Village Camp, which is a Jewish farm-to-table sleepaway camp in New York State. The rabbi there, Pesach Stadlin, told us during staff training that Judaism is one of the oldest agricultural traditions still be- ing practised today. I think, during my time in college, I was looking to my philosophical studies for spiritual, emotional, or intellectual substantia- tion for my feelings of connection with the work of agriculture. And that state- ment from Pesach was a kick in the S HANI MINK is the executive director of Yes, and I will say one of my sassy an- swers to people asking me why I like being a farmer is that I’m not one of those people who come to the work from a values-based position — I like to be physical. I like to be dirty, and I like to be outside. And that’s it. That’s kind of how I ended up in agricul- ture. Now I sit behind a desk running a network for farmers, so I’m not ac- tually doing that anymore. But it’s a very embodied thing that brings me to farming. the Jewish Farmer Network, an organi- zation she co-founded in 2017 along with SJ Seldin. The group works to fos- ter community among Jewish farmers, with the aim of cultivating “social, cul- tural and spiritual well-being.” The org- anization hosts Shabbat dinners and creates educational resources, among other activities — in the process, shed- ding light on the deep and often under- appreciated connections between Judaism and agriculture. I spoke to Shani about the importance of agricultural thinking for all Jews, and how farming is still a vital part of contemporary life.
head for me. Everything that I’d been looking for elsewhere was here in my own tradition, and in my own body of ancestral wisdom. That sent me on this journey of reintegration of my farmer self and my Jewish self, and of under- standing how those two can be mutu- ally enforcing and a braided whole. How did you start to see those points of connection between your farm life and your Jewish practice? One of my teachers, Rabbi Psachyah Lichtenstein, says, The Jew is the cal- endar. The thing that makes us Jew- ish is how we move through time. For me, that is the most potent way of connecting with Jewish agrarianism: intentionally stepping into the Jewish flow of time, especially in terms of the Shalosh Regalim, the three holidays that are harvest festivals that anchor the Jewish calendar. What’s been meaningful for me has been bringing deep intentionality to these festivals: being with my farm- er friends, who are often not Jewish, and inviting them to Pesach, bring- ing some of the first greens and fruits that are showing up on the farm on Shavuot. The stopping and appreciat- ing where we are at in the season is so impactful for me, and for everyone that I’ve invited into that experience. It’s not normal for farmers to take a break in June for two days — that’s a busy time. What, you’re going to stop and take stock of where you’re at? No, there’s shit to do. But Shavuot partic- ularly makes you stop and say, Wow! That gratitude for the first of the sea- son is something I think about as a farmer. When I think about grow- ing cherry tomatoes or strawberries, the joy of the very first ripe one that you’re able to eat is a perfect moment. Taking the moment to appreciate the first is so huge, and our tradition tells us to do that on Shavuot.
26 SUMMER 2025
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