Judaism and agrarianism

Is there a more consistently interesting blog than Sharon Astyk's? She has a long, thoughtful post up about why she's a Jewish farmer, the connections among Judaism, community and place; and how the Jewish connection to the land over many generations has been severed by anti-Semitism. Read the whole fascinating thing. Here's an excerpt:

The other reason we're Jewish farmers is this - we are especially concerned about Jews and food security in the coming years. Because Jewish culture is so urban, so disconnected from its agricultural traditions, Jews face a particularly hard transition in a food-insecure society. Our disconnection from our food system already has a price - as we have seen in the slaughterhouse scandals. Elderly Jews and those on a low income are already struggling in large numbers, because a kosher diet that includes traditional meats is generally much more costly than a typical American diet - I've heard anecdotal reports from Jewish neighborhoods of rapidly increasing claims for food stamps and WIC.

But if this is the beginning of a larger crisis, Jewish people are deeply vulnerable, both to scapegoating (as has happened many times in our history) but also to difficulty in adaptation. If, for example, urban food production becomes, as I think it is likely to, central to urban food security, most Jews are fairly far removed from their old country memories of gardens. And with few Jews in rural areas, and comparatively few farmers who care enough about Jewish urban neighborhoods (because of a shared cultural identity) to come into densely populated Jewish areas, access to food may be seriously challenging. In a transportation-tight society, Jewish populations will need access to kosher foods nearby - not shipped from thousands of miles away.

And while many Jews are highly ecologically literate and concerned about environmental issues, I personally have not found that many quite grasp how tenuous our present stability is. In the past, Jews have faced their crises best with a passport, leaving the dangerous lands for less dangerous ones. But a worldwide climate, fiscal and ecological crisis means that passports aren't as useful a solution anymore. In the past, the way out of poverty and towards security have been the pursuit of education, and the high paying careers it could provide. The self-sufficiency of days when immigrant and European Jews were poorer has been left behind, as money has ensured our security better than land. But those things too may be changing - and yet, comparatively few Jews are preparing their children for self sufficiency.

Now I don't have a crystal ball, and it may be that relying on old patterns may serve the Jews of today better than I anticipate. But one of the reason I'm a Jewish farmer is this - because I fear that if Jews don't grow food, despite the inconveniences, difficulties and moral compromises required to be observant and agrarian, there will be real and serious Jewish hunger in the US.