Available Recordings

Jewish Agriculturalism in the Garden State

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Date: Thursday, October 21, 2021

Time: 01:00pm - 

Introducing A New Online Exhibit

Jewish Agriculturalism in the Garden State

Watch Recording

Jack Delano Library of CongressCourtesy of Jack Delano, Library of CongressOrganized farming has been a key part of the Jewish experience in the modern world, though this history is largely unknown or forgotten. In fact, Jewish agricultural settlements have spanned the globe from the mid-nineteenth century until today, and exciting new initiatives in Jewish farming continue to sprout up around the country.

Bildner Visiting Scholar Jonathan Dekel-Chen will introduce a new online exhibit that he developed at Rutgers about the history of Jewish farming--not only in New Jersey, but also the Americas, Europe, and Israel. The exhibition takes a deep dive into the amazing story of Jewish agriculture in New Jersey, where three generations of Jews planted roots in a new country, made New Jersey bloom, and pursued the American dream. It also tells the important and striking story of large-scale Jewish farming on four continents.

 

Visit the Digital Exhibit


Jonathan Dekel ChenProfessor Jonathan Dekel-Chen is Rabbi Edward Sandrow Chair in Soviet & East European Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he holds a dual appointment in the Department of Jewish History and in the Department of General History. He served from 2007-2019 as the Academic Chairman of the Leonid Nevzlin Research Center for Russian and East European Jewry. He is currently Chairman of the Russian Studies Department. Dekel-Chen’s publications have appeared in prestigious scholarly presses. His current research and publications deal with transnational philanthropy and advocacy, non-state diplomacy, agrarian history and migration. In 2014 he co-founded the Bikurim Youth Village for the Performing Arts in Eshkol, which provides world-class artistic training for underserved high school students from throughout Israel.

Professor Dekel-Chen continues as the Bildner Visiting Scholar at Rutgers in 2021-22.

Jewish farmers in the Garden State | The Jewish Standard


Top Image: Allivine Canning Company, Norma, NJ, circa 1905 (Sam Azeez Museum of Woodbine Heritage at Stockton University)