Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center 116 Johnson Road Falls Village, CT 06031
Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center
Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center

UJA-Fedration NY

 

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ADAMAH Staff

Shamu Fenyvesi Sadeh, Director of Adamah
Sarah Chandler, Associate Director of Adamah
Janna Berger, Farm Manager
Glenn Katz, Dairy Co-Manager
Steve Sherman, Dairy Co-Manager
Adam SaNogueira, Value-Added Products Business Manager
Sam Plotkin, Pickle Apprentice
Mira Schwartz, Field Apprentice

Shamu SadehShamu Fenyvesi Sadeh, Director of Adamah
Shamu Fenyvesi Sadeh is an environmental studies instructor, Jewish educator, writer, organic farmer and wilderness guide. He has taught environmental studies, ecology, and Judaic Studies at Portland State University, Berkshire Community College, Southern Vermont College and the Wild Rockies Field Institute. Shamu directed, developed curriculum for and taught at the Teva Learning Center in its early years of development. His essays and articles on environmental education, Jewish ethics, and family history have been published in Orion, Tikkun, The Washington Jewish Week, Response, and the anthology Ecology and the Jewish Spirit (Jewish Lights Publishing, 1998). Shamu holds an M.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana, a doctorate in Educational Leadership, and studied permaculture design in Costa Rica and in New England. He has directed the ADAMAH Fellowship since 2004. Shamu loves to compost, farm, scavenge, brew biofuels and riff on Jewish learning and ritual.

Sarah ChandlerSarah Chandler, Associate Director of Adamah
Sarah Chandler is a Jewish experiential educator, community activist, spiritual leader, and blogger. Most recently, Sarah has served as the Director of Jewish Family Life & Learning (JoyFuLL) at West End Synagogue in Manhattan. She has her M.A. in Jewish Communal and Experiential Education and Hebrew Bible from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and has been an educator with the Teva Learning Center since 2003.




Janna BergerJanna Berger, Farm Manager
Janna fell in love with the nuance, humanism and joy of sustainable agriculture six years ago and has had dirty knees ever since. She has been a farm intern in Illinois, an assistant farmer and head flower farmer in Washington state, a farmhand in Texas, a garden volunteer in south India, a flower manager in Massachusetts and a veggie co-manager in Wisconsin. She is very excited to join the wonderful folks at Adamah who have also discovered the soulfulness and impact of farming.



Glenn KatzGlenn Katz, Dairy Co-Manager
Glenn Katz started her farming journey in 2008 in the holy land of Italy, where she learned to drink cappuccino with one hand and weed with the other. After graduating from Tufts University with a degree in Art History and Chemistry, she decided to try her hand at farming full-time. Through a series of farms and travel adventures, she found herself in the other holy land of Israel, working in the goat yard at Kibbutz Neot Smadar, an organic agriculture kibbutz in the Negev Desert. These clever creatures stole her heart and a bit of her sanity and led her to Isabella Freedman as the Adamah Dairy Apprentice for the 2011 season. She welcomes each goat into the milking parlor with an individualized jingle and tries to understand human social dynamics and leadership through observing the social tendencies of the goat herd.

Steve ShermanSteve Sherman, Dairy Co-Manager
Steve Sherman is a student of the intellectual and emotional nature of animal husbandry. Before joining Adamah as a fellow in September 2011, Steve ran an edible landscaping service and market garden in his native Rhode Island. He holds a bachelor's degree in agro-environmental science from McGill University, where he presided over arm-waving discussions of agricultural systems thinking, rotational grazing, and soil conservation with his ex-pat friends. Starting with an article on pastured kosher meat in 2010, Steve has written on agriculture and Judaism for the Jewish Voice and Herald of RI, the Jew and the Carrot Blog, and The Natural Farmer. Steve likes to study biblical agriculture systems and understand things with both his head and his heart.

Adam SaNogueiraAdam SaNogueira, Value-Added Products Business Manager
Eager to build upon the incredible products already offered by Adamah, Adam draws on his years of experience as a professional chef. Adam completed his first apprenticeship in a kitchen during his senior year of high school; since then, cooking has taken him through a variety of food service establishments. At a Michelin star restaurant in Italy—where preserving food for the winter was a major focus in autumn—he first grasped the importance of and superior quality resulting from using local, seasonal products. He is particularly interested in working toward sustainable growth in the developing world through models utilizing traditional food techniques. Adam holds his B.A. in Social and Historical Studies and an M.S. in Global Finance, both from The New School.

Visiting Faculty may include

  • Ellen Bernstein — Founder, Shomrei Adamah; Author
  • Malka Fenyvesi — Jewish Perspectives on Conflict Resolution
  • Rabbi Everett Gendler — The "Grandfather" of Jewish Agriculture
  • Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb
  • Rabbi Jill Hammer Tel Shemesh, NY
  • Rabbi David Ingber — Rabbi, Kehilat Romemu, NY
  • Etan Mintz — Associate Rabbi, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale
  • Nigel Savage — Executive Director, Hazon, NY
  • Nili Simhai — Director, Teva Learning Center, Millerton, NY
  • Rabbi Melissa Weintraub — Co-Founder, Co-Director, Encounter Programs
  • Tom Wessels — Professor of Ecology, Antioch University, Antioch, NH
  • Ronit Ziv-Krieger — Jewish Educator
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