Composting, Gardening, and Animal Welfare at the Har Torah GrowTorah Garden Program

In this monthly feature, we showcase one of our Anafim Partners - this month features Yeshiva Har Torah.

At Yeshiva Har Torah, our GrowTorah garden program is thriving with so many exciting educational experiences led by Farmer Mr. Rafi Allman. In the garden, students learn weekly about the parsha, environmental stewardship, and appreciation for the beauty in nature. Beyond the garden, YHT started a mini-farm with chickens and rabbits for the students to learn how to properly take care of all of Hashem’s creatures with the most compassion. They even take turns taking them home to care for them over breaks. To close the loop, all students in YHT are now participating in a full-school composting program, recycling all of the school’s compostable materials. The compost will turn into fertilizer, which we will be used in the garden in several months. Composting is a great way to live the value of Bal Tashchit - not wasting, by taking what would have been trash, and turning it into something useful - fertilizer! We love the multi-pronged approach that YHT has taken with this beautiful program.

In addition to our Shorashim, GrowTorah thrives off of our relationship with our Anafim partners! As one of our Anafim partners, we advise and train school staff to run successful educational garden programs at their school. Among them is Yeshiva Har Torah, a Centrist Orthodox Yeshiva for boys and girls in Queens, NY.

A special thank you to Rabbi Menchel, Pesha Kletenik, Rafi Allman and Eli Schilowitz for making GrowTorah feel right at home in the Har Torah community.

The Anafim initiative was launched with help from a Covenant Foundation Ignition Grant.