Growing Tradition

When gardener and librarian Michael Brown looked for a book to help him grow plants that he could use in recipes for Jewish holidays, he was surprised that he couldn’t find one.

His response? He wrote his own--”The Jewish Gardening Cookbook: Growing Plants & Cooking for Holidays & Festivals” (Jewish Lights Publishing, 1998, $22).

“Many Jewish holidays and festivals, like next week’s Sukkot, closely relate to the agricultural cycle of the year,” says Brown, who lives in New Jersey.

Commemorating

the Final Harvest

Sukkot symbolizes the final harvest of the year and commemorates the desert wanderings of the Jews in the Exodus. Sukkahs are the focus of this celebration. These small, wooden, box-like outdoor structures were used historically in the fields as a shelter for workers during harvest time.

“The celebration of Sukkot reminds Jews everywhere of the time we traveled in the wilderness, making camp in temporary huts that were open to the moon and the stars,” says Rabbi Lawrence Goldmark, past president of the Southern California Board of Rabbis and spiritual leader of Temple Beth Ohr in La Mirada.

“Traditionally, we hang oranges, apples, lemons, colorful peppers and corn stalks from the sukkah’s leaf-covered roof,” says Goldmark, who lives in Buena Park. “Within the shelter of the fragile sukkah, we feel that the world is safe and peaceful and that we can rest unafraid.”

Fortunately, Orange County has a climate similar to Israel’s, and many of the plants found in Jewish holidays and cooking--such as the citrus, fig, date palm, olives and pomegranates--thrive here.

Brown has a grove of fig trees and he uses the fruit in a variety of celebrations. He also grows grapes, pressing them for juice to use during holidays such as Rosh Hashana.

“When I harvest grapes from the garden and use them in a blessing, or include home-grown parsley at the Seder table, it makes the celebrations more meaningful and a lot less abstract,” says Brown, who lived in Israel for 10 years.

Irene Jacob, director of the Rodef Shalom Biblical Botanical Garden in Pittsburgh, says gardening helps us to remember that our ancestors depended on nature for survival.

Efforts Translate

Into Understanding

Stuart Matlin’s friends gather on his property in Woodstock, Vt., to celebrate Sukkot every year.

“We send the children to clip the required tree branches for the ceremony and my wife takes the kids to the vegetable garden to dig up the last of the potatoes,” says Matlin, president of Jewish Lights Publishing. “They also climb up into our apple trees and pick fruit. Doing this transforms the experience, and they suddenly understand what the celebration is all about--growing things and being grateful for the bounty of the Earth.”

But your garden doesn’t have to be all-encompassing, says Matlin. “You don’t need acres for a Jewish garden. Simply growing parsley in a window box will enrich your celebrations.”

* “The Jewish Gardening Cookbook” is available at bookstores or directly from Jewish Lights Publishing, Sunset Farm Offices, Route 4, P.O. Box 237, Woodstock, Vt. 05091. Or call (800) 962-4544.

* For information on the Rodef Shalom Biblical Botanical Garden or the publication “Biblical Plants,” ($6.50),call (412) 621-6566.