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Refugee Community Garden
Congregation
Ahavath Beth Israel
Boise, Idaho
In 2003, Congregation Ahavath Beth Israel moved
their 108-year old synagogue to a new four-acre site.
In their long-range plan, they envisioned the
inclusion of a community garden on the grounds.
At the same time, the Idaho Office of Refugees
was planning to develop community garden sites
for new Americans, in the neighborhoods in which
they lived. As it turned out, the new campus had
a large group of neighbors who would benefit from
such a multicultural project: refugees from Somalia,
Liberia, Afghanistan, Armenia and the Ukraine.
In spite of the fact that the congregation was
in the midst of such a major move and renovation,
they made the decision to move the plans for a
garden from long-term to concurrent with the larger
campus projects.
Working with an IOR coordinator, the board formed
a committee to help design the garden, find grants
and seek donations of plant materials and seeds,
and drafted a letter of agreement that gave the
IOR authority to use the site. Bar Mitzvah students
built four raised beds for the use of senior and
disabled gardeners, while congregants and refugees
worked together to prepare and plant 15 plots.
The site had been next to a railroad, and the
soil consisted mostly of clay. While the community
worked together to amend the soil with compost,
manure, ash and other supplements, the children
of Camp Teva constructed a compost system.
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 At
the dedication of the congregation’s new
home, a theme of planting and growing was incorporated
into the program; even the centerpieces carried
on this theme. At the conclusion, the seedlings,
gloves and tools that were featured in the centerpieces
were donated to the garden.
According to the program’s coordinator,
Sherrill Livingston, “One of the core values
of our Jewish tradition, g’milut
chasadim (acts of loving kindness), calls
us to reach beyond ourselves, to say that our
new home is also a home to our neighbors; a place
that offers sustenance to Jews and Gentiles alike.
Torah teaches that none of us really own land.
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is
in it. Our community garden reminds our Jewish
community that for all that we have done on this
new site, the land is still G-d’s, and G-d
asks that we share it with those in need, with
those who will make it grow, with those whose
labors are a source of blessing.”
Contact: Sherrill Livingston at slivingston@cableone.net
Congregation website: www.ahavathbethisrael.org
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