Our Staff

Nati Passow

Co-Founder & Director

Nati is a writer, carpenter and educator living in Philadelphia. From 2005 to 2007 Nati ran an award-winning garden construction program for the Urban Nutrition Initiative at University City High School.  Over the last several years Nati has led service–learning trips in the developing world for American Jewish World Service, and in the US for Jewish Funds for Justice.  He enjoyed two fall seasons at the Teva Learning Center and has continued to work for Teva as a curriculum writer.  Nati has studied sustainable building design and natural building and is a certified Permaculture designer.  Nati holds a B.A. in Religion and Environmental Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, and is a recipient of the Joshua Venture Group Fellowship for Jewish social entrepreneurs.

Simcha Schwartz

Co-Founder & Associate Director

Simcha is originally from Chicago and graduated with a degree in Sociology from the University of Kansas.  In 2004, working for Hazon, Simcha coordinated the NY Jewish Environmental Bike Ride and help start the Tuv Ha-aretz CSA program.   After working for Hazon and the Teva Learning Center, Simcha moved to Serenbe Farms to learn from Farmer D. Joffe.  His experiences include farming and natural building, educating and coordinating programs for the Teva Learning Center, Hazon and running service-learning programs for American Jewish World Service.  In 2005 he co-founded the Jewish Farm School in hopes to revolutionize Jewish education into a more hands-on, creative, and inspiring experience. Currently he is earning a Masters in Education from Goddard College and is the Associate Director for the Jewish Farm School.  His ideal moment would be playing in the dirt and juggling while watching the Cubbies.

Ian Hertzmark

Ecologist

JFS Cooperative Design

Ian is an ecologist, cultivator and consultant from Colorado. He has degrees in botany and wildlife biology from Colorado State University and has variously worked as a field biologist, botanist, and landscape ecologist for CSU, Colorado Division of Wildlife, US Geological Survey and National Park Service. In 2005, Ian moved east as an Adamah fellow and has since served as a faculty member of Adamah and as an educator with the Teva Learning Center.  From 2007 until 2009, he was a science teacher at East Midwood Hebrew Day School in Brooklyn, NY where he specialized in primary and junior high school experiential education.  Ian has worked with the Jewish Farm School since the end of 2006.  During this time he has taught workshops and classes on gardening and Jewish agriculture, written and edited various learning materials, and served on the JFS council.  In 2009, Ian co-founded JFS Cooperative Design as a vessel for community garden, farm, and agricultural education projects.

Debra Rich

Eden Village Farm Manager

Debra is a lover of food, whether it is growing, baking and cooking, or just eating it! She has been farming in some form since 1998, after she was inspired by a visit to an organic farm in Colorado while traveling on the Audubon Expedition Institute bus during her Master's degree program. Since then, she has been grateful to have some amazing food-based experiences. She spent three 8-month winter seasons in Antarctica, growing hydroponic vegetables and working in the bakery at McMurdo Station, and traveling the world in the off-seasons. Even returning to school in 2004 to get a Ph.D. in Horticulture couldn't keep her from traveling, another love! She spent three summers in Alaska, growing organic produce, tending flowerbeds, and baking desserts for a private lodge in the middle of Denali National Park. In 2009, she returned east to be closer to her 2 year old niece and her immediate family, growing food and baking bread and pastries for a Buddhist retreat center in the Catskills. However, the travel bug won out again, and she spent over two months last fall in Ecuador, volunteering as an organic gardener for a cloud forest reserve. She has taught a variety of workshops and courses over the years, including hydroponics, bread baking, spinning and knitting, canning/preserving, and organic gardening. One of her favorite things to do is stand in the fields at 6 am, listening to the sounds of the songbirds singing the sunrise.  Debra joins the JFS crew to manage the new farm at Eden Village Camp.  Debra can be contacted at deutz@earthlink.net