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One of America’s first Jewish farms was nearly lost to history. Now these Brooklyn parents are risking everything to keep their family's legacy alive.

JL;DR SUMMARY Brooklyn couple Malya and William Levin are spearheading efforts to revive their family's legacy at one of America's first Jewish agricultural settlements, the Alliance Colony in South Jersey. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish HistoryHolocaust SurvivorsEastern European JewsJewish ContinuityPogromsJewish ResilienceJewish FarmingBaron De HirschAlliance ColonyUrban Vs Rural Life

Places mentioned

Vineland, New Jersey, United States
"After World War II, a second wave of immigrants arrived in the region Holocaust survivors who settled in nearby Vineland and Pittsgrove and built successful chicken farms."
Pittsgrove, New Jersey, United States
"After World War II, a second wave of immigrants arrived in the region Holocaust survivors who settled in nearby Vineland and Pittsgrove and built successful chicken farms."
Norma, New Jersey, United States
"The cemetery in Norma, New Jersey, is the final resting place for many of the original members of the Alliance Colony, as well as Holocaust survivors who moved to the area to become chicken farmers after the war."
Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
"Driving to the site of the Alliance Colony 60 miles west of Atlantic City, the landscape dissolves into fields of corn, hay and soybeans."
Brooklyn, New York, United States
"Their cramped apartment in Brooklyn feels like the furthest thing from this expansive ideal."
Connecticut, United States
"That sensibility carried them to Sukkahfest 2014 at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Connecticut, where they witnessed a modern Jewish farming movement that wove land, ritual, ecology and community into a single experience."
Louisiana, United States
"Around the same time, dozens of such Jewish agricultural colonies were established across the United States, including in Louisiana, Utah, and both Dakotas."
Utah, United States
"Around the same time, dozens of such Jewish agricultural colonies were established across the United States, including in Louisiana, Utah, and both Dakotas."
North Dakota, United States
"Around the same time, dozens of such Jewish agricultural colonies were established across the United States, including in Louisiana, Utah, and both Dakotas."
South Dakota, United States
"Around the same time, dozens of such Jewish agricultural colonies were established across the United States, including in Louisiana, Utah, and both Dakotas."
South Carolina, United States
"Yiddish-speaking socialists established a similar settlement, Happyville, in South Carolina."
Alliance, New Jersey, United States
"The place that kept resurfacing was the 85 acres Williams extended family still owned in the old Alliance Colony, land that had never fully slipped from their hands."

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Cairo Item ID 70895
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2025-12-20 05:30:42 UTC
Curated 2025-12-20 08:31:01 UTC