Randolph teen creates 'Mitzvah Garden'

As if reaching the milestone of manhood weren't enough, 13-year-old Sam Epstein was also honored for another feat last month at his bar mitzvah.

A clue could be found on the specially-designed yarmulkes, featuring a brown tree of life upon a backdrop of sunflower yellow, worn during the religious service at Adath Shalom synagogue in Morris Plains.

The extraordinary achievement itself — Sam's creation of an 85 square-foot garden on the synagogue grounds — would likely have burst into view through the sanctuary windows, if not for the bar mitzvah's December scheduling.

A sustainable mitzvah project

Built from Sam's original computer-generated SketchUp design, the aptly-named "Mitzvah Garden" consists of seven planting areas, a hexagon surrounded by six triangles, forming the Jewish Star of David.

"I wanted to make something that was sustainable," said Sam, of Randolph, who saw the garden as a perfect way to provide food for less fortunate Morris County residents. "I liked farming and I liked helping people."

The garden resulted from the synagogue's requirement that young men and women devise special "mitzvah" projects to commemorate their bar and bat mitzvahs.

"Something to give back to the community," Sam explained.

Rabbi Moshe Rudin, spiritual leader of Adath Shalom's Conservative Jewish congregation, defines "mitzvah" as "a moral obligation that derives from the values of the Torah."

In the case of this particular mitzvah, the Rabbi fondly recalls when the garden — groundbreaking for which included help from 30 Hebrew school students and a blessing last May — began blooming over the summer.

"The tomatoes were coming up. You could see the enormous growth of flowers. It was inspiring," Rabbi Rudin said.

Joining the tomatoes — full-sized and cherry varieties — among the successfully cultivated edible crops were green beans, bell peppers, cucumbers, Swiss chard, parsley, thyme, basil, oregano and spearmint. Sunflowers, cosmos and marigolds dominated the flower assortment.

One particular flower, a majestic sunflower, became an immediate attention-grabber, and source of pride for Sam.

"The flower itself weighed more than five pounds," he said. "It was bigger than my face."

Learning farming skills

An eighth grade honors student and saxophone player in the band at Randolph Middle School, Sam honed his farming skills during two summers at Eden Village Camp, a Jewish environmentally-themed camp in Putnam Valley, NY.

"He came back a transformed child. He was so inspired by the things he learned," said his mother, Lisa Epstein.

Those who speak with Sam aren't surprised by his expertise on such subjects as drip irrigation, a water conservation process used in the Mitzvah Garden that relies on a constant slow drip of water, or advocacy of companion planting as an organic alternative to pesticides.

"The tomato gets aphids (plant lice pests). But the aphids don't like basil. You plant basil by the tomatoes so they stay away," Sam explains, noting that the tomato returns the favor. "Tomatoes keep beetles away from the basil."

Along with instilling the mantra of organic farm-to-table growing practices, the camp also conveyed the importance of social responsibility, said Sam, who plans to return for a third year this summer.

"They taught me that it's my Jewish obligation to help the world."

Donating fresh produce

With a bumper crop of vegetables and herbs in its first growing season, the Mitzvah Garden quickly began to fulfill Sam's goal, yielding 10 deliveries of fresh produce to Faith Kitchen at Trinity Lutheran Church in Dover.

"I'm very grateful," said Trink Prinz Schwartz, the director of Faith Kitchen, which provides a hot lunch to those in need six days a week. "Some of the food he grows is served as part of the lunch, and what isn't served we put out for people to take home. Nothing goes to waste."

Sam was still at camp when the early crops were ready to be picked, so his parents, with help from other synagogue members, stepped in to ensure timely deliveries to the food pantry.

Upon returning from camp in August, Sam had the chance to personally bring his harvests to Faith Kitchen, and serve meals to grateful recipients.

"I got a lot of 'Thank you's,' " he said. "It was very rewarding to see the looks on people's faces after I gave them the food."

A portion of Sam's crops also supplied food for synagogue kiddishes, the meals following Shabbat services.

Green initiatives at synagogue

While turning the backyard of a synagogue into a thriving garden might seem a radical idea to some, Adath Shalom had already acquired a reputation for its green initiatives.

Lighting was made more energy-efficient, a recycling program welcomed the discarded electronic devices of members and preferred parking spaces were set aside for congregants driving hybrid vehicles, among other innovations.

In 2013, the synagogue became the first in the nation to receive the Energy Shield Award from GreenFaith, a Highland Park-based interfaith coalition that seeks to make religious institutions exemplary stewards of the environment.

Still, when a then-11-year-old Sam went before the executive board with a PowerPoint presentation two years ago to pitch his idea for the garden, its approval was by no means assured.

"We were told there are too many rocks in Morris County to build a farm," Lisa Epstein said.

There was also the issue of funding, as no budget existed to cover the cost of supplies and construction, or a fence to keep out deer.

Sam was undeterred.

Selling salves to raise funds

Having studied herbalism and the making of therapeutic skin salves at camp, he told the board he could fund the garden himself by producing and selling homemade salves.

Naming his product "Sam's Savvy Salve," he developed two varieties, one of which, a healing balm called "Salvation," is sourced from the leaves of wild-growing plantain he gathers from several Morris County parks.

The other, "Soothing," which he describes as a "skin rejuvenation" treatment, contains olive oil, shea butter and beeswax.

"I use them as 'ChapStick' and put them on cuts," said Sam's father, Sheldon Epstein, a finance manager at Mondelez International. "We were skeptical at first, but it works."

The skincare products, which Sam creates in his family's kitchen, are sold in Adath Shalom's gift shop and at vendor sales. "So far, I've raised over $1,600 from them," he said, with all proceeds going towards operating the garden.

Any naysayers soon found it difficult to challenge the bar mitzvah candidate's unbridled passion for building his Mitzvah Garden, which ultimately received the board's unanimous approval.

"They were all applauding him," Lisa Epstein said. "I joke about bursting with pride."

Early supporters

Bill Friedman, of Morris Plains, an environmental attorney and chairman of the synagogue's Green Team, was an early supporter.

"He's very personable, and he's fearless," he said of Sam. "Here was a kid with a vision, and a family that was behind him 1,000 percent."

Additional help came from congregant Jerry Moses, of Parsippany, an enterprise software salesman, who also has extensive carpentry experience designing sets for community theater.

"I loved the project," said Moses, who devoted his free Sundays and evenings between March and July last year to constructing the garden's raised beds with Sam and his father. "I think it really elevates our entire synagogue spiritually."

Moses was particularly impressed by Sam's desire to make the garden more accessible by dividing it into separate sections.

"He said that by keeping them separate, people could get around every side, and would participate in the planting and harvesting. The triangles are set two feet high, so even a small child can reach in and plant a vegetable — or pick one."

Despite his accomplishment in bringing the Mitzvah Garden to life, Sam remains humble, but does acknowledge the satisfaction of "feeling like everything paid off."

He will continue to tend the garden in the spring, while preparing for the bittersweet task of passing his responsibilities on to other children at the Hebrew school.

To his Rabbi, Sam has proven himself to be an excellent mentor, and exhibited the traits of a true leader.

"When he was away over the summer, there were kids showing up to harvest. They felt tremendously invested because of Sam's passion," Rabbi Rudin said. "He's already creating a cadre of guardians of the Earth."

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