Manalapan Synagogue Makes Strides In Cultivating Community Garden

MANALAPAN, NJ - While Temple Beth Shalom in Manalapan typically hosts its annual day of community service each March, its give back efforts are manifesting a bit differently in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Instead of implementing one day of community service, the County Road-based Jewish synagogue is celebrating its tenth year of TBS Cares Day by committing to a different charitable issue each month for the next ten months. One person from the congregation is leading each activity, which aims to bring together members of the congregation and ask for donations from the Manalapan community.

Just in time for Earth Day, April’s unique program cultivated the early stages of a community garden aimed at beautifying Manalapan and creating a lush community space for all residents to enjoy. Located across from the Manalapan Recreation Center, the garden will host an array of flowers and vegetables that will eventually be donated or given away to locals.

“I was looking for something that would bring the entire community together, where age, social status, sex, made no difference in how they participate,” said Ellen Stein, a temple and board member who is overseeing the project. “There is something for everyone to do at the garden and I am hopeful that it brings joy to everyone who visits it.”

Organizers also hope that the garden will serve as both a multi-year community project and a meeting space for gatherings and activities like painting and reading. Many local businesses have already donated time and materials to assist with the garden, with notable helping hands including Ian Maza from Junk Around, Pantano Nursery and Landscape Supply and Tractor Supply Company.

“We really just want to make it a beautiful area to come and spend time in. That’s the vision," Ross said.

In February, the temple's Teen Leadership Committee collected food items and made bags for the Jewish Home for Rehabilitation & Nursing in Freehold. A surplus of supplies was later donated to Open Door in Freehold. March saw the congregation donate over 100 bags of toiletry items to Elijah’s Promise Soup Kitchen in New Brunswick.

“We had to reinvent and rethink everything and see how we could keep things going in a virtual way to keep our community, to keep the connection,” said Karen Ross, the executive director of Temple Beth Shalom. “We haven’t even had indoor services since last March. We’ve started things like online baking classes and an online book club to make sure that we can still come together, connect and be there for each other.”

On April 18, a group of congregants of all ages started the project to build out the location of the community garden from the ground up by digging a ditch, installing a deer fence to keep out unwanted animals and tilling the land to prepare the soil. Other volunteers assisted in supplying topsoil, mulch, leaves and manure to the area. A combination of vegetables and flowers were planted on the land later last month.

“The Hebrew word for person, adam, literally means from the ground. Building a community garden roots us to the beginning of creation when God intended us to develop connections with what nourishes our mind and bodies. This new endeavor will give our community the opportunity to reconnect to the resources that go into growing and producing the food we have been blessed with,” said Rabbi Dina Rosenberg.

Monthly events are planned throughout the rest of the year, led by various congregants and following a monthly theme: gift bags are slated to be delivered to homebound seniors and blankets will be made for a local children’s hospital and cookies will be baked for local food banks, to name a few.

“Our mission at Temple Beth Shalom is that we bring good things to light,” said Ross. “Acts of kindness, to us, are pieces of light. That’s what drives us: by doing these good deeds, we bring more light into the world. It’s something that, especially in this time, we want to create something that people can rally around and have a community.”