TDSA Students Grow Herbs, Lettuce for Passover
Rabbi Avi Rubin and staff instructed the students on how to utilize the school’s hydroponic lettuce farm.
Torah Day School of Atlanta (TDSA) has been preparing for Pesach for a long time. Even before Purim, the “seeds” were being planted. In this case, actual seeds.
TDSA has been growing their very own marror – bitter herbs – for the Passover seder using a hydroponic system. The first graders kicked off the project by planting the seeds and after they grew sufficiently, helped transplant the seeds into baskets designed for the school’s hydroponic lettuce farm. The hydroponic system was donated by school parent, Elchanan Zuckman, and was then modified by shop teacher, Rabbi Avi Rubin. In addition to converting incandescent to LED light bulbs, Rabbi Rubin also added an automatic water drainage system so that the roots of the plants do not get flooded, and a fan to agitate the leaves and help them grow full and strong.
Growing lettuce hydroponically requires more than just seeds, water and light. The soil also needs to be checked regularly to ensure the correct pH levels. This provided a perfect application for the fifth-grade students who were studying alkalinity and acidity. The shop classroom became a real-life environmental lab where they tested the soil using the methods they learned in class. Students are able to come and check on the lettuce’s progress and support the cultivation process.
Rabbi Rubin and the rest of the staff see it as an excellent learning opportunity on multiple levels. Growing lettuce for marror is scientifically fascinating and interdisciplinary – involving both general studies and Judaic studies curriculums.
More importantly, watching the lettuce grow provides critical life lessons. It requires constant effort, patience and a good degree of faith. While the lettuce is now flourishing, it took a while for that to happen. Initially, while the students were providing the lettuce with water and sunlight, it didn’t look like anything was growing. This can be discouraging, but the students learned that if they persist in giving the lettuce what it needs, it will eventually sprout in all its full, leafy glory.
For the students, watching the hydroponic lettuce grow brings these and other lessons home in a real tangible way. When they eat their marror at the Passover seder, they won’t just be thinking about the bitterness of the Egyptian exile, they’ll also be thinking about the resilience and patience they need to reach their full potential and the beauty and complexity of the world that G-d created.
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