Discussion Questions
- What reason is given for Jewish immigrants to the U.S. in the first half of the twentieth century choosing farming to make a living?
- Many of the Jewish immigrants in the first half of the twentieth century who chose farming had to abandon it shortly after staring, because they were unable to make a living at it. Yet the Jewish Agricultural Society continued to provide technical support and to give loans to Jews who wanted to take up farming well into the twentieth century, even as farms were failing regularly after World War II. The only Jewish farms that survived were those that became highly modernized and industrial in scale, unattainable goals for most Jewish farmers at the time. What do you think would account for the Society’s continued support of Jewish farming ventures?
