THE LEADER OF JEWISH AGRICULTURE IN 

 AMERICA 



BY GEORGE W. SIMON 



THE historian recording the progress of Jewish Farm- 

 ing in the United States, would undoubtedly consider 

 the late Prof. H. L. Sabsovich as the father of the organ- 

 ized Jewish agricultural movement in the United States. 

 While there were several attempts to colonize the Jewish 

 people prior to 1890, the leaders were, as a rule, laymen 

 and knew little about agriculture. Their work had mainly 

 a charitable aspect with a touch of idealism to it, and 

 therefore the results were usually negative. Prof. Sab- 

 sovich was the first trained agriculturist connected with 

 the Jewish farming movement in this country, and his 

 were the first efforts of a systematic and practical nature 

 towards creating a Jewish farming class in the United 

 States. He had great faith in the possibilities of Jewish 

 farming in this country and possessed a keen insight as 

 to how to develop the new field of activities among our 

 Jewish people. 



Considerable criticism was heaped upon the Professor 

 in the Jewish press and by the general public at large 

 because the Baron de Hirsch Fund concentrated its ef- 

 forts in Woodbine, New Jersey, in the early nineties, 

 a locality which was in the poorest agricultural section 

 of that state. It was natural for outsiders to blame the 

 man who was at the head of that enterprise. Had the 

 people considered the matter carefully, they would have 



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