Photos by Bill. Ha nsen
Left: Aharon Yedidya, Levi,
Akiva and Shlomo Yaakov show
off the shofars they made using
their own rams.
Below: Yehudis and Rabbi Brian
Benjamin show their pitchforks.
Bottom: Akiva shows the radishes
he's picked.
A Suburban
Oasis
Just down the
street from
Yeshiva Beth
Yehudah, the
Benjamin family
cultivates a
fully functioning
farm.
JULIE WIENER
Staff Writer
ruising down Lincoln Road,
one could easily overlook the
modest dirt driveway near
the 1-696 overpass.
But if one ventures down this dusty
path and behind the house at its end,
a bucolic landscape awaits. An oasis of
nature amidst the subdivisions, shop-
ping centers and modern office com-
plexes of surrounding Southfield and
Oak Park, this is a place where the
calls of sheep, chickens, geese, barn
swallows, a horse and young boys
drown out the faint murmurs of high-
way traffic. These three acres of coun-
try belong to Rabbi Brian Benjamin,
his wife, Yehudis, and their four sons.
For eight years, the family has owned
the land, gradually transforming it
from an overgrown lot 'to an opera-
tional farm, replete with fruit trees, a
lively vegetable garden and a busy
barn stocked with hay, feed and a
range of livestock.
Observant Jews, the Benjamins
hardly fit the stereotype of the
American farm family. Brian is an
executive for Diversified Chemical
Technologies Inc. in Detroit and a
native of New York City, but says he
"always liked the out of doors."
Yehudis.grew up in Detroit.
"People don't think of Orthodox
Jews as farmers or builders, but we
were a nation. of shepherds," he said.
"It's in our blood. According to
Midrash, God- selected David to be
king because of his shepherding abili-
ties."
Since marrying in 1982, Brian and
Yehudis had discussed their desire to
farm, but found it hard to reconcile ,
with their need to be near synagogue,
schools and other Jewish institutiors.
Then one day, Yehudis spotted the