12 February 28 • 2019
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continued from page 10
jews d
in
the
Ashley keeps detailed lists and every
week — she’
s trying to get it to two
weeks — the family drives a half-hour
to Mt. Pleasant to shop. They frequent-
ly order food and supplies via Amazon.
Even to run out for milk at the nearest
grocery involves a trip of several miles
along an unpaved road.
Once a month, they travel to the
Detroit area to buy kosher meat,
cheese and other products hard to find
in mid-Michigan. They look for Jewish
events and activities they can do at the
same time. In November, they went to
Congregation Beth Shalom’
s Chanu-
Con and enjoyed meeting members of
the local community.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Their plans for next year are modest:
expand the existing organic garden;
harvest fruit from the half-dozen
apple, peach and cherry trees; and
build coops for chickens, both for meat
and for eggs. Ashley killed chickens as
a farm girl and wants to learn to do it
the kosher way. The Wormsleys also
hope to raise turkeys and maybe goats.
Eric bought a tractor to plow out the
garden and purchased more than 300
packets of non-GMO seeds, including
many heirloom varieties.
They put in a wood-burning stove
to help heat the house. Eric is still able
to do a lot of the work, though he has
occasional seizures and has some trou-
ble walking because of the numbness
in his legs.
When they’
re not doing formal
schoolwork — from books or online
programs — the older children help by
caring for the younger siblings (David,
6, Jenna, 4, Corban, 2, and baby Tovia),
cooking, cleaning and doing laundry.
Naomi, who loves to write, is pre-
paring college applications. Hannah
enjoys baking and all kinds of arts and
handicrafts; she recently started her
own YouTube channel, That Creative
Bug. Samuel likes to be hands-on with
wood-working and electrical projects.
He loves the outdoors and is looking
forward to gardening as soon as spring
comes.
Since moving to Michigan, the
Wormsleys have relied on each other
for social relationships. Eric and
Ashley are hoping to find activities
nearby where the children can meet
others their own ages. They’
re also
looking at Jewish camps for the sum-
mer. ■
Today, there are probably fewer
than 50,000 Karaite Jews in the
world, mostly in Israel. The United
States has a single Karaite synagogue,
Congregation B’
nai Israel in Daly City,
Calif., near San Francisco, with several
hundred families. The Bay Area has the
largest American Karaite population.
For many centuries, the Karaite
community did not recognize converts,
a ban that was reversed only recently
by the Karaite Council of Sages in
Israel. The council authorized the
founding of the non-accredited Karaite
Jewish University in California in 2006;
the first class of converts graduated in
2007, following a year-long course of
study. The converts took the oath the
biblical Ruth used when she joined the
ancient Hebrews. ■
The Wormsley children are homeschooled, using books and online programs.
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