A growing nonprofit called Rosie’s Farm Sanctuary, founded by a local Jewish family in a residential Potomac neighborhood in 2022, is quickly becoming an educational and
area attraction.
The Waldman family educates people on the treatment of animals in the animal agriculture industry and has a basis in the Jewish value of doing no harm.
The Waldmans named the sanctuary after a golden retriever they rescued from a traumatic breeding operation shortly after moving to Maryland from California in late 2020. The sanctuary is the fulfillment of a life dream for Michele Waldman, the founder and president.
“[It] started as an idea when I was living in California. We moved from California three years ago … and in 2019, I started learning more about what happens to animals in industrial agriculture, and I got really depressed,” Waldman said.
She began volunteering at local animal sanctuaries and bonded with the animals there, along with helping to rescue a couple of cows from the dairy industry.
Waldman realized that she could create her own sanctuary after putting together a GoFundMe campaign that raised $17,000 in one day for a sanctuary destroyed by a wildfire.
“Something inside woke up and said, ‘I can do this. Not only can I just rescue animals and go and volunteer and clean up after them and love them. I could probably do this.’ And then I wanted to move away from the fires. Because I couldn’t open a sanctuary in California. I just didn’t feel like it was ethical with all the danger of the fire,” Waldman said.
That decision prompted the Waldmans to move to the DMV area, where Waldman’s husband, Craig Waldman, was already working and spending significant time.
Another stroke of good fortune helped Waldman fulfill her sanctuary dream, as her neighbor agreed to sell 20 acres of land. She had that land designated as a farm and began putting the sanctuary together before hiring a manager and opening in 2022.
In the years since its opening, Rosie’s has become a place for people to learn about animals and the animal agricultural industry. It has grown its online presence and volunteer support.
“[I thought] what if we built this for the community, and people can come on the weekends with their families, with their friends. And that’s exactly what’s happening. The community is showing up,” Waldman said. “We’ve got schools, we had 300 students come this spring alone. [We have] classrooms and buses, common church groups and temples [visiting]. One girl had dedicated her bat mitzvah to the sanctuary.”
Waldman added that the girl will volunteer at the sanctuary during the summer and held her celebration there. She had guests help volunteer, while also donating her bat mitzvah money to the sanctuary.
That sense of community and service is what Waldman is trying to foster — to the point that Rosie’s will add building community to its mission statement to pair with the goals of rescuing, educating and advocating.
And on top of fulfilling a dream for Waldman, the sanctuary ties in with her Jewish identity and her mission of living by the value of tikkun olam. That means making sure that no animals are subjected to suffering and mistreatment.
“It’s a very spiritual-existential belief for me. I think just being on this planet as human beings we do harm driving down the street. It’s harmful. It’s complicated, but I do not want to cause suffering,” she said.
“This is not in the Torah, but I will say, our people have suffered so much. We have been enslaved, we have been persecuted, we have been cast aside. I don’t want to do that to any living being at all. I don’t want to put an animal in a cage. Our people were put in cages,” she added.
Waldman said that she loves being Jewish, although she keeps religion out of Rosie’s to keep its focus on matters regarding the animals.
“I keep it very mission-focused on compassion and kindness. And as a Jewish woman I do think I have a responsibility to be an outstanding member of my community because I do think there’s a lot of misunderstanding about Jewish people,” she said.
As the sanctuary enters its third year, Waldman wants to continue getting the word out about the work being done. So far, that includes rescuing and housing five farmed pigs, five potbelly pigs, two cows, six goats, 14 hens, two miniature horses and four sheep from across the East Coast.
Waldman said that as more people support the sanctuary, it will continue to grow and innovate.
“People have heard about us, are coming to visit and get excited and come up with ideas. And this was built for the community. So I’m open to any ideas,” she said.