neighbors
CIDER RULES Ironbound Farm’s tasting room will be open on Saturdays and Sundays starting mid-October.
5
ROSEN ONCE HELPED AN
EGYPTIAN FAMILY FIND
REFUGE IN NEW JERSEY.
A man who was part of the
Egyptian Olympic team,
whom Rosen describes as a “giant
bear,” was working at a gas station in
Egypt, trying to save money to bring
his family over to the United States.
Rosen and his team brought them
over to escape the pressures of ISIS.
Not long after, the children settled
in public schools, the family bought
a little house and the man currently
20
FALL 2018 MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE
works at Ironbound Farm. Rosen
recalls a time when the man’s alarm
went off on his phone, and Arabic
music was playing. He realized that it
was the man’s Muslim call to prayer.
“I told him to take a break to pray,
and this huge guy with huge muscles
just comes and gives me a hug,” he
says. “I realized that he’s never been
in a situation where his white-Jewish
boss told him to do that. This is what
community feels like.”
6
ROSEN HELD HIS SON’S BAR
MITZVAH AT THE FARM
AND CALLED IT A “FARM
MITZVAH.” He likes to expose
his children to the people who work
at the farm so they can gain a sense
of diversity. The entire staff attended
the “farm mitzvah” and brought their
children because his son wanted
them there. “My son was running
around with one of our crew chiefs’
sons while we watched the sun set,”
Rosen says. “It’s pretty special to be
able to do that with someone who
has been in gangs his whole life and
whose son is…just my son’s friend.”
7
ROSEN LIVED IN THE
WEST VILLAGE BEFORE
SETTLING IN MONTCLAIR
13 YEARS AGO. The
Canadian native appreciates
the public schools his children
are enrolled in, the sports they
play, and the diverse group of
friends they’ve made during
their time in Montclair, though
he originally resisted accepting
that he’d left the city. “I’d always
come home from parties [in
Montclair] and be like ‘Those
people were awesome,’ and my
wife would say ‘Well what’s
wrong with that?’ and I’d be like,
‘Well I want to leave, I don’t
want to like anybody,’” he says.
This caused him to dive deeper
into his town, and eventually he
became an active member of the
community. “It was interesting
for me because leaving the city to
come to Montclair, we came to
understand what community is
really about,” he says. “I couldn’t
even imagine living back in the
city right now.” ■
4
HIS GOAL IS TO PROVE THAT
SUCCESSFUL COMPANIES
CAN TREAT PEOPLE WITH
DIGNITY, AND STILL
MAKE MONEY. Rosen wants other
companies to start paying their
employees decent wages, and to start
caring about them. “I worry about
the world my kids will grow up in,”
he says. “It’s pretty terrifying if we
keep going down the path we are
on. There is a path we all can take
that is more sustainable, holistically
speaking.”