"Jews don’t go camping. Life is hard enough as it is.”
Uh, sorry Carol, I (and many other Jews beg to differ). Although it may shatter some stereotypes, there are plenty of Jews who take the opportunity to say goodbye to the city – and even the cottage – and venture into the wild. There, they find the ideal setting to commune with friends and nature – and to also do some davening and Jewish learning.
Merissa Nathan Gerson asked Julie Wolk of WildnernessTorah about the sometimes forgotten connection between Judaism and the outdoors. “‘Human beings are disconnected,’ said Wolk. ‘Adam [man] comes from adamah [earth]. When we disconnect from that source, from the earth – we are disconnected from ourselves, our community, we are ungrounded. We can see it all over society how people are longing for connection.’ By taking Jewish community out of the synagogue and placing it in community camping, hiking and prayer experiences outdoors, Wilderness Torah hopes to re-forge that connection.”
You don’t have to convince Stephen Altbaum and his buddies about the virtues of getting out. For more than three decades, they explored Ontario’s waterways and wilderness, in what the Canadian Jewish News described as “an excursion of faith, friendship and food.”
“Wherever we are we make Kiddush and light candles on Shabbat,” organizer Altbaum said. As for the camaraderie, “there’s this amazing chemistry between us. Sure, we’ve had our small problems, someone will get on someone else’s nerves. But this group has kept a lot of psychiatrists out of work.”
Camping with the guys sounds great, but so is getting out with your own family. You can watch videos as Moshe-Yitzchak and his parents take to the great outdoors. Despite the soggy weather, their spirits seem upbeat, and they are even able to glean some meaningful lessons from some unlikely events. When he is able to nurse a spark into a roaring fire, Moshe-Yitzchak says, “Just like there was just one spark in the fire… so in some Yidden (Jews), there is only one spark, and if you blow on the spark and you give it lots of care, it will become a nice fire with lots of sparks.” And for something a bit different, check out the video of challahs roasting over an open flame.
The National Jewish Girl Scout Committee has practical advice about keeping kosher and enjoying Shabbat in the wild.
• Arrival at the campsite should be at least two hours before sunset Friday, as Shabbat begins at sundown. The period between arrival at the campsite and onset of Shabbat is needed for setting up, organizing, kashering the kitchen equipment and meal preparation.
• No fires may be lit or extinguished on Shabbat. If fires are set before Shabbat, they are to be tended properly and allowed to burn out on their own.
• Flowers and leaves may not be picked. This applies even if vegetation has fallen off by itself.
• Be sure to have outbuildings (washhouses and latrines) lighted before sundown. Use of flashlights by observant Girl Scouts is prohibited on Shabbat.
There is more to observing Shabbat than just refraining from lighting a fire or picking flowers. And that has probably frightened more than one observant lover of the outdoors from camping from Friday through Sunday. Aside from kindling, there are prohibitions regarding extinguishing, building, cooking, laundering and carrying in areas outside the boundaries of a delineated space called an eruv. Over at travellingrabbi.com, Rabbi Ben Tanny provides an overview for building an eruv. For more details, he has also written a book on the subject, Camping on Shabbat.
And then there’s the food. Harmony House Foods produces backpacking and trail-ready kits that are OU certified. (Please note: their vegan soup blends are not certified.)
If you have the longing to get outdoors but don’t have the skills, equipment or nerve to do it by yourself, there are groups that will guide your body and nurture your soul. At Chuckie’s Kosher Adventure Tours, Yehudah and Minnie Nosenchuk will provide everything you need as you join them at Acadia National Park in Maine, Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon. (Daily minyan included.)
And there’s more. BurningBushAdventures.com offers New England-based hiking and canoe trips in the spring and dog sledding trips in the winter. Meanwhile, AdventureRabbi.com leads groups around Boulder, Colo., while TevaAdventure.org has ventured as far afield as Alaska and the European Alps.
Perhaps it shouldn’t be so surprising, this Jewish wanderlust, this urge to explore the great outdoors. After all, it’s been in our blood for thousands of years. As it says in Exodus 19:2: “They entered the wilderness of Sinai and encamped in the wilderness.” If our ancestors camped out for 40 years, is it really so odd if we want to do it for a few days?