Tag Archives: hiking

[Alumni Guest Post] Walking the Land

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Posted by Daniel Shibley (Yr '11, Fellows '12):

9The Great Outdoors.

Most digital cable and dish networks in the United States have an entire channel or two devoted to the outdoors and the numerous related activities, from hunting and fishing, to hiking and camping. Israelis, although I am not able to vouch for the television coverage, certainly are committed to experiencing nature. More precisely, being outside and walking the breadth and depth of the Land of Israel is an experience that is near and dear to a large percentage of Israelis. In the week prior to the Passover holiday, the Israel Trails Committee estimated that 100,000 Israelis had set foot on one of Israel’s countless trails. Most popular among those trails are the Sea to Sea (From the Galilee to the Med.) or the monstrous Israel Trail (From Metula to Eilat). Regardless of the abilities of a particular hiker, each trail gives the trekkers the opportunity to Continue reading →

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Golan Tiyul, or Adversity Builds Community

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Courtesy of Megan Dyer (Spring '12, Spring '13)

Courtesy of Megan Dyer (Spring ’12, Spring ’13)

Now that the craziness of preparing for Pesach and the seder itself is over, I have time to write about the Golan Tiyul. It was so beautiful! Flowers in bloom everywhere! Last week we experienced such a different climate than in Jerusalem, it was rainy and much cooler. We were joined by the families of several Pardes faculty members, which was really nice. Of all the tiyulim we have gone on this year, this has been the one with the most “modifications”. Rain made our first hike interesting, it was very muddy. As someone with a reasonable fear of slippery surfaces ( in 7th grade, I broke my ankle when I lost my footing on some wet leaves on a hill), I was not a happy camper. At the end of the hike, I was ready to throw out my mud saturated sneakers, but a friend brought them to the bus for me. Even though I felt like I never wanted to hike again, this was a good thing because after a good night sleep I was ready to do the hike the next day. Continue reading →

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For the Win

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From my blog, posted after
the Arava Tiyul:

One year ago, I was about to take a semester off from college. I was the thinnest I had ever been; I could no longer run or bike; the slightest bit of yoga made me dizzy. My stomach twisted and turned every day, and I hated my body for how it was controlling me. In a vengeful attempt to control my body, I would sometimes skip meals or drink only tea to reduce the clenching that I knew would come.

Free! Free! Free! Eating this way should make me rich.

Free! Free! Free! Eating this way should make me rich.

Today, my stomach still acts as its own entity, bubbling, hardening and twinging whenever it pleases, but I have learned to work with it. Over the past year, I have managed to put back on some of the weight that had slipped from my bones, focusing on consuming proteins and fats every day. I routinely reduce a little of the discomfort by eliminating wheat and dairy from my diet and sipping cold almond milk at night to cool the acidic heat. But most importantly, I am no longer despairing the loss of my body. I know the cramps will fade by morning. I laughingly explain to anyone who asks why I am refusing their home-made chocolate chip cookies, “Well, I have tons of stomach issues, so I don’t eat wheat or dairy. But if you ever make quinoa muffins, let me know!” And even when the eliminations don’t eliminate much of anything, I know that I will get through the symptoms. Whatever they are, I’ve had them and I can handle them again. They were. They are. They will be. But I will be even stronger. Continue reading →

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Swirl Swirl Desert Stop

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From my blog:
(written two days ago)

So, last night, I sat around a crackling fire with a group of religious people chanting incantations in ancient languages while passing around a hand-carved knife and letting the blood from our left pinkie fingers drip over the hot, scalding flames…

Okay, that was an exaggeration. But I think I have been initiated.

Type. Stop. Delete. Type. Dash dash dash (parentheses) I’ve got it I’ve got it period bam. Nope. Wait. Do-over. Turn here, not there. Remember that? Well, please forget it. But write it down for safe-keeping. Read it again later. But not too much later, because then your train of thought will be interrupted and you will not be able to express yourself accordingly. Self. Self. What is Self? Thought I knew my Self. Spoke to it the other day; we had an understanding. Now understanding is on holiday – “Terribly sorry, out of office until January the twenty first, will reply to all your messages at my earliest convenience” – damn damn if I could just catch the end of the rope – slipping slipping – holiday. Which one? Passover?

This is what my mind has been doing for the past three days. Pardes has officially penetrated my brain. And there is no sign of retreat.

Early Tuesday morning, we headed out (coach-bus style) down to the sands of the Arava desert. For three days (and, somehow, only 50 shekels each), we enjoyed a beautiful tiyul on Israel’s most southern tip. We hiked a variety of rocky, sandy, pebbly paths during the day and curled up under thick blankets in the heated kibbutz guest-houses during the night. We ate cucumbers for breakfast and enjoyed free wine and beer over dinner. We let the sun spill into our pores and let the desert wind whip our faces cool. But, aside from the blissful warmth and the absence of five layers of clothing, what I remember most are the conversations.

We talked while hiking. We talked while eating. We talked on the bus. We talked before going  to bed. Sometimes I clambered for a book just to grab a few moments of silence. But then a curious person would ask what book it was, and a conversation would begin.

We usually covered the basics: hometown, alma mater, family, religious background. But the conversations did not stay on the surface for very long. Judaism always poked up its roots – and quite aggressively.

There is no way to describe the way each person I met made me feel. I would talk with someone, reach a conclusion, think about it, talk with someone else, and realize my conclusion was unraveling. Basically, after an intense three days, I met a large number of the students I will be studying with for the next five months. They accepted me, and I joined their circle of fire. And thus unrolled a manifesto of everlasting questions:

“Traditional” means… “modern” means… “egalitarian” means…
Do I look religious?
Do I act religious?
Right, left, yashar, yashar
Do I want to look more religious?
Do I want to act more religious?
If I want the wrong thing…
What is the wrong thing?
Does it go right or left?
Right to me, wrong to you,
Left to me, right to you,
Left to myself, where would I go?
Where am I going?
Is there one religious happiness for me, or can I find it within the Modern, the Orthodox, the Unclassified? Will I ever be sure I have found it – sure enough to take someone with me…for the rest of my life?

As you can see, my thoughts are swirling, buoyed by the strength of the desert wind and the entrance of new human beings – bodies and minds – into my life. Must rest, must sleep, must think or dream…

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במדבר

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Originally posted on my blog:

“The desert, when the sun comes up…
I couldn’t tell where Heaven stopped and the Earth began.
It was so beautiful.”

-Forrest Gump

Here are some pictures from my school’s trip to the Negev desert two weeks ago. (Pictures are better quality if you click on them!)

Israel, you are so beautiful.

First day hike: Nahal Peres

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Gaza, the Negev, and…Australia?

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Originally posted on my blog:

Hey, I’ve certainly been keeping busy over the past few weeks but I’ll hone in on this most recent week since a lot has been going on recently.

The first thing I’d like to say is that, although from the media explosion through internet and TV it may seem like every square inch of Israel is a war zone and people are freaking out, things are actually quite calm here in Jerusalem. On Friday and over Shabbat, people were walking their dogs, kids were playing with each other in the streets, people were shopping and preparing for Shabbat, and more. Life goes on as usual here in Jerusalem. One air raid siren did go off last night aroun 5 pm, but I was already in Shabbat services then and didn’t hear it, either because we were all too engaged in the excitement of singing and welcoming in Shabbat, and also because we weren’t exactly expecting a siren so weren’t really listening for one. But luckily it hit nowhere near us and in an open field, far away from people. And as for the future, I think the mind set is just to take things day by day and not panic or overreact. But what can you do instead? Pray for the IDF, pray for Israel, and pray for the innocent civilians of Gaza, that this is all over soon.

Now onto the fun stuff. Continue reading →

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Going down the mountain with Sam.

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Ein Gedi, freshwater spring of legend, sanctuary of David. In the scorching desert, the Negev. In the mountains above Yam HaMelach, the Dead Sea, the burning sea of salt.

Sam, falling down while climbing out of a gorge carved in a high, rocky outcropping, its steep chutes formed by the rains of a geologic epoch.

Us, lifting our brother up through the narrow way.

Him, on hands and knees, right foot broken in two places, pulling himself up a cliff foot by foot.

Our hands, a protective net–above, behind, below.

Him, hopping along a narrow track, loose with crumbling rock and gravel, far above the floor of the wadi, both hands gripping the wall, gripping our hands, finding a way forward.

We carried him down on our backs, our packs shed, our water gone.

An access road. A jeep arrives. The park service.

We drive to the site of an ancient synagogue, ruins from the time of the talmud. Our friends are waiting, there is water, benches, the road back to Yerushalayim.

Time resumes. The sun hangs low in the sky. Pardes gathers for mincha.

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[Guest Post] Reflections of the Alex Singer Hike in 2012, the Year of his 25th Yahrtzeit and a Poem

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by Suzanne Singer, Alex’s mom

Three events happened this year that gave us a theme for the Alex Hike.  Benjy joined around 250 IDF officers on their trip to Germany and Poland to learn about and see the physical remains of the Shoah. Benjy’s son Itai went with his 12th grade class to Poland to witness the physical remains of the Shoah. Alex’s unpublished thesis from Cornell, Letters from the Diaspora, went up on the Alex website complete with all his drawings–available to everyone for the first time at www.alexsinger.org.

Because Alex’s year in Europe studying and traveling to places where Jewish communities had once thrived led to the thesis, and because writing the thesis led to Alex’s decision to make aliyah and join the IDF after college—that became the theme for the hike.

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Gone Hikin’

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This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to be included in a shabbaton with some of my classmates at our teacher’s house. We went on a hike beforehand, which was b-e-a-utiful.

I also got to use my new camera lens! My first eBay purchase (they were practically giving it away!). Nothing too impressive yet, but I hope to improve as time goes on. As I always say, you can never have too many hobbies. Right?

Roadside hoodlums.

Roomies pre-hike

I think this captures our relationship pretty well.

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Life Post-Chagim

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Originally posted on my blog:

Hey, remember me? Sorry it’s been so long since I posted last, but things have been pretty busy here. I’m not exactly sure where I left off last, but I think it was somewhere around sukkot break (called one of the chagim aka festivals), so let me jump to that since that included plenty of excitement.

During the week of sukkot break, I went with 2 friends from Pardes up north to Tiberias. We hopped on a bus on Wednesday morning without much of a plan other than wanting to sleep on the Kenerret (also known as the Sea of Galilee – the only fresh water source in Israel, and the only source of water other than the Mediterranean) . So when we arrived in Tiberias, we began as any proper American would by stopping at the (kosher!) McDonald’s right outside of the bus station and getting awesome milkshakes for ourselves. Then, after exploring for a bit and swimming in the Kenerret, we saw a mountain by us and decided that we wanted to climb it – so we did. We wandered around until we found a trail up, and eventually made it to an amazing point where we could see the whole Kenerret, mountains, and an aerial of Tiberias, at which point we (well at least I) spent some time reflecting and meditating over our time so far and getting to look back at Jerusalem from afar in order to properly think about it. Also, it was nice to finally be near a body of water. We then hiked more and finally wandered around the Kenerret, until we found a great place to set up camp, about 15 ft. from the water. Or I guess I should use the measurement system of the country and say about 5 meters. But you get the idea.

The next morning, we decided to head over to Tsfat, so we spent the day wandering around the town; it was so great to be back there, since it had been about two years since I had been there. Also, on the way there, our bus broke down and we had to switch, but, being the unplanned travelers that we were, we got to experience it as just another cool part of our journey instead of something that got in the way. Then, after coming back to Jerusalem that night, I hopped on the first bus out to Tel Aviv the next morning (~6am) to partake in the massive cycling event that was going on there. They blocked off about ten miles of highway and a bunch of major roads through the city, and I got to join thousands of bikers in doing a 42k through the city, and it was great; definitely a nice way to ease back to Tel Aviv after not being there for ~2 years either. Then, after finishing up the ride, I went to hang out and stretch on the beach and jump in the Mediterranean and think about how 24 hours earlier I had woken up in the Keneret. Definitely a pretty packed few days.

Since coming back from break, we’ve been back in class for ~2 weeks now and it’s definitely been nice to be back in routine after about a month off for holidays. And now we don’t really have too much time off in the next few months other than a 3-day hike in November and a week off for Hanukah, so this time coming up will be a great time to start really getting into the learning and developing a routine which will be great. I’ve been reading a lot lately also, and I’ve really been enjoying two books in particular – “The Secret Life of G-d” and “The Sabbath”.

A few gems that I have picked up in “The Secret Life of G-d”…

  • Our choices really do make a difference, but the real difference they make is how they change us
  • As quoted by a Bob Dylan lyric, everyone is serving somebody – there isn’t anyone in the world that isn’t serving something or somebody. The question isn’t to serve or not to serve – it is who to serve.
  • And here’s a famous story that the author re-tells:

There was a man who dreamed that he saw his whole life’s journey as footsteps in the sand. Sometimes there were two imprints, his and G-ds. But during the parts of the trek that were most difficult, he saw only one set of footprints. He complained to G-d: “G-d, You promised me that You would always accompany me in my journey. How is it that during the most difficult times in my life, You disappeared?” G-d responded, “I have always been with you. The reason why you only see one set of footprints is because during your most difficult times, I carried you. Those footprints are Mine.

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