By Jim Winnerman
BOULDER, Colorado — When Rabbi Alan Shavit-Lonstein was a first-year student at Washington University in 1984, he never expected he would be a rabbi conducting Bar and Bat mitzvah ceremonies for a congregation of 340 families with no building, and which only practices Judaism outdoors.
“It was Rabbi Devora Jacobson at Hillel in St. Louis where I began to appreciate a creative approach to Judaism,” he says. “She taught me something that had never occurred to me, that Judaism could be practiced anywhere and everywhere.”
After 20 years as a traditional congregational rabbi, he met Rabbi Jamie Korngold in Boulder, Colorado in 2020 and learned of the Adventure Judaism Congregation she had founded in 2001. Based on the belief that spirituality is enhanced in natural settings, Rabbi Korngold’s approach rekindled an appreciation for what Shavit-Lonstein had been exposed to in St. Louis.
Today, among his rabbinical duties as a rabbi at the Adventure Judaism Congregation, he prepares 20 students a year for B’nai Mitzvah during a course of study that involves 15 outdoor adventures. The curriculum culminates in a ceremony conducted in an outdoor setting selected by the student.
“We believe Jewish spirituality is more easily relatable and enhanced in an outdoor spiritual setting such as a breathtaking vista,” Shavit-Lonstein says.
Mountain climbing is one of the 15 adventures of the B’nai Mitzvah curriculum. “There are not many rabbis who conduct lessons wearing hiking boots and a backpack and carry pepper spray to ward off a possible encounter with a bear,” Shavit-Lonstein says laughing.
As he leads classes on a mountain trail, he makes several mountainside stops. A pause to study the geology of the mountain is used to reinforce an appreciation of the majesty of creation, and to recite and relate Jewish prayers to the same topic. “The mountains become the temple,” Shavit-Lonstein says.
At another pause, he talks about how important it is to support each other on the journey, and how they apply what they learn to being part of a community when they come off the mountain.
The lesson was particularly meaningful for Denver resident Darcy Simon when her group was caught in a hailstorm on the mountain and the class scattered in different directions to seek shelter. “After the storm abated the group gathered together, the rabbi used the opportunity to teach the kids about how people need to work together during chaotic situations,” says Darcy’s father, Dan Simon. “It was a lesson that would be impossible to replicate in a classroom.”
Another adventure is a moonlight walk when the students stroll silently while they meditate and then stop and reflect as a group how prayer works. Other moonlight stops include discussions on the meaning behind a Jewish prayer to the moon, conversations about the origin of the stars and the universe, and how and why the Jewish calendar is based on the cycles of the moon.
“The moonlight walk was very memorable for our son,” says Jobie Stom of Longmont, Colorado. “The excitement of the darkness and being out in nature seemed to connect him closer to God.”
All outdoor adventures involve conversations connect the experience to something relevant both to Judaism and how it relates to real life in today’s culture.
The students also observe the Jewish holidays outdoors with the congregation. Yearly the members travel to the desert near Moab, Utah for a two-day Passover service. Some congregation members camp in tents, while others stay in an RV or in a motel.
The adventure class, together with their families and all members of the congregation, hike a mile to a canyon in the desert where the seder begins under a natural, 100-foot-tall sandstone arch. As the Torah is completely unrolled, each member holds a portion of the parchment while the rabbi and members read the Torah portion.
“Holding the Torah standing next to our son and being in the desert was very moving. The desert around Moab is absolutely the right place to tell the story of when God speaks to Moses and delivers the ten commandments” Jobie says. “It looks like the Negev where Jews wandered in the desert and came together as a community. It made our family feel very connected to our ancestors.”
“In a very real sense we are not creating something new, we are reclaiming our past from thousands of years ago,” Shavit-Lonstein volunteers. “We can tell Moses it worked!”
As the time for the Bar or Bat mitzvah arrives it is up to the student to select the location. Over the years ceremonies have been conducted at the Sunrise Circle Amphitheater on top of Flagstaff Mountain overlooking Boulder, next to a babbling creek, and in a park with the Colorado Mountains in the background.
“Outdoor venues can also be less expensive and eliminate the competition for extravagant celebrations,” Shavit-Lonstein says.
The congregation does offer several other paths toward a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, but “the adventure students select the program themselves and are definitely a self-selected group,” Shavit-Lonstein acknowledges.
When asked how the congregation conducts weekly services and other Jewish holidays and life-cycle events throughout the year without a building, Shavit-Lonstein says that sometimes they rent an indoor space, but a part of every service is held outdoors. “No matter how bad the weather, it is just a matter of selecting the right clothes to wear,” he says.
“Our type of worship may not work as easily in other cities as in Boulder where an appreciation of the outdoors is part of the DNA, but the lessons of Jewish connection, and especially in nature, can resonate everywhere.”
However, there is no question that the concept of Adventure Judaism resonates with people outside of Boulder, too. The synagogue website (adventurerabbi.org/) receives 150,000 views a month.
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Jim Winnerman is a freelance writer. This story initially appeared in the St. Louis Jewish Light.