Jewish Vision Quest
A Rites of Passage Program
White Mountains, California
August 13-22, 2010
“Take a trip out to the fields to pray. All the grasses will join you. They will enter your prayers and give you strength to sing praises to G-d.”
-Rabbi Nachman of Breslov
The Jewish Vision Quest is a ten-day small-group wilderness journey focused on a three-day solo experience that will help you connect to Creation and clarify your life path and purpose.
Solo journeys into the desert are at the core of Judaism. The fore-fathers and fore-mothers received much of their inspiration while alone in the desert, directly connected to the Source. There, alone, we can heal our ancestral lineage; we can recover our ancient wildness. All who are called to deepen their personal journey are invited to join us in the desert this summer.
To help individuals connect to spirit, nature and to themselves, and to mark life transitions, Wilderness Torah joins Rites of Passage, which has been leading individuals on vision quests for over 30 years, to offer the Jewish Vision Quest. In this spiritual quest, participants will gather as a Jewish community with their guides in the high California desert to celebrate a Shabbat Hazon – a “Shabbat of Vision.” We will create sacred space through song, prayer and learning focused on preparing for the solo experience. Framed with the universal message of the medicine wheel (Hebrew “four winds”) and informed by Jewish tales and mystical perspectives on bringing vision, you will enter the desert alone as our ancestors did to encounter the Source and yourself.
This special program will be co-led by Rites of Passage Executive Director Mike Bodkin, a vision quest guide for 28 years, and Wilderness Torah Co-Director Zelig Golden, a vision quest guide and Maggid.
The Program
During four days in wilderness base camp, we will celebrate Shabbat in the wilderness and explore Jewish perspectives on seeking vision and connecting directly to the Source in the natural world. The guides will also work with you to clarify your intention: What are you questing for? What life changes are you marking? What do you hope to receive?
You will enter the desert alone for three days and nights of solitude (fasting encouraged). This is a time to sing, pray, dance, meditate, connect with the Divine, and welcome the changes that will lead to your rebirth. This is the time to claim the truth of your purpose on earth. Your guides will help you understand the purpose of your quest and develop personal ceremony to mark this moment in your life.
On the fourth morning, you will return to the community to begin the process of sharing and incorporating your vision. The guides will help you reflect on the solo journey and understand the many gifts it revealed. As a community, we will help each other to understand and integrate its lessons as we prepare to take our visions back home.
The Details
Dates, times, location: The Jewish Vision Quest will take place at approximately 10,000 feet in the White Mountains of California, a beautiful high desert wilderness on the Nevada border. The program will begin at 10 a.m. on Friday, August 13 near Bishop, CA, and will end by noon on Sunday, August 22. Shabbat, before and after the solo period, will be observed as a community.
Transportation: We recommend a high-clearance vehicle, and we will help arrange ride-sharing. Transportation is the responsibility of each participant. We will send driving instructions after you register.
Registration and tuition: This program is limited to 10 participants. Registration requires a $250 non-refundable deposit. The full program fee is $1,295, which includes a vision quest manual, healthy vegetarian meals (except 1-2 restaurant meals and post-quest camping fees).
Chevra Hazon (“Friends of Vision”): Upon return from the Vision Quest experience, we are all faced with the challenge of bringing our vision back to the people. To help facilitate this integration process, Zelig holds regular gatherings in Berkeley, CA where a community of quest graduates share the process of bringing their vision into the world. For those living outside the Bay Area, post-vision quest check-ins can be arranged on an individual basis.
For more information and to register:
www.ritesofpassagevisionquest.org
If you have questions or want to inquire further:
Contact Michael Bodkin at (707) 537-1927; info@ritesofpassagevisionquest.org or Zelig Golden, (510) 590-1479; zelig@wildernesstorah.org.
You can also download a PDF of this information here.
The Guides
Zelig Golden trained with Mike Bodkin in the yearlong Rites of Passage Vision Quest guide training after his own vision quest in 2007. As Co-Founder & Co-Director of Wilderness Torah, Zelig is working to reawaken and celebrate earth-based Jewish traditions through land-based Jewish festivals, rites of passage, and sustainable life skills. Zelig is an experienced wilderness guide, leading wilderness trips as an Outward Bound instructor and independent guide since 1999, and vision quests through Rites of Passage since 2008.
Michael Bodkin, M.S., MFT, has been the Executive Director of Rites of Passage since 1987. His first vision quest was in 1980 with Steven and Meredith Foster, then co-directors of Rites of Passage. Trained by the Fosters and certified as a Vision Quest Guide in 1982, Michael has led vision quests for 28 years and also directs the Rites of Passage guide-training program. Michael has been a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist since 1978, and brings these skills into his work as a guide. In 1991, Michael moved to an intentional community in Santa Rosa, CA, where he practices his passions of organic gardening and bluegrass music.
Note: The vision quest practice goes by many names and has roots in many cultures. In calling it a Vision Quest, we acknowledge being inspired by Native American teachings (and teachers), in addition to ancient Hebrew teachings, among others. But we must also make it clear that our program is not a Native American Vision Quest.
