I’ve just returned transformed after five days in the California desert with sixty fellow Pesach journeyers. The whole experience was so totally outrageous that it felt completely natural. Who would have thought that getting back to the land, connecting in community, praying and

Tent of Meeting

creating ritual, and taking time for ourselves could be such a transformative experience? Well, we did have an idea I guess…

So we did it… we examined our own mitzrayim (narrow places) while reconnecting to our ancestors’ liberation from Egypt. We supported each other on our paths and connected to the power of the desert. This was truly a personal journey in community.

Ibex Wilderness, CA

From our opening circle to our closing prayers, from our communal kosher for Pesach meals to our song and drum circles, from our tribal seder around a campfire to our silent walks in the desert, from the connections we made with one another to the hot pink blossoms of the beavertail cactus, from our text studies to our yoga classes, from our women’s circles to our dances around the bonfire, from the sparkling sunsets to the spacious sunrises, we came together in community. Sharing responsibilities, love, and support, everyone seemed to show up as their highest self to make Pesach in the Desert the beautiful event that it was.

Plus, any community that starts banging on drums and singing Kabbalat Shabbat while physically holding down our shade structure during a windstorm is a community I want to be a part of. I feel so honored to be a part of this magic.

Bonfire!

Wilderness Torah creates earth-based festivals in California for Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot and TuB’Shevat. If you want to join us for Shavuot on the Mountain, send us an email at wildernesstorah@gmail.com.

And you can check out some of our pictures from Pesach here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/pesachinthedesert/

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There is a deep yearning within me and within so many souls to reconnect with the very fabric of creation. We hear the call and many of us are taking steps to move closer to her. We see this in the Jewish back-to-the-land movement, manifest in a growing number of Jewish farm education projects, in the New Jewish Food Movement fueled by Hazon, and in the blossoming of a Jewish consciousness seeking to rediscover the ancient earth-based roots of our tradition. With the world moving through a period of deep economic transformation and environmental uncertainty, now is the time for us to respond to this yearning.

The 14th of Nisan 5769 (Wednesday April 8th, 2009) is a profoundly auspicious moment to heed this call. Sunrise on the 14th of Nisan is Birkhat HaChama, the Blessing of the Sun, the once-in-a-generation opportunity to celebrate the birthday of the sun and the birthday of all of creation. As the Babylonian Talmud instructs, each person who witnesses the sun “in its season” – meaning when the sun arrives at the place where it was at the beginning of creation – shall bless Hashem, “Blessed is the Maker of Creation.” (Babylon Talmud, Berakhot 59b). Birkat HaChama is not simply a rare moment to celebrate creation, however. It is the deepest moment of renewal, rebirth, and new beginning for our generation. (more…)

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