Program & Village Spaces

Get ready for an epic lineup of programming, including:

Music

Sacred song circles, Shabbat prayer, late night music sets, and spontaneous jam sessions. We have a wide spectrum of musicians joining us, bringing a range of music from Ladino / Sephardi music and piyutim (Jewish leturgical poems) to gorgeous Ashkenazi melodies and Jewish songs that are being channeled and re-imagined in new ways.

Kabbalat Shabbat

Our mystical services will guide you through the Shabbat portal and release us into a time of deep connection, presence, celebration, and communion.We are counting down the days until we can gather in song and prayer under the rising Shabbat moon of Nisan. Services will be co-led by Rabbi Zelig Golden and Kohenet Riv Shapiro alongside a team of talented musicians.

Pre-Scheduled Workshops

Come prepared to choose between many different workshops, all guiding you towards finding home in yourself, your spiritual practice, your community, and our Earth home. Workshops will be hosted in the various Village Spaces that you see listed below.

“Open Space” Workshops

Sunday afternoon any attendee is invited to propose and host a workshop. Using “Open Space” technology, an effective tool for social organizing based in decentralizing decision making, we will invite the gifts of the collective to emerge. The community will collectively determine which sessions will be led. Come ready to share your skills, keeping in mind there is no guarantee your offering will be selected.  Join the emergence of this collective experiment!

Village Spaces

Village Spaces provide distinct areas for people to learn new skills, participate in diverse programming, and connect with peers.

Our Tent of Meeting (TOM) is our central gathering space for ritual, meals, and offerings.

This tent is our largest space at the festival and provides shade and some protection from the wind.

The Hearth (kitchen) prepares two delicious, organic, seasonal, kosher meals a day and includes a snack for in between times. We provide and maintain a dishwashing area where you can clean your personal dishes after each meal.

The Hearth maintains a separate kosher for Passover dishwashing area used only for the Wilderness Torah kitchen supplies. Those needing kosher dishwashing may use this area by special permission from the Hearth.

The Family Camp area is a village within the village for parents and children to create a community of families.

Joint family camping allows for a night watch schedule, where parents take turns keeping an eye on sleeping children so the other parents can participate in main camp activities at night.

There is a small kitchenette & dishwashing station to support parents’ needs. 

Our ancient Hebrew ancestors tended a sacred fire for centuries and we awaken this ancient tradition at Passover in the Desert. As a community we will keep our Eish al haMizbe’ach (Fire on the Altar) burning throughout the entire festival. The sacred fire provides a space to pray, make offerings, and engage Spirit in a personal and powerful way.

The Red Tent is a space of rest, renewal and rejuvenation. It is open to all those who identify as women and for bleeding bodies that are of moon-time age or older (menstruating or post-menopausal).  It is an unstructured space where all of you is welcome exactly as you are and is a space for healing and nourishment. Traditionally the Red Tent was used for people who were stepping out of society while menstruating. At this gathering, please be mindful that this space is not open to those who are under menstruating age.

This is a home space for folx who identify as persons of color, Jews of color, Sephardi or Mizrahi), and/or of Indigenous heritage. It is a space committed to uplifting the unique identities, complexities, and insights of this community, while creating a sanctuary where folks can rest, recharge, and connect. It is a place for sharing stories, inspiring one another, and creating more support to bring a greater diversity of experiences, faces, and traditions to be centered in American Jewish culture.

The Queer Magic Haven is a safer space for the queer community to gather, connect, rest, learn, reflect and teach about the intricacies and intersectionality of queerness in Jewish community and beyond. The space is open to queer folks, those who are questioning their queerness, and allies who carry the prayer of cultivating more inclusive village where all bodies feel welcome, safe and affirmed.

The House of Memory is dedicated to connecting with and learning ancestral skills, of creating with our hands, and sharing stories. This space will be used for crafting workshops, conversations and activities honoring ancestors, and earth-based Jewish text study.

The Men’s Care Sanctuary is a space for men to give, receive, and experience care. It’s a space to explore and process the impact of patriarchy on our relationships to ourselves and others while being held in love and compassion. The men’s care sanctuary welcomes all who identify as a man regardless of gender assigned at birth, as well as those who have been socialized as male but do not identify as a man. This space uplifts and centers men and male-identifying folks usually at the margins of men’s spaces.

The Healing Hut provides a space for healing and for connecting with your body, mind, and spirit during the festival. It houses herbal remedies for wellness and first aid, body work opportunities and a place of rest and retreat. We encourage people to offer their healing gifts to others such as massage, Reiki, counselling, acupressure, sound healing, etc.

If you are interested in offering a teaching, counseling, herbal remedy etc. to this space, please send an email to:  tali@wildernesstorah.org

The Tea House is also a great place to rest and integrate. A simple cup of tea offers the opportunity to return to yourself.  Our Tea House hosts a diverse array of moments – from quiet contemplative ones to silly irreverent ones and everything in between.  It is also a place of performance, whimsy, and emergent community singing circles.

The Sanctuary will be a space to explore Jewish mystical and mindfulness traditions. It will be a peaceful, cozy, and shady spot to breathe, meditate, and study the ancient wisdom of Kaballah.

A printed program will be provided upon arrival to the desert. You can always check the Modi’in for details on the daily programs, and other important info.

2023 (Last Year’s) Village Space Leaders

New This Year: Elder+ Village

Join Our Elder+ Village

This offering is an opportunity to support the presence of elders in our midst, which is a crucial part of building inter-generational community and a necessary part of creating healthy culture in these times. 

With the generous support of our beloved elder-at-large, Ellie Schindelman, we created a micro village-within-a-village to offer support, ease, and care to anyone over the age of 65 in our community. Elder+ Village offerings include:

  • A limited number of tents & cots available
    We have 2 tents for single individuals and 2 double tents for couples, resulting in a total of 6 available spots for this offer. Each tent will be set up for you and will be equipped with a sleeping cot inside. These are available on a first-come first-served basis. (We are asking for a $50 donation per person to reserve your spot). Please note that these tents are simple, rustic camping tents and that you will need to bring your own bedding and pillow.
  • The Elder Zone
    The elder zone will have shade, a fire circle, and will host elder-specific discussions and rich opportunities to connect more intentionally about the role of elders in the community.

This offering is for you if you are over the age of 65!  Whether you are already registered or are considering joining us, please email us if you:
a) Want a spot in one of our pre-setup tents – OR-
b) You will join the Elder Village with your own RV/camper

Stepping into the Passover Story

Passover in the Desert is a true pilgrimage festival when the desert magic beckons a shift in consciousness which can lead to deep personal and community transformation. The desert expanse provides the ideal environment to reflect on the Exodus story that Jewish tradition asks us to recount every year. The liberation story uniquely comes to life, inviting us to embody the deep meaning of Passover for our generation.

We don’t just tell the story, we step into the story to learn how its timeless themes manifest in our personal lives.

The village becomes a laboratory  for exploring collaborative leadership, celebration, and radical inclusivity. Like our ancestors who lived in tight-knit communities of interconnection with place and with one another, we bring the spirit of village-mindedness back to life during our week together.  Through prayer, ceremony, food, celebration, and honoring life’s passages together, we activate these ancient connections and lean into a way of being that is timeless, rooted, and deeply nourishing for all.

Like our ancestors who lived in tight-knit communities of interconnection with place and with one another, we bring the spirit of village-mindedness back to life during our week together.  Through prayer, ceremony, food, celebration, and honoring life’s passages together, we activate these ancient connections and lean into a way of being that is timeless, rooted, and deeply nourishing for all.

Amidst the vibrancy of village life, participants experience a quality of magic that can only emerge when kids and teens and adults and elders all come together to learn from and share with one another.

More Details

Passover in the Desert is a co-created community experience. Moments of collective service (hitnadvoot) and emergent opportunities to share your skills and talents allow you to both give and receive. We invite you to actively participate in tending the village; whether you are supporting elders at our gathering, or partnering with families who could use some extra help, or making an effort to extend warmth to newcomers – there are plenty of ways to step into greater involvement in creating healthy village culture.

Tribes are small, groups of people who meet regularly  together throughout the festival. These smaller circles provide participants with a more intimate way to get to know each other and connect more deeply. Each tribe has a Rosh (head) who guides the tribe and  is available to support you throughout your experience. 

Tribes also support our village as well by doing service in the community.  Each tribe takes a shift in the Hearth, our community kitchen, helping to chop, cook,

We love homegrown food! Contact festivals@wildernesstorah.org if you have food from a fruit tree or an overflowing garden that you’d like to offer.