Leading your own synagogue Shabbat Hike is incredibly easy. In just 10 steps – simple but effective – you can embark on a moving spiritual experience. And, as we discovered on Congregation Or Ami’s own Shabbat Hikes, the journey is inspiring and refreshing.

They say that exercise is good for the soul. I think Shabbat in the wilderness is good for the soul too and if you can add in a hike, well – even better! To worship in an environment where you can hear the birds, feel the light breeze and see the beauty of the oak trees… I cannot think of a better way to end the week and begin a new one.
– Marcy Cameron

1. Choose a place to hike. We prefer a flat path for our first hikes, so that most people – irregardless of their endurance or hiking ability – can participate. Find a place with ample parking, well marked trails, and double check when the gates/parking lots close so you will not be locked in. Find a gathering spot where, in a circle, you can welcome everyone and set an inspiring tone.
2. Publicize widely. We recorded a Shabbat video message on hiking in the wilderness on Shabbat to share with the whole congregation. Create a simple graphic to post on social media (see ours above).
3. Bring a portable table so people can fill out name tags (which encourage familiarity and break down barriers) while waiting to begin. Later, this table can hold your post-hike oneg – cookies, a challah, mini-cups and grape juice.
4. Make a one page prayer and songsheet. We weave nature-themed songs among an abbreviated order of prayers.
5. Bring a guitar for music and a naturalist or park ranger to share outdoor wisdom.
6. Break your hike into multiple parts. We focused on five: an opening in a circle at the trailhead with a welcome and songs like Hinei Mah Tov; a closing with Kaddish and camplike Hashkiveinu siyum; and three moments along the hike to stop, sing prayers, and listen to brief spiritual drashes (by the rabbi or congregants) and wisdom about your surroundings by a naturalist or park ranger.
7. Take time along the way to look, stop and listen in silence.
8. At the end, in the parking lot or somewhere that everyone can gather, make kiddush, sing Hamotzi, and eat cookies.
9. Then kvell plenty at how many people, always more than expected, show up with their friends, kids, and dogs on a leash.
10. Remember to ask five to six people to send you three to four sentences reflecting upon their experience on the Shabbat hike. Include the post-hike reflections in a blogpost or article, as publicity for the next Shabbat Hike.

The experience will be inspiring. As our congregant Scott Cooper said,

The spiritual feeling created – by the Cantor’s uplifting music and the Rabbi’s spiritual teachings, at sunset in a most beautiful outdoor park setting in the company of fellow congregants and good friends while chanting prayers – was beyond words. As our Jewish tradition reminds us, G-d is around us, and I sensed this Presence and felt grateful for every day.