Jewish Vision Quest
A Rites of Passage Program
High California Desert
July 8-17, 2011

“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

Are you hungry for personal time for reflection and connection?
Are you asking big life questions or at a major life transition?
Do you want to deepen your relationship with nature?

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 offers 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 preperatory Shab bat.  We will create sacred space through song, prayer and learning focused on preparing for the solo experience.  Framed with the universal message of the arba ruchot, the Hebrew four-winds medicine wheel, 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 is co-guided by Wilderness Torah Founding Co-Director Zelig Golden, a vision quest guide and Maggid, and Rabbi Sarah Etz Alon, vision quest guide and Founding Director of the Eber Lat Living Laboratory, which endeavors to bring the aboriginal roots of Judaism alive.

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 9,000 feet in the high desert of California near the California-Nevada border.  The program will begin at 10 a.m. on Friday, July 8, 2011 near Bishop, CA, and will end by noon on Sunday, July 17, 2011.  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 9 participants. Reserving your space on the quest requires a $250 non-refundable deposit. In the spirit of inclusion, this program is offered on a sliding scale of $750-$1250. For those with the means, we ask that you consider paying on the higher end of the scale, enabling us to serve those with less. Payment plans and some scholarships available. Fees cover two guides for 10-days; a vision quest manual; and healthy, kosher, vegetarian meals. Participants must provide and pay for their own transportation and camping equipment, and pay for 1-2 post-quest meals and camping fees.

To register or  to inquire further, please contact us at: info@wildernesstorah.org.

The Guides

Zelig Golden was ordained as “Maggid Hazon” (Jewish spiritual teacher of vision) in Summer 2010 and trained in the yearlong Rites of Passage Vision Quest guide training in 2008 after his own vision quest in 2007. As Founding Co-Director of Wilderness Torah, Zelig works 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 and now Wilderness Torah since 2008.

Rabbi Sarah Etz Alon has spent her life immersed in the Earth Centered Hebraic Wisdom Paths.  After many years serving as a Maggid and Rabbinic Pastor, she retreated to the New Mexico wilderness under the mentorship of Rabbi Gershon Winkler, who ordained her as Rabbi in the ancient Jewish shamanic ways and traditional lineages of Mussar, Halacha and Kabbalah.  A dedicated student of Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi, Rabbi Sarah mentors teachers and leadership in the emergent Earth Based Torah movement.  Founding rabbi of Eber-Lat Living Lab and rabbi in-residence at Havurah Shir Hadash in Ashland, Oregon, Rabbi Sarah is deeply engaged in the work to re-integrate our earth-centered ways of being.

Testimonials

“The Jewish Vision Quest led by Zelig Golden was one of the most transformational experiences I have undertaken. The combination of ancient Jewish traditions and deep wilderness wisdom is as powerful as anything I have witnessed on any of my spiritual journeys to India, Africa, or Peru. Zelig is an exceptional leader. He has a gifted ability to mirror our experiences back to us so that we are able to access higher teachings and deep personal growth. Since August, I’ve looked at the world through a different lens and have become increasingly involved in Wilderness Torah and the Jewish community.
~ Terry Cumes, 2009 Jewish Vision Quest

“On the vision quest I learned that I could experience and practice Judaism in a way that honors my connection to spirit and the natural world. I found that my connection to this ancient ancestral tradition was suddenly palpable and relevant to me. It offered me powerful tools to reconnect to my roots in a way that was meaningful, inspiring and nurturing. I have such deep gratitude for the guidance I received on the vision quest and for the way that it led me to the incredible opportunity to serve as a staff member for the Adamah program.”
~ Elizabeth Giancola, 2008 Jewish Vision Quest

Note: The vision quest practice goes by many names and has roots in many cultures.  In calling it the Jewish 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.