It is not unusual for pulpit rabbis to run from simcha to simcha – literally! Attending a bris, engagement party, and wedding in a single day is par for the course. But on March 9, two Baltimore rabbis rose to a different kind of rabbinical running challenge.
It all began when Rabbi Moshe Hauer, Rav of Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion, and Rabbi Binyamin Marwick, Rav of Shomrei Emunah, answered the call for “a few good clergymen.” The call was issued by Rabbi Meir Kaniel. The running-enthusiast social worker is the program coordinator of the RabbisCanRun Challenge, which was held for the second consecutive year, this time within the annual 10K Jerusalem Marathon.
Raising Funds, Raising Consciousness
The RabbisCanRun initiative was created to enable rabbanim of shuls as well as school principals to improve their own physical health and inspire their congregants or students to do the same, while helping to support Kav L’Noar a non-profit organization dedicated to helping Israeli youth-at-risk and their families.
The participating rabbis, who needed no running experience to join, received a free trip to Israel and the opportunity to run their first 10K (6.21 mile) race through the beautiful, though challenging, hilly terrain of Yerushalayim. The course began at Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, passed through Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus campus in eastern Jerusalem, and descended to the Old City through Jaffa Gate and the Armenian Quarter and out Zion Gate on the way to the Jerusalem Forest. The finish line was at Sacher Park.
To qualify, the Running Rabbis had to train for approximately three months, consisting of running two or three times a week for approximately 30 to 45 minutes per run. They also had to agree to join three monthly, 60-minute conference calls, which provided them with professional running guidance, including discussions that connected running with spirituality. Each Rabbi also needed to record his runs weekly on a chart. Baltimorean Rabbi Eli Glaser of Soveya was the program’s nutrition director.
The culmination of the RabbisCanRun experience, which took place on erev Shabbos, was spending a special Shabbos with other Running Rabbis and Rabbi Leib Kelemen, in Eretz Yisrael. The Running Rabbis from other North American communities included Rabbi Ephraim Epstein (Sons of Israel, Cherry Hill, NJ), Rabbi Ilan Feldman (Beth Jacob, Atlanta), Rabbi Eliezer Hirsch (Mekor Habracha, Philadelphia), Rabbi Nachum Wachtel (Yeshiva of North Jersey, River Edge, NJ), Rabbi Ronald Schwarzberg (Ahavas Achim, Highland Park, NJ), Rabbi Avram Rothman (Aish Thornhill Community Shul, Toronto, Canada), Rabbi Shaanan Gelman (Kehilat Chovevei Tzion, Skokie, IL), and Rabbi Dovid Kupchik (HAFTR, Lawrence, NY).
In exchange for this unique opportunity, the Running Rabbis conducted personal email campaigns to give their shul members or school parent body, friends, and family the opportunity to show their support by contributing to Kav L’Noar. Alternatively, instead of the email campaign, the principals had the opportunity to organize a health-oriented program for their students combined with a school fundraising event. The Rabbis set their campaign goal at $75,000 and close to $85,000 was raised.
What Makes Rabbis Run?
Rabbi Hauer, who trained for four months, says he received much support – from verbal and emotional encouragement to the coaching and guidance provided by friends and by the RabbisCanRun staff. Rabbi Hauer was also encouraged by all the donations made in his honor and the ultimate success of his campaign. In his email sent to raise awareness and funds, the Rav shared that his participation was inspired by the Torah guidelines to safeguard the precious gift of life. Likewise, his main goal was to inspire others to take the steps that are in our hands to enhance our physical fitness and health.
“Towards the end of the summer, I received an invitation to join a project called Rabbis Can Run,” wrote Rabbi Hauer. “I thought it was a crazy idea, and so I signed up immediately…I have exercised on an elliptical machine in our home for years, but the training to run six hilly miles outdoors has been far more rigorous and profoundly invigorating. It takes a bit more time than my previous exercise regimen, and that is tough, but the benefits have been wonderful.”
Post-marathon, Rabbi Hauer remarked, “It was great! A very positive experience and I would do it again, be’ezras Hashem. Good for health and for stress, and hopefully a good example.” With a chuckle, Rabbi Hauer added, “My two closest friends amongst the rabbis had one shared goal: to beat me! Ouch.” By the way, Rabbi Hauer ended up beating them and coming in second among the group running the 10K race.
Rabbi Marwick was inspired to join the marathon after getting to know Kav L’Noar’s founding director, Ronald Wachtel, and hearing about its important work – as well as the desire to get himself back in shape and travel to Israel. “People commented positively when they saw me at the JCC or out for a jog,” remarks Rabbi Marwick, who says he felt he had more energy when he started the day with a run. “My family accommodated my already full schedule by helping me make the time for this and cheering me on.”
Rabbi Marwick, who mentions that the Torah teaches us that we must take care of our bodies, continues, “Hearing Rabbi Berel Wein [who spoke specifically to the Running Rabbis, the night before the race] talk about this Marathon in the context of Jewish history was quite inspiring. Our grandparents dreamed about setting foot in the Holy Land. Today, 35,000 people are coming in for this event. Running through Shaar Yaffo was exhilarating. The most special part was seeing the thousands of people involved in chesed, so many teens pushing wheelchairs and helping people with disabilities run.”
Rabbi Marwick says he is very happy he participated. “I feel very accomplished to have set a goal that I thought was impossible…. I haven’t run or exercised seriously in more than 20 years. I am already signed up for the June 17th Jewish Caring Network 5K; we are organizing a shul team! I would do the Jerusalem Marathon again, but I need to speak to my wife first!”
Since its inception in 2004, Kav L’Noar has offered custom-tailored services to approximately 1,000 families and 2,500 teens. Its staff of psychologists and family therapists offer a unique model of intervention which addresses the family system as a whole. All of its services and programs are offered on a sliding-fee scale, and no one is denied service due to an inability to pay.
Kav L’Noar services, available in Hebrew and English, include individual, marital, and family therapy, therapeutic mentoring, community education lectures, parenting workshops, and psycho-educational activities for children aged 10 to 18. Some of the challenges that Kav L’Noar helps these families confront are family discord, poor academic performance, aliya adjustment, social issues, religious issues, abuse issues, depression, bereavement, medical issues, eating disorders, and post-traumatic stress.
The organization’s interventions and continuous follow-up, including interim evaluations and support for as long as a family needs Kav L’Noar to remain involved, have had a positive impact on its clients. They have resulted in reduced at-risk behaviors, strengthened family relationships, and improvement of self-perception, as gauged by reduced school dropout rates and improved school performance.
​“The RabbisCanRun program, thank G-d, proved again to be a huge success and has already changed the lives of so many people,” concludes Rabbi Kaniel. “Not only did we collectively raise close to $85,000 for the benefit of children and families, but we have created a running revolution that is paving a path of inspiration. Witnessing their spiritual leader do the impossible, people have been inspired to run and get healthier themselves. They have committed themselves to work hard to do what’s right and are starting to learn more about the deep connection between physical development and spiritual growth.”
