In the woods of a retreat center and along the rolling hills of Sonoma and Marin, 75 cyclists, 25 volunteers and seven staffers built a Jewish community and raised nearly $100,000 in the first Hazon California Bike Ride.
“On Shabbat we definitely created a community and knew we could rely on each other if anything happened during the ride,” said Ilana Butrimovitz, 23, who traveled from Seattle with nine others to participate in the May 9 and 10 ride from Petaluma to San Francisco. “There were a lot of high-fives and hugs. You could feel everyone getting stronger because we were all in it together.”
Butrimovitz was a member of the first graduating class of Jewish Community High School of the Bay. Her parents greeted her at the end of her 80-mile, two-day journey.
“It was the longest ride of my life,” she said.
Riders and volunteers celebrated together May 10 at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, the course finish line. It rained and hailed that morning, and in the warmth of the museum, cyclists shivered in their wet spandex while enjoying warm sandwiches and drinks.
“Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge I could feel hail lodged in my ear,” said Ruben Arquilevich, director of Camp Newman. “But the inclement weather helped me really feel the moment. I thought to myself, ‘Yes, I love life, I feel it!’ ”
The ride followed a two-day Shabbat retreat at Westminster Woods in Petaluma.
Participants could choose from several routes ranging in distance from 60 to 125 miles. Riders included parents with young children, college students, young adults and retired individuals. People came from as far away as Seattle, Los Angeles, Portland, Ore., and Milwaukee.
Some riders had been disconnected from the Jewish community, while others are very involved, including Adam Weisberg, director of Camp Tawonga; Oren Massey, director of the East Bay Center for Jewish Living and Learning; Ari Y. Kelman, professor at U.C. Davis; and Adam Naftalin-Kelman, director of Berkeley Hillel.
“It was totally worthwhile,” Naftalin-Kelman said. “We helped a great cause and created a great community in such a short amount of time.”
The money raised will support Hazon programs and 10 other Jewish environmental groups and initiatives, including Wilderness Torah and the Jewish Community High School of the Bay locally, Camp Newman in Santa Rosa and Camp Tawonga near Yosemite.