Our circle forms bit by bit as we finish prepping for our morning ride. We stand in intentional community, a group of bicyclists coming together for cycling, community and Jewish conversation. We take a moment to articulate our intention in gathering as a group of Jewish cyclists.
“May our ride be safe (שתוליכו ותכסיסנו בשלום), our conversations and learning meaningful (לעסוק בדברי תורה) and our connections with one another deep and powerful (קנה לך חבר).” We clink our water bottles together and with this short opening ritual, we off on our ride.
Tradition teaches that God said, “And let them build me a sanctuary and I will dwell there. (Ex 25:8).” While this text refers to the portable sanctuary the Israelites were to build in the desert, one can infer that when a Jewish community comes together intentionally, God is present. Chai Cycle is a Jewish community that combines recreational bicycling with Jewish text study. Cycling takes one into nature, where the beauty of the natural world can take your breath away. Spiritual, invigorating moments are not unusual on a bike. The concepts of refuat hanefesh (healing the spirit) and refuat haguf (healing the body) are a part of our liturgy. When someone is “in the zone” on a ride, the noise in one’s head falls away, and it is an experience of hitbodedut, of spending time with yourself and with what some will call God.
As our ride ends, we gather again to say goodbye to one another. “Shalom aleikhem!”, “See you next time!”, and “Happy trails to you!’ ring out. We head to our cars smiling with satisfaction that we spent the morning deepening friendships, building community, engaging with Jewish ideas, and proud that that we rode a great ride. What more could we ask for? A Chai Cycle regular said it best “I came for the ride, I come back for the conversation and community.”
