Shabbat in the Garden of Eden

Shabbat in the Garden of Eden

Monteverde, Costa Rica, 5/18/24

When word began to spread that The Davis Academy Class of 2024 was headed to Costa Rica instead of Israel, a question arose: Would there be anything Jewish about the trip?

It’s an understandable and, I believe, well-intentioned question, even if it is predicated on a few potentially flawed assumptions. After all, how could The Davis Academy class of 2024’s culminating travel experience NOT have a Jewish component? In fact, I think there’s an argument to be made that the destination of a trip has little correlation to the Jewishness of a trip. Our trip would be deeply Jewish even if we’d gone to China or Vatican City. That’s because Jewishness isn’t to be found only in the settings in which we find ourselves (think synagogues, schools, summer camps), rather Jewishness is something much more vast, pervasive, and ever-present. Jewishness resides more in the ways in which we experience a place than in the place itself. Part of the inheritance of each and every Davis graduate is that they’ve been given the tools through which they can live each moment of their lives as Jews. And that certainly extends to traveling here in Costa Rica. 

In terms of settings, Costa Rica is, in many ways, an ideal place to travel as a Jew and with a sense of Jewishness. Today’s activities, all of which took place against the backdrop of Shabbat, are a good example. Big picture: Today we found ourselves in the Garden of Eden. Rather than viewing the Garden of Eden as outsiders, we immersed ourselves and made ourselves at home in this paradise. What could be more Jewish than spending Shabbat in the Garden of Eden? It’s kind of a dream come true. 

Zip lining. I’ll take a moment of personal privilege here to say that prior to today, I’d been zip lining exactly 1 time (on an Israel trip many years ago). Today I, along with the majority of our group, completed no fewer than 14 zip lines on a lengthy tree top course through the Monteverde cloud forest. I could say A LOT about zip lining, but I’ll simply mention that the final zip line was exactly 1km long (for the uninitiated that’s LONG). Since none of the kids wanted to buddy up with me (buddies were required) nor I with them (good boundaries are important), I had the joy of zip lining with a British man named Andy whilst Andy’s legs were wrapped tightly around my core. We’ll chalk it up to “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself”. And, I can honestly say that I wish him well! 

What’s Jewish about zip lining on Shabbat? Depends who you ask, but maybe it’s the way that zip lining requires the full presence of your being. It’s hard to be somewhere else when your whizzing through the air and wondering if this is going to be the first line of your obituary. Judaism cares deeply about the quality of our presence. For those that are familiar with the term kavanah, that’s really what it means. 

After zip lining we all set out for a guided walk through the cloud forest via a series of hanging bridges. Walking on a hanging bridge several hundred feet about the forest floor, it’s hard not to think of Rebbe Nachman’s famous teaching: The whole world is a narrow bridge, and the most important part is not to be afraid. Being in the midst of such overwhelming beauty helped easy any fear that we might have been experiencing. During our walk we came right up to the Continental Divide. What’s Jewish (aside from the pretty low hanging fruit of Rebbe Nathan’s obviously having visited Costa Rica in the 1800’s) about walking through a cloud forest on Shabbat? Again, it depends who you ask, but many Jews would argue that a Shabbos stroll with no particular destination in mind is one of the most beloved ways to spend a few hours on Shabbat. And we’ve even got a term for such a walk but it’s in Yiddish and it’s too late at night for me to figure out how to spell it correctly. 

Before leaving the cloud forest we had lunch (pretty sure I don’t have to explain what’s Jewish about that!) and visited both a sloth and a butterfly sanctuary. What remarkable creatures we share this planet with! In a Jewish text that every Davis Academy student studies in 6th grade Judaics, there are a series of questions posed by an ancient rabbi. One of those questions is, “Who is deserving of honor?” The answer, “One who honors all creation.” I think that pretty much sums up the first 2/3 of our day. 

Returning to the hotel we quickly threw on swimsuits and headed to the pool. Here I’ll confess that I feel pretty badly for the 10-15 hotel guests that were enjoying their Shabbat in the Garden of Eden prior to our arrival. One by one, they slowly and good-naturedly packed up their belongings and continued their moments of Zen elsewhere. Probably a wise choice on their part. 

Post swimming we freshened up, put on nice clothes and headed to dinner and our evening activity: Havdalah. As you know, our 8th graders clean up nicely! 

Havdalah, the short prayerful moment that separates Shabbat from the rest of the week, is a wonderful example of how Judaism brings shape and structure to the element of time. Time is a funny thing— sometimes it passes too quickly (vacation), sometimes too slowly (carpool duty), seldom just right. One of Judaism’s greatest gifts is that it constantly, daily, hourly, calls our attention to the passage of time. That’s why we “count rocks” at school. Havdalah is the perfect Jewish framework for empowering our 8th graders to think about this liminal moment in their lives. 

I promised the kids that what was shared and expressed at Havdalah would remain a private matter for them and for those of us who were privileged to be there with them. In exchange, they put their cameras and go-pros away. As parents and trusted adults I know we’re all adjusting to the sometimes frustrating but ultimately incredibly healthy reality that there are aspects of our kids’ experiences, thoughts, and feelings that are meant to be their’s alone. So we don’t need to make a list of who shared their creative writing, or who shed a tear, or who finally reconnected with their inner child and joined in with the singing. Those moments (and there were many) belong to them. As Mr. O’Dell pointed out, it’s a gift that they’ve given to themselves. 

But speaking of gift giving, we all know by now that we too have given our 8th graders a most incredible gift. Many gifts really. Too many to count. Among those gifts, perhaps most salient and top of mind, is the gift of knowing who they are and where they come from. I promise you, and you already know, that this gift of knowing who they are and where they come from will make all the difference in those confusing moments that life inevitably brings our way. In those moments, knowing who they are and where they come from will help them find their north star, their way forward, their way back to the garden, and, if they should ever need, their way home. 

On a different and more somber note, before singing Eliyahu HaNavi to conclude Havdalah, we shared with the kids that the remains of 4 hostages had been recovered in Gaza. Together we took a moment to think back to the wall of the hostages faces at the Costa Rican Jewish center. In that moment we prayed that the next 4 hostages and all remaining hostages be reunited, in life, with their families. To be a Jew is to always remember that there is a broader context through which we might gain an even deeper appreciation of the uniqueness of our own experience. Though we are not in Tel Aviv, witnessing first hand, the families that continue to hold on to the hope of seeing their loved ones again, we are indeed so very much closer to Tel Aviv than our longitude and latitude might suggest. 

May it be a week of peace.