This “Crazy Thing:” The 6-Month Cycling Sabbatical

Every sabbatical experience is a chance to design a slice of your life.  No matter how responsible you are, consider doing a “crazy thing” like Rabbi Bob Levy who, up until now, has liked to simply peddle around Ann Arbor, Michigan.

A simple bike ride is far different than “this crazy thing like I’m doing,” Levy said. The Rabbi has designed a sabbatical pedaling a bicycle across five Southern states starting Friday from Brunswick, Georgia.

Levy’s trip will cover 1,250 miles with stops in Tallahassee, Panama City, Gulfport, Miss., New Orleans, Lafayette and Lake Charles, La., and Natchez and Vicksburg, Miss. before ending at Levy’s workplace in Jackson.

Specifically, the “crazy thing” is the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life’s Southern Cycling Sabbatical. The program is the first of its kind, and the Institute of Southern Jewish Life said it is hopeful the sabbatical will “inspire other rabbis and cantors to find meaningful ways to spend their own sabbaticals.”

Levy’s hybrid-sabbatical combines travel and volunteering. He will conduct services at his cyling stops along the way.  On his ride, Levy will stop at several small Jewish congregations, perhaps none more so than Temple Beth Tefilloh, a congregation of about 50 families in the middle of a fund-raising effort to restore the temple that is on the National Register of Historic Places.

While Levy pedals, let your mind wander about the “crazy thing” you want to do on that upcoming sabbatical or the one you are going to negotatiate.

Meanwhile, I have my own wild idea brewing. Levy averages 50 miles in 4 hours and he’s going to be in my geographical area.  My first bike ride of 2011 was Sunday morning when I did 17 miles in 2 hours (I didn’t try for time guys!). So, I could ride with him on the Gulf Coast!  You think?

Shalom Y’all.