Three thousand years after Moses was called to the top of Mount Sinai by God, another Jewish leader is climbing an even greater mountain to mark the event.
West Hampstead Chabad’s Rabbi Dovid Katz is trekking near Everest base camp and will be on the mountain during Shavuot with a full minyan and Sefer Torah for company.
“This physical climb, please God, will allow us to climb spiritually to and reach tremendous heights,” he said in a video posted as he began his journey in Nepal.
“When I come to think about it it’s actually a very Jewish thing to do. I’m not the first Jew climbing a mountain. It started with Abraham: the first Jew climbed Mount Moriah. Moshe Rabbeinu, he ascended Mount Nebo and Mount Sinai.
“Elijah, he climbed Mount Carmel and many other people climbed. Because when you climb a mountain it reminds you about the spiritual ascent that one needs to take.”
Jews have a special connection to mountains, he claimed, because they are connected to God.
“There's a famous story that Sir Edmund Hilary, the first person to conquer Everest - not base camp, the full Everest,” he said.
“As a matter of fact he failed the first time he told his friends I will succeed, I will manage to get to the top, and he did.
“What's the reason I will succeed? Because Everest, as tall as it is, doesn’t grow even one more inch. As a human being I can grow and I can take over Everest base camp.”
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A Sefer Torah on the slopes of Everest (Photo: Twitter)
Rabbi Yossi Baitz of Camden Town Chabad, a close friend and neighbour, said Rabbi Katz’s climb was “amazing”.
The journey is so important, he told the JC, because the mountaineering minyan is not only walking but meditating and studying as they go.
“He’s an amazing person, he is one of the best shluchim [Chabad emissaries] in London. He runs amazing programmes, he’s an amazing guy,” he said.
“Just because the Torah was given on the smallest mountain in the world does not mean that it cannot be brought to the highest one,” he added on Twitter.
For Rabbi Katz, the Everest hike follows a series of smaller climbs around the world.
One trip to Tanzania, Chabad.org reported, featured Kilimanjaro Airport's first ever minyan.
“Northern Tanzania doesn't see many Jews passing through, so our skullcaps, beards and tzitzit attracted attention,” Ari Shishler wrote.
“When our tefillin came out, we became the main act, with a large, bemused audience.”
Rabbi Baitz said: “He went to Puru, Morocco, South Africa. Every year he’s doing something else. He’s always getting people together and doing something for a good cause.”
