As a Jewish environmental educator, I get to experiment with many different practices that are foreign to mainstream suburban Judaism. During Sukkot we had a Simchat Beit Hashove’ah ceremony, which is a crazy Jewish rain dance with fire juggling, music and flaming old underwear. In services, we regularly get kids to do physical stretching with their morning blessings in accordance with the Talmudic guidelines for waking up. My favorite practice out of all we do is hitbodedut, the chassidic practice of going out into the woods and being alone with G!d.
Every week during an hour and a half of electives, I lead a group of eleven year olds off into the woods to practice hitbodedut. We hike quickly up the mountain until we are out of sight of anything manmade. Then we scream. We scream until there is no air left in our lungs. This isn’t explicitly part of the practice, but its fun, congeals us as a group and helps to get people’s airways open and ready to talk to G!d.
At this point, I teach the instructions for hitbodedut as they were first described by Rebbe Nachman, a chassidic Rebbe from the eighteenth century. He writes that everyone should,
make a habit of praying to God from the depths of your heart. Use whatever language you know best. Ask God to make you worthy of truly serving Him. This is the essence of prayer.
Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom #229
I tell them that they will have half an hour to go off into the woods and speak to G!d out loud and without pausing. I tell them that they can say whatever they want, as long as it is honest, and directed to G!d. They can bless. They can thank. They can ask for things. They can even talk with G!d about their atheism or how they feel self conscious standing out in the middle of the woods talking to themselves. It doesn’t matter as long as they speak from their heart. Whatever comes up and is addressed to G!d is perfectly kosher. The final instruction I give them before sending them off is to repeat the mantra “rebono shel olam,” or “master of the world” if they cannot figure out what to say at any point.
After a half an hour or personal time with G!d, I call people back with a shofar and so we can share briefly about our experience. Every time I have ever debriefed a session of hitbodedut, I am always amazed that each person has had a profound experience. They all leave with insights into life, G!d or nature. Personally, doing hitbodedut every week for the past few months has been deepened my own connection with G!d and given me insight into what comes next for me in life.
The final thing that we talk about while we walk back to civilization is how we can integrate a practice like hitbodedut into our lives. We talk about making time to be alone in nature. Rebbe Nachman suggests that if someone can’t go out to the woods, that they can do hitbodedut in an empty room, or even silently to themselves while they are pretending to say the traditional words of the amida. It is often the first time that the kids realize that the amida is actually their chance at communion or communication with the divine.
The most incredible hitbodedut session was when a child with Tourette's syndrome signed up. Throughout the whole week at teva, this kid couldn’t control himself would yell nonsense phrases and obscenities in the middle of programs and plays. During the hike up and back he called out like he had normally, but during the hitbodedut session, he was different. For an entire twenty minutes, instead of yelling obscenities, he called at the top of his lungs “Rebono Shel Olam! Rebono Shel Olam!” Somehow he was able to take his impulse to yell and direct it towards G!d. When he came back he was beaming and walking around like he had learned a new secret in his life.