Three families from New Rochelle—the Bakers, the Tares and the Lewises—decided to mix things up this year for Shavuot. Rather than celebrating the holiday within their usual community, they opted for a more unconventional experience: a camping trip. Their destination was Fahnestock State Park, where they rented several adjoining campsites. At Fahnestock, campers can drive right up to their sites, making unloading and then reloading the packed cars a simple task at the beginning and end of the trip.
Long-time camper Rafi Tare explained why this particular year felt like the perfect opportunity. “I have always thought Shavuos would be a great camping experience. This year, the calendar worked out particularly well, with the holiday starting on Sunday evening, allowing more time to set up camp.”
The families meticulously planned the trip using a shared Google spreadsheet to organize gear and food responsibilities. Each tab covered different meals and snacks, accounting for everything from challah and grape juice to wine, sides, salads, mains and desserts.
Each family brought their own tents and gear, including chairs for sitting around the campfire and inflatable outdoor loungers for relaxing. They arrived several hours before Yom Tov, just in time for the 3 p.m. check-in, and began setting up. Tents were pitched, chairs built, tiki torches lit, and a large pile of wood—purchased from the park—was stacked to fuel the fire for the duration of the holiday. Two portable coal-fed stoves were set up for cooking, and multiple sources of fire, including three-day candles, were prepared so that flames could be transferred halachically for cooking during the holiday.
To create a communal dining space, they pushed the picnic tables together and erected additional tents for shade over the dining tables. Strings of lights that automatically lit up at dusk added a festive atmosphere. Everyone brought coolers packed with ice to keep both meat and dairy items cold. “We even found a way to keep cheesecakes cold in a cooler,” remarked Cory Baker.
Non-perishable foods were stored in sealed containers to keep out insects and animals. Bathrooms and showers were a three-minute walk away.
Adding to the wilderness experience was the Bakers’ Bernese Mountain dog, Skye, who resembles a small bear. Skye provided affection and an extra element of adventure. The visual of a large animal running and sitting among them added to the immersive feeling of being in the wilderness.
With exactly 10 men in the group, they were able to form a proper minyan. They brought machzorim for everyone and even transported a sefer Torah so that the Torah reading could be done properly. Meir Lewis explained: “We kept the Torah in a separate small tent, which was then surrounded by a larger canopy. Retrieving the Torah felt like entering the curtains of the Heichal and then the Kodesh Kedoshim, where we had the Torah in a waterproof suitcase on top of a small table, like the Ark.”
On the first evening, after a beautiful tefillah, the families came together for their Yom Tov dinner: hot dogs, hamburgers and chicken. Though the forecast had promised sunny skies, an unexpected rainstorm hit during the meal. While everyone got wet and there were some moments of panic, the storm passed after 20 minutes. The tents suffered minor damage—puddles inside and some wet sleeping bags and clothes. Later that night, as they gathered around the campfire for divrei Torah and singing, they hung their wet belongings near the fire to dry. The next day, the sun dried up everything else.
The time passed quickly. Between tefillah three times a day, large meals being prepared and consumed three times daily, afternoon naps in the shade, and late afternoon walks around the nearby lakes, the families were kept busy. The kids brought balls, and some group members played mah jong on the picnic tables.
Lewis reflected, “The prior week, I listened to Rav Moshe Taragin on OU AllParsha explain that Parshat Bamidbar is often right before Shavuos. He asked: ‘Why was the Torah given in the wilderness?’ He offered an answer that the desert is definitionally hefker. The Torah wasn’t given in any specific city or shul. It was given outside, and civilized the wilderness. I knew we were celebrating Shavuos in a special way—in the wilderness, where the Torah was originally handed down.”
One of the women on the trip summed up the mindset required for this kind of celebration: “You have to be a somewhat laid-back person to fully enjoy this. You need to be able to handle living conditions that aren’t always comfortable, temperatures that you can’t control, and feeling a little grimy. But if you can handle these small things, the beauty and fun of the experience overshadows all of that.”
To everyone’s pleasant surprise, the food was a highlight. Meals cooked over the campfire or stoves turned out to be delicious. Lewis noted: “We had pancakes and eggs, fresh pizza rolled out on a pizza stone over the campfire, and Yemenite lamb soup stewed all day in a cast iron witch’s cauldron.”
Reflecting on the experience, Baker said, “While Shavuot has always been one of my favorite holidays on the calendar, both because of the weather and because of its importance as part of the Jewish origin story, there was something so deeply spiritual and meaningful about being able to spend it with close friends under the starry sky, sleeping in tents. It was a great time for laughter, family, a little singing, and the spirit of adventure.”
