It took the Israelites 40 years of wandering in the wilderness before they reached the promised land, but over a similar span of time, Jewish runners in the New York City Marathon feel they are still in the midst of their journey. At the 53rd running of this world-famous event on Nov. 3, the International Minyan for NYC Marathoners had the largest turnout in its 40-year history, drawing participants from states as far away as California and countries as far distant as South Africa, including especially large turnouts from Israel and France.
Minyan organizers estimate over 300 attended their “rolling” services, which started at 6:30 a.m. and repeated over several hours to accommodate the five waves of starts for the more than 50,000 entrants in the world’s most famous long-distance race. At some point, daveners were standing shoulder to shoulder in the 600-square-foot tent provided by race manager New York Roadrunners (NYRR) at the Fort Wadsworth staging ground on Staten Island.
NYRR President Rob Simmelkjaer visited the minyan tent, reprising a custom practiced by his predecessor and “father” of the NYC Marathon, Fred Lebow. It was Lebow who authorized the first minyan in 1983, and three years later acceded to the request from minyan organizers to move the date of the marathon permanently from October to November, when it could never conflict with a Jewish holiday. Ever since then, all participants in this event have benefited from the cooler weather and the added bonus of an extra hour of sleep on the eve of the race when clocks change to Standard Time. Fred Lebow’s 30th yahrzeit is observed on 4 Cheshvan, which this year came two days after the race.
One member of this year’s team of 10 volunteers remarked that davening with this minyan can shave 30 minutes off race times. While that may be debatable, organizers do believe that of the thousands of runners who have joined the minyan over the years, none has ever failed to finish the course.
Several Jewish-related charity teams and running clubs were registered for this year’s marathon, including American Friends of Shalva, Chai Lifeline, Friendship Circle International, Israel Cancer Research Fund, Jewish Association Serving the Aging, Keren Or Inc., Sharsheret, The Blue Card, and Nice Jewish Runners, and a number of their members were represented at the minyan.
The haftorah for Parshat Lech Lecha, which will be read this Shabbat, contains a phrase that has long been the motto of the minyan. The 40th chapter of the book of Isaiah speaks of the Almighty giving strength to the weary. For those who trust in Him, yarutzu v’lo yiyga-u (“they will run and not grow tired”).
The minyan for New York City marathoners is believed to be the longest established religious service of any kind at any major sporting event, anywhere in the world. The mood at this year’s gathering was somewhat dampened by the news that minyan co-founder Rabbi Jim Michaels recently passed away at his home in Rockville, Maryland. Michaels and co-director Peter Berkowsky of Livingston started this service in 1983, thinking there might be some runners who needed a minyan to say Kaddish on race morning. Surprisingly, of the thousands of participants over the last 40 years from virtually every state in the country and six continents, very few needed to say Kaddish.
The mission of the minyan has always been simply to provide a venue for Jewish runners to pray. But the goal, in the words of minyan co-director Yisroel Davidsohn, is to see that this tradition continues for at least another 40 years.
