New Jersey Jewish News
Greater Middlesex County Feature
Out of Africa, an Orthodox trio’s unorthodox climb up Kilimanjaro
Eating kosher food, celebrating Shabbat, and studying Talmud are not unusual activities for observant Jews.
Doing all three while climbing the world’s tallest freestanding mountain is another story.
Two East Brunswick residents, Saul Landa, 58, and Joe Beer, 54 — both members of Young Israel of East Brunswick — and Landa’s brother, Seth, 45, scaled the 19,500-foot Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania during an August trip.
Jammed into their packs carried by mountain porters were grape juice and hallah, their tallitot and tefillin, and everything else they needed to make the physically demanding journey a spiritual one as well.
“It was incredible,” said Saul Landa. “We all did it for different reasons, but the reason my brother and I were into it was because as Orthodox Jews it gives us an appreciation for what God does. We enjoy being near nature, and this allowed me to appreciate God even more.”
Experienced hikers, the Landa brothers were seeking new challenges when they discovered the Kilimanjaro climb on the Internet. Saul — a dentist with offices in Howell who also teaches at the University of Pennsylvania and Monmouth University — has hiked and done photography as hobbies for years. He also earned rabbinical ordination three years ago.
The group underwent stamina training to minimize the effects of altitude sickness, which can afflict climbers at 9,000 feet and can produce dizziness, hallucinations, vomiting, and headaches.
They also had to prepare their African guides for the special challenges of the observant lifestyle. The three went up the mountain companied by 10 members of the Chaga tribe, none of whom had ever encountered a Jew before, let alone an Orthodox one.
“I had to explain to our liaison in Florida about Shabbos and kashrut and a million other halachic considerations,” said Landa. “Number one, every food we ate had not only to be kosher, but had to be very high-energy, like sugar. Everything you can’t eat at home you had to eat there because you burn 3,000 calories a day, and it had to be replaced.” Climbers are also cautioned to drink a gallon of water a day.
About the only solid food the trio ate was kosher vacuum-packed tuna and salmon steaks. Landa, who shopped for all the groceries before their departure, had to figure out how much was needed for 63 meals plus a little extra for their stay in a hotel before and after the climb.
They also had to negotiate cooking procedures. “You can’t have someone cook for you who is not Jewish unless you participate in the process, so we had to be there to light the fire or mix the food,” explained Landa.
The African guides and porters did not know what to make of it all.
“They kept their distance when we put on tallis and tefillin in the morning,” Landa said. “All these people have their own tribal customs, but they’re all converted Christians for many generations. We didn’t know if it was out of respect or fear. The lead guide who spoke English certainly had a lot of respect for us.”
Shabbat at 15,000 feet
The group arrived in Tanzania two days before their hike, which began on a Wednesday with a six-hour Jeep ride to Kilimanjaro National Park.
The trio climbed to 15,000 feet by Friday afternoon, but spent Shabbat at 14,000 feet to allow their red blood cells to regenerate. The site is known as Mt. Mawenzi.
On Shabbat the group used a length of fishing line to create an eruv, a boundary that creates a symbolic enclosure within which Jews can carry objects outside the home.
“We turned the dining tent into our shul. We even called it the Young Israel of Mawenzi,” said Landa.
They made Kiddush with grape juice boxes and recited the Motzi with hallah rolls; they strung chemical lights that stayed illuminated after dark. Landa gave a d’var Torah on the week’s Torah portion, in which Moses talks about — coincidentally — going up the mountain as the Israelites are about to enter the Promised Land.
“By the time Shabbos came, we had really lost our appetite,” Landa recalled. “We only ate about 30 of the meals, and the rest of the food we donated to the tribe. You really have to force yourself to eat. I lost 15 pounds that week and another 12 preparing for the hike.”
They ended Shabbat with a Havdala ceremony.
“It was the first time [we] could remember lighting Shabbos candles instead of the women,” said Landa. “Of course, I had never built an eruv before and I had to look up how to do it.”
After Shabbat, the “reinvigorated” trio climbed to 16,000 feet. The worst was yet to come. From there at midnight, they began a 16-hour, arduous hike nearly straight up as temperatures fell to 15 to 20 degrees, making their way to Gilman’s Point at 19,000 feet.
As the last 500 feet lay ahead, they joined an “anxious” group of about 50 climbers from around the world, at least 25 of whom ultimately couldn’t make that final push and were turned back by the harsh conditions.
“We spent the last hour of the seven climbing over these gigantic boulders with people pushing you from behind to try and get you over because you had no energy,” said Landa.
Then they saw one of the most amazing sights of their lives — the sun rising from below them.
As Landa described it: “These clouds are at your feet, the sun is below you, and it’s just awe-inspiring, unbelievable.”
When they reached the highest point in Africa, they hugged, said a Sheheheyanu prayer, and snapped photos.
And they studied Talmud. Beer’s father passed away in June, and in his memory they studied a page of text. “I know he was looking down and he was happy and that was what kept me going,” said Beer.
In all, the climb took them through five climate zones, from lush rainforest with monkeys swinging overhead to desert areas with sharp rocks and hardened lava from the now extinct volcano.
“One word we all agreed on for the seven-day trip was “relentless” — that mountain never let you alone and was totally unforgiving,” said Landa.
Beer called the trip “a great male bonding experience” and likened it to childbirth — he remembers the good times but has forgotten the pain.
“When we got to the bottom of the mountain there were three things we wanted to do,” he said. “Take a shower, go to the bathroom, and get drunk. And we got drunk first.”
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