We can never sneer at the stars, mock the dawn, or scoff at the totality of being.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Over a span of thirty years, I served in the active-duty Army, the Pennsylvania National Guard, and retired from the Maine Army National Guard. I held many jobs: rifleman, radio operator, machine gunner, team and squad leader, transportation manager, movements supervisor, and on one occasion, platoon sergeant. For almost a decade of that service, I was on jump status.
Something amazing happened to me during my active-duty days: I was stationed at Fort Richardson (now Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson). It was there that I went to Basic and Advanced Military Mountaineering Courses at Fort Greeley. I took up telemark skiing. I climbed mountains and glaciers and had what I consider to be the ultimate form of outdoor experiences.
Concurrent with joining the Army, I fully embraced Judaism through Chabad Lubavitch. When I came off of active duty, for a time I attended a ba’al t’shuvah yeshiva, but the life of a shaliach was not for me.
In 2016, Leah and I moved to Maine. For the duration of our marriage, we wanted to move to New England. We visited Bangor, Maine, fell in love with the state’s oldest synagogue, Congregation Beth Israel in Bangor, Maine. We loved the rabbi, we loved the congregation, and as beshert would have it, their religious school was in need of a new director. Leah took the job, and I started working remotely in my civilian profession as a software engineering leader. Within two years, I became president of the congregation. I’m starting my sixth term.
Shortly after we moved to Maine, I began work on this website, a book, and an Appalachian Trail Guide mobile application (which we will be updating this year). Wilderness travel is so important to me. While my Jewish community is fantastic, there is nothing better to me than being outdoors.
When I retired from the Army at the beginning of October in 2024, I received a lovely send-off, complete with a Meritorious Service Medal. I previous have been awarded three Army Commendation Medals, five Army Achievement Medals, the Good Conduct Medal, 5 Reserve Components Achievement Medals, the Armed Forces Reserve Medal with a Silver Hourglass and “M” device, the Humanitarian Service Medal, the Global War on Terror Exp and Serv Medal, the Multinational Force Observer Medal. I earned the Expert Infantryman Badge, Basic Parachutist, Air Assault, Thai and British Jump Wings. There’s more, but needless to say, I had a great time. I learned so much, saw so much, and made the best friends a dude could ever ask for.
Last year, I finally settled on an online rabbinical program. I had two criteria. There had to be a heavy emphasis on asynchronous learning, and it had to be a serious course, not just a degree mill. And I have that with the Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary. My two academic instructors are both amazing graduates of the Jewish Theological Seminary. My peers span the United States and the globe, from all backgrounds of Jewish life. I’ve already written a number of articles for their sister organization, Darshan Yeshiva.
After receiving smicha in 2026, I plan on thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail again for a documentary called—gasp–”The Kosher Backpacker.” You can see a teaser for it here.
We’re also trying to build a wilderness experience for special needs young people right here, on our 12-acre Winterport, Maine homestead. I’m working on cultivating beets and potatoes this year and working on increasing our off-grid capabilities with wind, solar, and even mild hydropower.
I have no interest in being a pulpit rabbi. I would like to work with the Bangor (and Maine) Jewish community on programming, pastoral care, bereavement, and especially wilderness programming. I am simultaneously working on becoming a Registered Maine Guide. Torah on the Allagash, hitbodedut on Katahdin…this is the stuff.
Thanks for following this website. We try to promote the outdoors for all walks of Jewish life, most especially finding ways to the wilderness for the most observant among us. The wilderness is obviously part of our tradition, and it’s easy to see the handprint of the Divine when we’re on a mountaintop on a clear day.