New Mexico Jewish LinkPublished by the Jewish Federation of New Mexico

Bonfires, bows and stone walls: a Lag B'Omer hike for Jewish scouts

In the high desert of southwestern New Mexico, the Gila Cliff Dwellings rise from a canyon wall like a stone honeycomb, built by the Mogollon people nearly eight centuries ago. Each spring, a small group of Jewish Scouts has begun turning this remote place into the backdrop for a Lag B'Omer hike, weaving ritual, memory and outdoor adventure into a single long weekend. For families reading from Sydney, Melbourne or anywhere along the Murray, the idea offers a fresh template for combining Jewish learning with rugged country.

The trip borrows the same spirit Australian families bring to their own bushwalking weekends on the Overland Track or in the Grampians, where a billy of tea and a swag are considered proper gear. Lag B'Omer, the thirty-third day of the Omer, is a minor festival that interrupts a stretch of semi-mourning with bonfires, archery and joyful gathering. Bringing it into a canyon of stone gives the holiday a setting that feels ancient and immediate at once.

Lag B'Omer and the light of Rabbi Shimon

For Scouts still learning the rhythm of the Jewish calendar, Lag B'Omer can feel like an unlocked door inside a quieter month. The day marks the yahrzeit of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the second-century sage credited with revealing the mystical text known as the Zohar. Tradition holds that his passing released a great spiritual light, which is why bonfires are lit in his memory and why children in Jewish communities carry bows and arrows as a folk tradition.

Scouts can connect the flame to their own patrol ceremonies. A small fire built in a cleared ring, lit with careful adult supervision, becomes a teaching moment rather than a taboo. In Australian Jewish communities, where Lag B'Omer often slips past unmarked, this kind of on-trail observance gives the day a tangible shape, especially when paired with a short Torah reading under the stars.

Older custom also points to first haircuts for children, hair-cutting being a rite some families still observe in strict form. On a hike, the moment can be adapted into a simple ceremony in which each Scout writes down something they want to grow into, then casts the paper into the fire as a quiet marker of change.

The stone walls of the Gila canyon

The Gila Cliff Dwellings feel almost designed for a story about dwelling, about resting in a place and resting in memory. Tucked into five natural caves on the north face of the canyon, the dwellings were occupied by the Mogollon culture from around 1270 to the early 1300s. Smooth walls of dressed stone enclose seven rooms that once held families, storage and ceremonial space, and the site sits within the Gila National Forest, a quiet stretch of pine and juniper.

A Jewish Scout group reaches the site through a forested trail that climbs roughly 180 metres from the visitor centre. The path crosses a creek several times, which Scouts learn to read the way they read a topographical map. Park rangers brief every group on Leave No Trace principles, and Jewish leaders often pair that briefing with their own reminders about treating sacred space, since both Indigenous and Jewish traditions hold certain ground as holy.

Standing in the dwellings, Scouts can compare two kinds of sanctuary: a cliffside home that sheltered people for two centuries, and a portable tradition that has travelled across deserts and oceans. For an Australian crew, the comparison lands differently after a long drive across the Red Centre or a weekend in the Victorian high country, where the silence of the bush also seems to demand a kind of reverence.

Why Jewish scouts embrace this adventure

Scouting in a Jewish context has always carried an extra layer of purpose. In the United States, bodies such as the National Jewish Committee on Scouting help units weave Hebrew blessings into flag ceremonies, kosher options into camp menus and Shabbat observance into weekend outings. The aim is not to separate Scouts from the mainstream programme but to deepen it with content that travels with the troop.

In Australia, Jewish scouting is a smaller, tighter-knit world. Packs and troops in places like St Kilda, Caulfield and the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, or in Sydney's inner west, often draw on volunteers from local congregations to run Friday night dinners before a hike. A Lag B'Omer trek to Gila can serve as an aspirational model for these groups, showing how Jewish content can travel rather than stay behind at shul.

The discipline of the trail also matches the discipline of the calendar. Scouts learn that Lag B'Omer falls between two stretches that ask for restraint, just as a hike asks for measured steps and a steady pace. The metaphor lands cleanly with teenagers who might otherwise shrug at religious observance, and it works for adults too.

Scouting element Lag B'Omer match What it looks like on the trail
Patrol campfire Bonfire marking Rabbi Shimon A supervised fire built in a ring, with a short d'var Torah
Archery merit badge Folk tradition of bows and arrows Field archery set up in an open meadow
Outdoor cooking Picnic in the open air Kosher trail food cooked on a camp stove
Flag ceremony Songs and psalms of the day Morning prayers facing the canyon walls

Planning the route and the calendar

A Lag B'Omer expedition to Gila usually runs over a long weekend, with travel time counted as part of the experience. Lag B'Omer in 2025 falls on a Saturday in May, which makes a Friday afternoon departure possible for families with flexible work and school schedules. Jewish calendars published by Chabad.org or Hebcal let trip leaders mark the date well in advance, the same way Australian families consult touring calendars for school holidays.

The drive from Albuquerque to the cliff dwellings covers about 230 kilometres and takes close to four hours, along winding two-lane roads through the Gila National Forest. Groups typically base themselves at a low-key motel near Silver City or pitch tents at the nearby campground. Booking a kosher-friendly kitchen or arranging a small menu of sealed, prepared food is the practical answer to the remote setting.

Pack for the trail with these basics:

Gear lists look familiar to anyone who has packed for a trek in the Flinders Ranges, with the addition of a few Jewish items that make the observance portable rather than incidental.

Bushwalking parallels down under

Australian Jewish families do not need to fly across the Pacific to find a meaningful hike, and the Gila trip can spark ideas closer to home. The Blue Mountains, the Grampians and Tasmania's Overland Track all offer multi-day walks where a Scout group can mark Lag B'Omer with fire, song and quiet learning. Walking the Twelve Apostles at sunrise or following a ridgeline above Katoomba carries the same sense of awe that the canyon walls inspire, with a thin layer of eucalyptus in the air instead of pine.

For a pilot run, Australian troops could try:

Local scouting traditions already blend bushcraft with celebration. A troop might stage a Lag B'Omer evening around a campfire at Mount Buffalo, sharing stories of Rabbi Shimon while toasting marshmallows on a long stick. Australian slang for these gatherings tends to stay relaxed: a patrol might call the event a bit of a yarn around the flames, or describe the meal as proper bush tucker with damper and billy tea.

Jewish scouting bodies in Australia, including units affiliated with Scouts Australia, can use the Gila model to introduce the festival to Scouts who might never have lit a Lag B'Omer bonfire. A weekend retreat at a bunkhouse in the Yarra Valley or a day hike in Royal National Park can carry the same ingredients: time, fire, learning and a small group willing to slow down.

Rituals, learning and respect on site

A meaningful Lag B'Omer hike balances celebration with responsibility. The Gila Cliff Dwellings are protected federal land, and Park Service rules forbid collecting artefacts, climbing on certain walls or building fires outside designated rings. Jewish Scouts can frame these rules through the concept of bal tashchit, the prohibition against wasteful destruction, treating the cliff dwellings with the same care they would give a synagogue.

Daily rituals on the trail can be simple and memorable. Mornings begin with Modeh Ani and a short psalm read aloud from a printed sheet. Lunches feature kosher trail mix, pita wraps and, for those who keep strictly kosher, sealed tuna or hard cheese. Evenings end with a teaching circle, a short story from the Zohar and the lighting of a single flame at dusk, with one adult responsible for fire safety and another for kosher supervision.

Archery, a Lag B'Omer tradition linked to the Bar Kokhba revolt, fits neatly with a Scout's existing interest in the bow-and-arrow badge. Setting up a portable target on a flat stretch of the canyon floor turns history into muscle memory, and the activity can double as preparation for the more technical archery stages of the Scout programme. Even a target made of layered cardboard and a few coats of paint will do.

Lessons that travel home

The deepest lesson of a Lag B'Omer hike to Gila is not the destination but the habit. Jewish identity grows stronger when it travels with a Scout, whether the trail winds through the Gila Wilderness, the Victorian Alps or a quiet ridge outside Canberra. Lag B'Omer asks for a spark of joy in the middle of a long count, and a hike is a sturdy place to let that spark catch.

The same ingredients that make Gila work can be assembled almost anywhere. Time outside, kosher food, a fire or lantern, a short teaching and a small group willing to commit to the calendar are enough. A troop that walks together through one Lag B'Omer will find it easier to walk through the next, and the holiday stops being a date in a calendar and becomes a place the troop knows by heart.

One practical first step for any Australian Jewish Scout group looks like this: confirm the date on Hebcal, choose a half-day walk within driving distance, and appoint one parent or rabbi to lead a short teaching by the campfire. From there, a printed d'var Torah sheet, kosher food that travels well, and a brief on Leave No Trace and bal tashchit are enough to get the troop on the trail. Lag B'Omer stops being a date to remember and becomes a place to return to.