Nigel Savage is in for the ride of his life. The 38-year-old Brit has organized a 5,800-kilometer bike trip across the US this summer - having only pedaled as much as 16 km once in his life.
"One of the slightly surreal things about this is I can hardly ride a bike," he says self-deprecatingly.
Until he came to Israel five years ago to study Torah, Savage worked as an investment manager for the Rothschilds in London. He wheeled around in a BMW convertible with two bumper stickers: "Free Tibet" and in Hebrew, "There is a mandate for peace."
A one-year sabbatical at Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem turned into an odyssey.
"I'd had the best year of my life," he reflects in the living room of his spacious, old, Arab-style house in the capital's German Colony. "I thought, why would I want to go back and put on a pinstripe suit?"
Clad in hiking boots, Patagonia shirt, khakis, and kippa, he traces his Israel journey, which included studies with Shlomo Carlebach at Yakar in Jerusalem. "On the second of those three days I suddenly, completely got it," Savage says, "and it changed my life."
The Carlebach influence shows up on Savage's promotional flyer: "The Torah is a commentary on the world, and the world is a commentary on the Torah. - Reb Shlomo."
The peace-love-and-brotherhood message also comes out in Savage's vision for his Cross-Country Jewish Environmental Bike Ride between Seattle and Washington D.C. He embraces the idea of a pluralistic community of cyclists tackling physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual challenges together.
The first two calls he received proved the point. Nicole, an observant Jew from Brandeis University in Boston, wanted to ride but wondered, "Can I keep Shabbat, and will it be kosher?"
Dan, a New Yorker with a Conservative background who has had nothing to do with Judaism since he was 18, told Savage, "I really want to do it, but is this going to be too Jewish?"
SAVAGE BRIDGES the gaps. "I grew up in a not-very-religious Orthodox community in Manchester, England," he says chuckling. Life became a dichotomy of sitting in synagogue services then driving to Manchester United soccer matches.
At 15, he stopped being observant and also visited Israel. That was the year he learned to ride a bike, on a kibbutz.
As an undergraduate at the University of Sussex, Savage served as student government chairman, meanwhile hiding his Jewish background. The association passed a motion declaring that "Zionism is racism."
Dismayed and angry, Savage went wild. He spent the next 18 months fighting the motion and defending the rights of Jewish students. He vowed to become more knowledgeable about Judaism.
Part of his Jewish journey concerns the environment - as he puts it, "What are the responsibilities about the trail I leave in my wake?"
The June 11-August 29 bike ride, sponsored by the new non-profit foundation Hazon ("vision") that Savage founded, will promote environmental causes from a religious perspective. Cyclists will stop in synagogues, churches, camps, and TV studios across America to speak and teach.
"Besides raising money and awareness, we want to teach that the decisions people make on a daily basis - about the food we eat, the transportation we use - actually matter. And we want to have a great time while we do it," says Savage.
Hazon asks riders to raise $1 per mile in tzedaka pledges - a total of $3,600 per person. In addition they will contribute about $10 a day for food, lodging, and support services along the route.
Money will go toward causes such as the Baka recycling effort in Jerusalem and the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life in North America.
SAVAGE BEGAN training on a stationary bicycle in the gym; he was a tad nervous about riding along city streets among Israeli drivers.
In addition, he says, "I'm on a major diet. I'm off sugar, caffeine, soda, white flour, pastry, and kugel. Actually, I'm really enjoying it."
At 1.70 meters and 84 kilos, Savage has seen results. Munching peanuts and sipping tea, he happily reports that he's shed a little more than two kilos so far.
He had never pursued physical challenges until the autumn of his year at Pardes, when a friend invited him to join three other men in a three-day hike across Israel. "I was the oldest guy in the group," Savage says, "and I remember clearly having this heavy rucksack on my back and thinking that I'd never make it.
"But I did, and I really enjoyed it. That trip led to others, in Machtesh Ramon; in Sinai; and also in the US, in North Carolina, New Hampshire, and New Mexico."
Two years ago he led a three-week retreat for Jewish wilderness educators through the Outward Bound School in North Carolina. Jewish and non-Jewish staff members celebrated Shabbat together in the woods.
Savage waxes poetic about the joy of saying Modeh Ani, the blessing upon awakening, amid a stand of pine trees with hazy mountains and golden spider webs in the background.
To get a better handle on the undertaking, he and his girlfriend, Jo Sassienie, packed up their household and moved to New York in March. Hazon has an office in Manhattan, where Savage as director wants to build a board and begin raising money to support his vision.
"It aims to foster Jewish experiences that are meaningful, enjoyable, and which integrate action and Jewish teaching," he explains.
Savage and company will gather in Seattle before Shavuot for a trip orientation, then a night of Torah study. After the holiday they'll start pedaling for the other coast.
He expects 10 to 15 participants. "People who've applied already include Americans, Israelis, and Europeans," he says. One query came from a Yeshiva University graduate doing research in Antarctica.
He finds the response exciting if also scary. "For many years I had a great job, I was well paid, I had a great life. A piece of me was niggling, saying, 'Is this the best you can do? Shouldn't you be doing a little bit more?'"
For more information on The Cross-Country Jewish Environmental Bike Ride, e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
[Published in the Jerusalem Post, April 7, 2000]