Headed to a National Park? Chabad Has You Covered
by Tzemach Feller – Lubavitch.com
With the summer tourism season in full swing, millions of people are taking advantage of America’s vast natural beauty by visiting its dozens of national parks. For Jewish visitors seeking kosher food, a minyan, or Shabbat dinner, looking up the nearby Chabad has become part of the planning. Chabad centers near these parks are often the only Jewish resource for miles around, and while they exist primarily to serve the local Jewish community, they are glad to accommodate visitors as well.
Here are the top-10 most visited U.S. national parks, and the Chabad centers that serve their visitors.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park:
More than 13 million people visit this park, situated in the Appalachian Mountains. The park straddles the Tennessee-North Carolina border, and Chabad centers in both states cater to visitors.
Chabad House: Chabad of Knoxville
Rabbi Yossi and Miriam Esther Wilhelm
The Chabad House is located 35-50 miles from the entrances to the park in Tennessee. They offer “The Jewish Guide for Visiting the Great Smoky Mountains,” including resources for kosher food, nearby mikvahs and Shabbat meals at Chabad.
Chabad House: Chabad Lubavitch of Western North Carolina
Rabbi Shaya and Chana Susskind
The Chabad House is located some thirty miles east of the park’s North Carolina entrances. “We provide all kinds of things to Jewish travelers of all levels of observance,” Rabbi Susskind told Lubavitch.com. They offer Shabbat meals to go and much more for visitors to the state.
Grand Canyon National Park:
Chabad House: Chabad of Flagstaff, Arizona
Rabbi Dovie and Chaya Shapiro
The Chabad House caters to thousands of Jewish visitors each year. Their visitors website, TheKosherCanyon.com, offers everything from hospitality suites and RVs to takeout options with names like the “Chai Altitude Burger” and services in their stunning synagogue.
During the late summer “bein hazmanim” period, when schools and yeshivas are out and many areas see an influx of observant Jewish travelers, Chabad’s offerings switch into high gear, with daily breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets and takeout, minyanim, and catering for large groups. Last Sunday, Chabad hosted some 260 Jewish teenage campers visiting from California for a barbecue after they’d visited the Grand Canyon.
Zion National Park:
Chabad House: Chabad of Southern Utah.
Rabbi Mendy and Chaya Cohen
The Cohens serve many of the Jewish people who join the 5 million who visit the park each year. They do everything from koshering kitchens in Airbnbs to daily takeout and Shabbat meals. Their website, JewishSU.com/visitors, contains information on local attractions, nearby hotels, Shabbat, and kosher.
Yellowstone National Park:
This vast park of some 2.2 million acres spans multiple states, and is served by several of the Chabad houses that dot the American West. Three of the entrances to the park are located in Montana, and visitors also enter the park from Wyoming and Idaho.
Chabad House: Chabad-Lubavitch of Montana
Rabbi Chaim and Chavie Bruk
The Bruks welcome large numbers of visitors to join them for Shabbat in Bozeman. “We provide Shabbat meals free of charge—it’s like a farbrengen, with a cozy, home-style atmosphere,” Rabbi Bruk told Lubavitch.com. “There are people we’re still close friends with, and it all started with a Shabbos in Bozeman 15 years ago. There are connections made around the world that started around our Shabbos table.
“Shabbat in Bozeman was amazing; it was a really nice experience to be able to sit with my family and meet Jews from all over the world at all levels of Judaism, spending the Shabbat together, feeling the beauty of Shabbat around the beauty of the natural world,” said Chesky Newman, an attorney from the Five Towns on Long Island, New York, who visited Bozeman to experience the natural beauty of the parks. “We wouldn’t have gone if there wasn’t a Chabad house.”
Chabad House: Chabad of Wyoming (more about them further down).
Rabbi Zalman and Raizy Mendelsohn
Rocky Mountain National Park:
Chabad centers in nearby Boulder, Colorado often field phone calls from visitors to the park.
Chabad House: Chabad at the University of Colorado
Rabbi Yisroel and Leah Wilhelm
The Rohr Chabad Center at University of Colorado, primarily a Chabad on Campus, also serves visitors, offering Shabbat meals and a mikvah, among other resources.
Chabad House: Chabad of Boulder County
Rabbi Pesach and Chanie Scheiner
The Boulder County Center for Judaism offers kosher takeout delivery as well as other resources for travelers.
Yosemite National Park:
Chabad House: Chabad of the Central Valley, in Fresno, California.
Rabbi Levy and Chanie Zirkind
Chabad of the Central Valley serves visitors to many of California’s nine national parks, including Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon. They offer a plethora of resources for visitors, including on-site guest rooms, kosher catering, and a takeout menu.
Acadia National Park:
Chabad House: Chabad of Bangor, Maine.
Rabbi Chaim and Esther Wilansky
Chabad of Bangor welcomes tourists on the way to Acadia. The rabbi regularly visits the park himself, bringing kosher food and putting on tefillin with visitors, and serving the Jewish needs of local business owners. During the busy summer season, Chabad also hosts regular minyanim.
Grand Teton National Park:
Chabad House: Chabad Lubavitch of Wyoming
Rabbi Zalman and Raizy Mendelsohn
Located just 12 miles from the park in Jackson, Wyoming, Chabad offers inspiring services with views of the Tetons, Shabbat hospitality and kosher takeout. Each Shabbat, Rabbi Zalman and Raizy Mendelsohn host anywhere from 20 to well over 100 guests visiting Wyoming’s seven national parks and many other local attractions.
Joshua Tree National Park:
Chabad House: Chabad of Rancho Mirage.
The Chabad centers that dot the Coachella Valley in Southern California welcome many visitors to Joshua Tree. Here are a number of them:
Rabbi Shimon and Chaya Posner
Chabad of Rancho Mirage – the Torah Oasis offers a weekly community barbecue every Tuesday night from Sukkot (October) through Shavuot (June), which are the typical months for visitors to the desert (In the summer months, says Rabbi Shimon Posner, visitors are themselves the barbecue—temperatures in the summer regularly exceed 110 or even 120 degrees). The barbecue is so popular that Jewish visitors will often plan their trips to be in Rancho Mirage Tuesday night.
Chabad House Chabad of Palm Springs
Rabbi Yonasan and Sussie Denenbeim
Chabad offers kosher takeout from January to April—during the peak winter tourist season—as well as minyanim and Shabbat meals.
Chabad House: Chabad of La Quinta.
Rabbi Moshe and Chaya Mushka Katz
Chabad of La Quinta offers kosher takeout as well as Shabbat services and meals.
Olympic National Park:
Chabad House: Chabad of Olympia
Rabbi Yosef and Rivka Schtroks
The day before Passover this year, as Rabbi Yosef Schtroks was setting Seder tables, there was a knock on the door. An Israeli family visiting Olympic National Park—their first respite after months of war and fear—realized that Passover was the next day, and they were without all of their Seder supplies. Of course, they got a chance to put on tefillin, and walked out laden with matzah, maror, and everything else they’d need for an uplifting Seder.
Even when it’s not Passover, the Chabad center gets calls all the time from tourists inquiring about kosher, Shabbat, and a minyan, and—like Chabad centers across the country and beyond—they are always happy to accommodate.
Glacier National Park:
Chabad House: Chabad of the Flathead Valley
Rabbi Shneur and Chana Wolf
Chabad of the Flathead Valley in Kalispell, Montana welcomes visitors with Shabbat meals, services, and information about kosher food options locally and lodging near the Chabad House. The Wolfs also visit the park, meeting with Jewish tourists and providing Jewish resources and uplifting moments of connection.
