At 7 a.m., on Marathon Sunday a cluster of runners gathered in a tent near the starting line at the marathon’s Fort Wadsworth staging ground on Staten Island.

Their heads covered with yarmulkes, their legs in running pants with the morning chill, they recited – with extra fervor – a blessing thanking God for giving strength to the weary. 

While most participants in the area were warming up for the arduous 26.2-mile New York City Marathon course by stretching their limbs, this crew prepared by strengthening their souls.

The gathering has become a familiar ritual before the annual race for Peter Berkowsky and his band of Jewish runners. Dubbed the Marathon Minyan – a “minyan” is the quorum of at least 10 adults required by Jewish law for a prayer service – the service has been held every year for almost four decades and attracts worshipers from around the world. 

The worshippers credit the prayer service with helping them to kick off their day on the right, er, foot.

Runners participating in the 2021 TCS New York City Marathon, the race's 50th running, pray in the International Minyan tent in Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island where runners gather prior to starting the race, on November 7, 2021.

David Roher, a special education teacher from Teaneck who runs the marathon every year in an Iron Man costume, said he never misses his morning prayers so Marathon Sunday shouldn’t be any different. “It puts me in a positive place of ‘I’ve spoken to God and I’m ready to go.'”

For Judith Sambol of Teaneck, praying before hitting the road calms her pre-marathon jitters. “It helps to have a moment to gather myself,” said Sambol, a psychologist. “It’s been nice to see many of the same faces every year and to see the minyan grow. There are now more members of the tribe who lace up.”

Some men wrapped tefillin, also known as phylacteries, around their arms for the first time in their lives. Inside the black boxes attached to leather straps were tiny parchments containing Biblical verses. Religious Jews often wear them during weekday morning prayers. 

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Walking inside of the tent was like stepping into an intimate party scene. Old friends hugged and caught up on each other’s lives, newcomers were ushered in as part of the family, and everyone wished each other a “good run” as they pilfered snacks from the refreshments table. 

And at the end of the service, the worshippers spontaneously linked arms and broke into the Hebrew song “Am Yisrael Chai,” a rallying cry that literally means, “The Nation of Israel Lives,” expressing the Jewish peoples’ determination to overcome any challenge or adversity that comes their way.  

At times, the prayer service has served as a matchmaker of sorts.

Sambol met her husband, Steven Rosenbaum, at the prayer service in 2008, when they struck up a conversation and it evolved into something more. They eventually married and have continued participating in the minyan as well as the marathon.

The prayer service is a brief moment to “reflect and think about the year that has passed and the training cycle that I’ve just completed,” she said. “It’s important to me to be a part of the community of Jewish runners and to see other people who are committed to training and to a religious lifestyle. We learn from each other how to make it all fit together.”  

David "Ironman" Roher of Teaneck, on right, catches up with founder of the International Minyan Peter Berkowsky during a break in prayers in the minyan tent in Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island, prior to participating in the 2021 TCS New York City Marathon, the race's 50th running, on November 7, 2021.

In a tent nearby, worshipers gathered for a non-denominational prayer service that has been a fixture at the marathon starting line since 1985. The prayer service, which drew about two dozen worshippers, was led by Lance Svendsen, a pastor from Bethel, Connecticut and author of “Run Anyway,” an autobiographical account of his running journeys. 

“We pray for all the runners and for all the people who need healing,” Svendsen said. “This year, the theme is endurance and we will stress the need to press on even though it’s tough. People leave here more encouraged and excited about running.” 

Svendsen offered a public benediction for the group as well as individual ones for runners who requested it. Ivan Aguilar of Texas, who was running his second marathon, was grateful for the blessing. “It gives me a feeling that God is with me throughout the race.” 

The minyan was the brainchild of Berkowsky of Livingston, who established it in 1983 with Jim Michaels, a conservative rabbi from Queens and a 3:17 marathoner who calls himself the Running Rabbi.   

Berkowsky came up with the idea in 1983 while training for his first New York City Marathon and reciting the Kaddish, or mourner’s prayer, for his recently deceased mother. Berkowsky figured there would be other runners who had recently lost a loved one and needed to recite the prayer before the race.

He and Michaels approached Fred Lebow, the visionary who created and oversaw the New York City Marathon until his death in 1994. Lebow, a Holocaust survivor, gave the minyan his blessing. 

The first year, Berkowsky advertised the minyan – officially dubbed the International Minyan for NYC Marathoners – in Jewish newspapers around the tri-state area. About 26 people showed up. Participation has swelled since then, with multiple services now offered to accommodate runners on a staggered starting schedule.

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Approximately 200 people routinely take part in the rolling prayer services now, though the crowds were smaller this year due to COVID. 

After his brain cancer diagnosis in 1990, Lebow stopped into the tent where the worshipers gave him ami sheberach, a Hebrew blessing for healing.

“Then we all sang and danced for him,” said Berkowsky. “He was very moved.” Two years later, Lebow was in remission and ran in the marathon. “That morning he came by and asked to put on tefillin, which he never did before. There was not a dry eye.”     

When Berkwosky realized that the 1986 race was going to fall on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, he began lobbying for Lebow to change the date from the last Sunday in October, the race date for its first decade, to the following week. 

He argued that observant Jews not only wouldn’t be able to participate, but it would also be in poor taste to have thousands of runners stomping through the streets of Brooklyn’s heavily ultra-Orthodox Williamsburg neighborhood while residents were dancing in the streets to celebrate their holiday.

A November 1985 article in The Record quoted Lebow stating that the date was changed permanently to the first week in November because of these concerns.   

Now 79, Berkowsky is no longer a marathoner but he still shows up every year to lead the marathoners in some spiritual carb-loading.

“I gave up running but I can’t give up running the minyan,” he said, calling it the “longest established religious service of any kind at any sporting event event in the world.”

Although few of his participants over the years have needed to recite the mourner’s prayer, he’s gratified that so many people from around the world have found their way to his tent. 

Ruth Liebowitz of Manhattan, who at 79-and-a-half, was running her 33rd marathon, is a minyan regular who says it’s a great way to start off the race. “This is part of who we are. It’s our people. it’s our identity,” she said about the prayer service, as she trotted off to the starting line. 

Teaneck resident Martin Bodek, garbed in his lucky Marathon “Super-Jew” T-shirt, has been running the marathon and attending the minyan every year since 1996. Thus far, his best time was 4:04. 

He swears he did it with the help of the minyan.  “Praying before you run certainly gives you a boost,” he said.  

Deena Yellin covers religion for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to her work covering how the spiritual intersects with our daily lives, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: [email protected] 

Twitter: @deenayellin 

Source: Asbury Park

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