Reb Shlomo Carlebach has for a long time inspired me with his music and teachings. I find it beautiful to sit around and sing his songs with fellow travelers. Many of the tunes sung in traditional Jewish orthodox synagogues were composed by Reb Shlomo. If you are not familiar with his music or teachings I urge you to find some of his music and stories and be inspired.

 ”Shlomo Carlebach (Hebrew: שלמה קרליבך‎), known as Reb Shlomo to his followers, (14 January 1925, Berlin — 20 October 1994, Canada) was a Jewish rabbi, religious teacher, composer, and singer who was known as “The Singing Rabbi” during his lifetime. Although his roots lay in traditional Orthodox yeshivot, he branched out to create his own style combining Hasidic Judaism, warmth and personal interaction, public concerts, and song-filled synagogue services. At various times he lived in Manhattan, San Francisco, Toronto and Moshav Mevo Modi’im, Israel.

Carlebach is considered by many to be the foremost Jewish religious songwriter of the 20th century. In a career that spanned 40 years, he recorded more than 25 albums that continue to have widespread popularity and appeal. His influence also continues to this day in “Carlebach minyanim” and Jewish religious gatherings in many cities around the globe.

Carlebach was also considered a pioneer of the Baal teshuva movement (“returnees to Judaism”), encouraging disenchanted Jewish youth to re-embrace their heritage, using his special brand of music, songs, and inspiring story telling”.   (From Wikipedia)

Shvil Yisroel is a series of trails linked to form one complete trail from the top to the bottom of Israel. It is 960km long and takes on average two months to hike. I have walked most of the trail and have had the privilege to see the beauty of Israel from the lush green hills in the north, to deserts’ vastness in the south.

My plan is to unicycle the Shvil and raise money for a charitable cause at the same time. I will be doing this also in memory of a good friend Danny z’l. We worked together in Israel this past summer. Danny suddenly passed away a couple of months ago.

I believe that 90% of the trail is possible to do on a combination of on and off road unicycles. For the 10% not doable on a unicycle, I will take alternate routes.

I would like to do this November 2011. It should take 3-4 weeks to complete. Rachel will drive a support vehicle and serve as blogger and photographer for the trip.

As far as my research has found no one has yet done this. I would like to make this big, which I believe it could be. In relation to this trip, big for me means raising $500,000+ for a noble cause and getting a 24min documentary shown on Israeli TV. I could put up a web site and get 1000 people to each sponsor 1km at $36. This though would only raise $36,000 and would not get the media coverage I believe possible.

What I already have:

1. All logistics sorted relating to the trip, including: support vehicle, maps, outdoor gear, unicycles, food etc.

2. Photographer capable of documenting the trip and blogging on the go

What I still need to make this a smashing success:

3. A solid, well-respected charity that relates to Israel. I need this charity to back the idea – which they should as they have only to gain. (There are some charities I have in mind but they do not have $500k fundraising potential.)

4. Someone who can handle Israeli PR work. To get press coverage at the start and finish, press interviews, a news station willing to air a documentary of the trip, etc.

I’m looking for leads and ideas for which charities may be good to go with and how to tackle Israeli media. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading.