A Brief History of the JOC

The Jewish Outdoors Club traces its roots to the early summer of 1996 when a group of five friends celebrated their graduation from UPenn/Columbia by embarking on a three day trek through the Delaware Water Gap. Have you ever seen the movie "Alive"? Well, it was nothing like that and we all had fun.

Several people heard about this adventure and said that theyd be interested in these kinds of outings. So, in the Fall of 1996, a small telephone tree and word of mouth at the OZ Friday night scene led to a group outing to play paintball, or painball, as it should be called. Following that, a hike that Fall. attracted 12 Upper West Siders who proceeded to go on a grueling, 10 hour long hike at Breakneck Ridge near Cold Springs, NY. It was on that adventure that this hike leader learned that 5 inches on the trail map is different from five inches of trail.

Soon, more and more people asked to be able to join the fun and adventure, and the Jewish Outdoors Club came to be.

Through word of mouth, the JOC grew from its small beginnings with a few dozen members to a major organization with over 2500 people on an email list, though this does include Aqu Nyikuben who keeps trying to post about his Nigerian Gold Mine. Anyway, in 2004, the Boston Jewish Outdoors Club (BJOC) was formed by two former JOCers, which was our first step toward franchising ourselves all over America en route to taking over the world.

To manage our growth here in the tri-state area, in 2007, the JOC formally became a non-profit 501(c)7 corporation managed by a board of directors that sets the vision for the club and organizes events.

We look forward to continued success in bringing Jews to explore, experience, and appreciate the great outdoors.

Alon Krausz

Founder and President, Jewish Outdoors Club

August, 2010