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About Our Founder

Yaakov Trek Reef

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"My journey has taught me that rekindling intimacy with our more-than-human world is a vital step in our unfolding universe story. Every moment we explore our relationship with Earth and Cosmos, we foster a spirit of reciprocity and stewardship that inspires us to write a story of renewal into our future."

With over 30 years of backcountry backpacking and hiking experience, Yaakov Trek Reef walks in the world as a guide and teacher of outdoor ethics, nature & forest therapy, and wilderness spirituality. He speaks and leads trips throughout the Northeast for the public, congregations, retreat centers, and other organizations.
 
He has also led workshops and classes for the Adamah Farm Fellowship, Star Island Natural History Conference, Elat Chayyim Center for Jewish Spirituality, Keshet Boston, Hillel House at Boston University, Hopedale Unitarian Parish, First Parish in Billerica, First Church in Leominster, and Seaside Yoga Retreat Center in Oregon, among others.

Trek worked for the Star Island Conference and Retreat Center ten miles off the coast of New Hampshire for four seasons and served as a retreat director and the program manager at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Falls Village, Connecticut, for three years. 


In 2016, he completed a pilgrimage along the storied Appalachian Trail. Taking approximately five million steps over 2189.1 miles between Georgia and Maine, he found a deeper connection to our awe-inspiring natural world and a clearer sense of place in our unfolding story of our cosmos.

Trek holds several outdoor and guiding certifications, including Certified Interpretive Guide by the National Association for Interpretation and Certified Nature & Forest Therapy Guide by the Association of Nature & Forest Therapy. He is also a Wilderness First Responder trained by SOLO Wilderness Emergency Medicine.

 

He lives in North Billerica, Massachusetts, on the unceded territory of the Pawtucket and Massa-adchu-es-et Peoples.

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