The “Deliverance” canoe trippers in 2005. From left are Sam Cordes,
Phil Rubinoff, David Altbaum, Norm Godfrey, Stephen Kauffman, Stephen
Altbaum, Arnie Glickman, Ben Blufarb and Joe Feldman. [Photo courtesy
Sam Cordes]

TORONTO — Stephen Altbaum may be an accountant by profession, but he’d rather be paddling on the waterways of Algonquin park.

Luckily, that’s exactly what he and some friends will do again this summer as part of an annual Jewish canoe trip.

Now in its 30th year, it’s become an excursion of faith, friendship and food, which sees Altbaum and seven friends hitting Ontario’s waterways and campgrounds, bonding as men do over rugged terrain by day and over hearty meals (and the occasional libation) by campfire at night.

“We bring way too much food,” Altbaum admitted in a recent interview with the Canadian Jewish News.

But what started out as an annual summer “guy” trip to simply get away from it all – they’ve given the trip the tongue-in-cheek title “Deliverance” – has become a more spiritual affair for the men, Altbaum, 59, said.

“Wherever we are we make Kiddush and light candles on Shabbat,” he said. “And our chef, Phil Rubinoff, will break out the chopped liver and Jewish food. We also do Havdalah on Saturday nights.”

Now in their 50s and 60s – Rubinoff is the exception at 75 and may be making his final trip this summer– each man has evolved his role on the trip over the years and has been given a nickname befitting his specialty.

Altbaum, the acknowledged organizer, has been making the trip for 28 years and is known as the “Fearless ligner,” he quipped.

The others are Norm (The Shlepper) Godfrey; Joe (The Rebbe) Feldman; Sam (Sous Chef) Cordes; Stephen (The Bowman) Kauffman; Ben (Dov) Blufarb; Arnie (The Rookie) Glickman; and Rubinoff, known affectionately as “The Voice of Reason.”

This year’s “Deliverance” begins on Aug. 20, and the men started seriously readying themselves for it a couple of months in advance, working out more diligently than usual to get in shape for the sometimes gruelling portages required of them on the trail.

In a pre-trip meeting last month, Altbaum, Rubinoff and Cordes told The CJN about what the trip means to them as friends and as Jews.

“After a couple of years doing this, I remember thinking, ‘How did I ever get by without it?,’” Altbaum said. “There’s this amazing chemistry between us. Sure, we’ve had our small problems, someone will get on someone else’s nerves. But this group has kept a lot of psychiatrists out of work.”

Cordes, the trip’s official photographer, concurred, saying that the camaraderie on the trip helps in innumerable ways.

“We give each other free professional advice, too,” he said.

Over the course of the interview, all three kibbitz and rib each other back and forth like a bunch of high-school buddies. But it’s clear they share a deep fondness for one another.

“We would do anything for each other,” Altbaum said.

Rubinoff laughingly added: “It’s a guy thing. My wife called us a cult. We’ve been there for each other for all sorts of support.”

They’re also there for others when the need arises.

Like a band of roaming, helpful Jewish woodsmen who appear in the nick of time to save the day, the Deliverance boys have earned a reputation with backpackers, campers and park rangers alike for their various acts of backwoods chesed for many moons.

One story the men like to recount is the time they came across a group of campers and counsellors fresh off their own canoe trip.

Feldman (The Rebbe) sparked up a conversation with one of the campers and found out he was Jewish and that the boy’s mother had recently passed away.

Distraught, the boy wanted to say Kaddish for his mom, but couldn’t find a minyan while out in the wilderness.

Enter the Deliverance crew, who immediately helped him form the minyan and say the mourner’s prayers on the spot.

Another instance of spontaneous Jewish assistance occurred when the men came across a couple of shomer Shabbat campers who were caught alongside them in an interminable portage line backlog.

Afraid they wouldn’t get back to their campsite in time to retrieve and light their Shabbat candles, the Deliverance men lent them some of theirs.

But their woodsy generosity and goodness isn’t limited solely to the Jewish faith. The men also help campers of all stripes, often sharing their abundant food and knowledge with those in need.

They also welcome non-Jews on their trip.

A Macedonian Christian friend “with a deep affinity for Jewish ritual” once accompanied the men on the trip, Feldman said.

“By the end of the trip, we’d taught him to make Hamotzi,” Altbaum recalled. “The next year he went on… another trip and we asked him how it was. He said, ‘It was useless. They didn’t even make Shabbat!’”

And he liked the fact that the trip had an “ample supply” of single malt scotch and ice, Feldman wisecracked.

Feldman took credit for bringing the Deliverance trip “halachically up to par” after he “became frum” about 13 years ago.

“I asked that we kasher all the utensils and stay shomer Shabbas, and to their credit, all the guys were happy and respectful of it,” Feldman said.

Asked about the spiritual quality of the trip, Feldman said that in many ways being out in the woods helps bring the men closer to God.

“There is a sense that HaShem wanted us to see and experience his wonderful world. So we’re always very careful to leave a campsite better than we found it.”