In the wake of Oct. 7, New York City’s Ezra Feig yearned for community among his Jewish peers. He also loved to run. And so, Nice Jewish Runners was born: The group meets weekly to jog throughout the city, chatting and sometimes stopping for beer along the way. Since Feig—a health care marketing executive by day—launched the group, other Jewish runners took notice. Chapters have sprung up in other cities in Israel, Canada and in the U.S., including Boston, offering catharsis, exercise and camaraderie. Runners of all levels are welcome. Here’s what to know about this group on the (literal) move.
“It all started with an Instagram post,” Feig says. He planned to simply organize one run to offer a space for Jews to gather in the wake of the Hamas terror attacks in Israel. Feig was active in the running community in Manhattan and also vocal about social issues; a professional marketer, he was also able to get the word out quickly.
“Whenever something happened in the world, there were always solidarity runs: for Black Lives Matter, for women’s rights,” he says. However, the run clubs he knew weren’t reacting to the attacks in Israel with the same vocality.
“And so I voiced my frustration on Instagram, and it seemed like a lot of other Jewish runners felt the same. And one thing led to another,” he recalls.
A week after the attacks, the group held their first run in Manhattan’s Central Park, attracting 40 people. Two weeks later, there was a bigger one in Brooklyn, with 60 people. It blossomed from there: A month later, Feig organized a charity run in Central Park with more than 300 runners, raising $20,000 for Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency medical, disaster, ambulance and blood bank service. Now, the group meets regularly, clocking their routes on Strava. Feig emphasizes that the group is open to anyone—yes, even novice runners.
“This is a different way for Jews to connect in the healthiest way possible, and we’ve actually gotten a lot of people that weren’t avid runners. The funny part was, we created this for runners who maybe felt out of place at their run clubs, but we’ve attracted a lot of people for whom running is pretty new. For many people, this is their Jewish community. Every morning run finishes at a coffee shop. Evening runs finish at a bar. There’s a lot of schmoozing—we encourage people to run at a pace where they can carry a conversation with someone next to them,” he says.
Not long after the successful New York City fundraising run, Boston runner Emma Taylor, a triathlete and physical therapist, reached out to Feig. She launched a Boston chapter, which has grown over the past several months.
“As a physical therapist, I really understand the importance of community movement in terms of healing, and there wasn’t really anything that existed for the Jewish community in Boston,” she says.
Now, the local group gathers for weekly three-mile runs in the Brookline area, jogging around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir and Jamaica Pond, then gathering for post-workout drinks or ice cream. Like the New York branch, socializing and inclusivity are just as important as exercise.
“We have some people who only do half the distance. But the goal is for it to be a social, chatty run—there’s no expert running involved,” Taylor says. “We get people who have run marathons, we get people who’ve never done a 5K, we get college students and we get people with kids in their 40s and 50s.”
Longer term, Taylor hopes to replicate New York’s fundraising model or to partner with the Boston Marathon. For now, though, she’s happy to grow the group from its current size (about 85 people) to even more Jewish runners.
“We welcome all paces, all abilities, and we want this to be social and fun, to help our fellow Jews get involved in the running scene. Being kind to other people is obviously a huge Jewish value: the inclusivity and the openness. That being said, we’ve had non-Jews join: friends of friends. Again, this is more about being inclusive and super-welcoming,” she says.
“Ten years from now, I strongly believe there will be a ‘nice Jewish run’ in every Jewish city. Maybe we can even bring fitness to Jewish communities in different forms, like yoga and biking clubs,” Feig adds.
In the meantime, find them (and their fun merch!) on Instagram or Heylo.
