Praying with a giant lulav and etrog at the Kotel (Western Wall) in Jerusalem, Israel, on Sukkot

We are at Newtown Synagogue over the Festival of Sukkot.  Rabbi Ben will be leading the services. If you don’t have anywhere to go (or even if you do) you are welcome to join us at the Synagogue on Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 6:30pm and Thursday and Friday 9:30am.

There are two main mitzvot on Sukkot:

1. To dwell in the Sukkah. This means eating and sleeping in the Sukkah. Sukkah is one of the few mitzvot that envelopes the entire body. It is awesome, because just sitting in the Sukkah gets us a mitzvah. This is not the case with most other mitzvot. You can hold matzah all day long, but unless you eat it there is no mitzvah. Thus we try to spend as much time in the Sukkah as possible. You can read a book all afternoon in the Sukkah, and every second you are getting a mitzvah!

2. To shake the four species: Lulav, Etrog, Hadassim, Aravot.  There is so much symbolized in these four species of vegetation. One idea, is that they symbolize the four different types of Jews. With the four species,  some have smell, some have taste, one has both, and one has neither.  The same with Jews. Some have many good deeds and Torah study, some have one or the other, and some have neither. On Sukkot we all come together. We need everyone.

Chag  Sameach!

Recently, Rabbi Ben and I were walking near Darling Harbor in Sydney and we spotted what might just be the coolest playground ever.  If you ever had a Spiderman fantasy, this is the playground to visit.  We were both laughing, though, because you’d never see such a cool playground in America.  Some kid would fall from the top, break his/her neck, and the ensuing lawsuit would be the end of that playground!  Which led us to wonder… what would Judaism say about that situation?

The truth is, there are two conflicting aspects to Judaism.  First, there is personal responsibility.  A person is responsible for his own actions (and presumably parents have responsibility for their kids).  Under this theory, if you choose to play on a playground, or to let your kids use it, then you are assuming a risk.

But even Judaism insists that this risk must be reasonable.  Landlords are not permitted under Jewish law to rent out places they know are unsafe.  They are required to make the necessary repairs. If they fail to, they are liable for the injury that comes from it.

So it seems to be a combination of the two.  The question is actually pretty consistent with American law, although it probably would be a bit more lenient when it comes to really fun playgrounds.  If the ground beneath the toys is soft and the toys are strong and sturdy, the owner probably won’t have any liability.  The rest of the risk is assumed by the person playing or their parent. (Where American law diverges is that an extra burden is placed on landlords who have a “kid magnet” on their property – and playgrounds are definitely kid magnets!)

Visiting with my friend Diama at The Gap in Bondi

For the last two weeks, Rabbi Ben and I have been in Sydney, Australia, where he is acting as chazzan and rabbi for Newtown Synagogue.  Rabbi Ben got his smicha in Australia and spent a total of about 7 years here, so he knows this place pretty well.  But this is my first visit and what has struck me most is how incredibly nice everyone is!

The Jewish community here is wonderful.  Unlike most places where I’ve been, I haven’t seen any divisions at all among Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, etc.  Everyone attends the same orthodox shuls and enjoys each others’ company – even though some people are walking to shul, while others are driving.  Some leave shul to go watch the latest rugby game while others are going home to a festive holiday meal.  Yet, nobody is judging anybody else. Nobody is fighting about whether there should be separate seating in shul or if G-d gave the Torah.  Nobody here has a “holier-than-thou” attitude. There is such a wonderful and strong feeling of community here among the Jews that is really refreshing.

And getting to know some people here individually has shown me exactly why this is.  Each and every individual is incredibly nice.  Without even asking for it, the president of Newtown Synagogue, who makes her own yogurt from scratch, made us a large container of fresh, homemade Greek yogurt.  Visiting some friends Rabbi Ben has not seen in years, we were showered with gifts – a gorgeous handmade necklace for me and a beautiful Rosh Hashana basket for us to share (you can never go wrong when giving Rabbi Ben apples as a gift!).  Other friends have had us over for meals and given us lifts to the kosher groceries.  It seems like we can’t go anywhere without being showered with hugs, presents, and pastries.

Yesterday, one friend of Rabbi Ben’s even made me a loaf of fresh gourmet whole wheat bread, possibly the most delicious bread I have ever tasted in my life, just because I told him how much I loved his bread when I tried it last week.  (And I am not kidding – this is the most AMAZING bread I have ever had. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.  The great thing is that he makes it in no time flat in this crazy ThermoMix TM31 machine he has that can make just about everything, so he didn’t even mind.  He’s selling the machines, so contact him at steigrad@gmail.com if you want to be able to make your own gourmet bread with only 2 minutes of effort… but I think he should just start selling the bread itself! It’s too amazing!!!!!)

Darling Harbor

Even strangers in the street or the store are incredibly warm, friendly, and helpful.  Any time I need help or directions, people will not hesitate to drop what they’re doing and go out of their way to help me.  One woman even walked several minutes with me just to make sure I wouldn’t get lost when I once asked directions.  Others have pulled out cells phones and looked things up online for me, or offered to help me with any number of things.

If you ever had any doubts or questions about visiting Australia, toss them aside right now.  This place is amazing! And not just because the Sydney Opera House is cool, or the Bondi to Bronte beach/cliff walk is gorgeous, but because it is a land filled with the most cheerful and hospitable people around. I think it is impossible to have a bad time in Australia!

Imagine what it would be like today if we had prophecy.  Maybe it would be good, but it would also be a bit frightening, don’t you think?  I mean, really.  Imagine some guy going into a trance and coming out of it and telling you something somewhat cryptic that you don’t entirely understand.  “City of New Orleans, repent from your ways or Katrina will come destroy you!”  You’re left wondering who on earth Katrina is and instead of cancelling Mardi Gras, there’s a nationwide search for every Katrina out there to make sure none of them blow up the city. And then along comes a hurricane.

I figure that’s kind of what it must have been like back in the days when prophets were common.  There were a lot of false prophets and you weren’t quite sure who to believe.  Is this guy real, or is he faking it?  And then the messages: Doom! Destruction! Repent now! But half the time the people were either not willing or able to see their shortcomings and fix them.

We’re not much different today.  The laws given down in the Torah apply as much today as they did 2,500 years ago when prophets still roamed the earth.  And I don’t think any of their messages were all that different from the messages we receive in our daily Torah portions.  G-d gives us the right way to live, we don’t do what He says, and He promises punishments will come upon the earth because of us.  Then it happens and we moan and cry.  Why is there a famine this year? Why is there a drought? Why is there an earthquake? Why did the volcano erupt? But we had the answers long ago.

You know, it doesn’t have to be this way.  There is a simple solution: repent! Begin to truly follow the Torah! (Or in the case of non-Jews, the 7 Noachide laws.)  And you can start today!

Because Yom Kippur falls on Shabbos this year, instead of reading a weekly Torah portion, we will instead read the book of Jonah.  Jonah’s one of those prophets I was just describing… and I think we could all identify with him a bit.  I mean, imagine the voice of G-d coming to you and telling you to go to Tehran and make an announcement there that the whole city is going to be destroyed.  Would you do it? I doubt it! Firstly, because you’d think you were going crazy. Secondly, because you know Ahmadinejad himself would probably come out and throttle you, if the crowds didn’t get to you first.  That’s kind of the situation Jonah was in.

But I’m less concerned with poor Jonah and his problems than I am about what actually happened in the end.  It’s perplexing – G-d says Nineveh would be overthrown and then it wasn’t.  Didn’t G-d know what was going to happen? Did He change his mind or something?  How can Jonah ever expect to be believed as a prophet back home when what he prophesied didn’t even come to pass? Now, that’s an even bigger question.

I heard a vort by Rabbi Moshe Hauer that answers these questions exactly, and with such an astounding clarity and simplicity that not only does it solve the problem with Jonah, but it also gives us guidance in our own lives.  He said that the city of Nineveh was overthrown.  How was it overthrown if the book of Jonah clearly describes how it was saved? Nineveh was not overthrown physically – it was, however, overthrown spiritually… and it was born anew again.

You see, in order to do true teshuva (repentance), the people of Nineveh (who were deeply mired in spiritual muck) had to completely reinvent themselves.  They had to give up everything they were and become completely new people.  The city had to become a completely new city.  The society had to become a completely new society.  There was no other way for them to be saved.  So instead of being overthrown physically, they started a spiritual revolution.  In the blink of an eye they made the decision to change themselves.

This is what we, too, must do on Yom Kippur.  It is not enough to simply stand in shul and bang our chests with our fists.  It is not enough just to say the words of the prayers.  It is not enough to commit to making one small change.  If we really want to be written in the Book of Life, we must take drastic measures!  We must start our own spiritual revolution.  We each have the power to radically transform our lives in one moment – and that moment can be now.  We can choose as of right now not to use our cells phones ever again on Shabbos or Yom Tov.  We can choose in an instant to only eat in kosher restaurants.  We can choose in an instant to change our wardrobe and begin dressing and acting more modestly.  We can start our own revolution.  We can change our lives, and we can change them now.

Don’t you know you’re talking about a revolution
It sounds like a whisper
And finally the tables are starting to turn
Talking about a revolution
(Tracy Chapman)

We wish you all a meaningful and reflective Yom Kippur.

Have just added ten new photos to the Peru page.  Click Here

I was thinking about Peru because a few years ago I was Chazzan there over the High Holidays.

Peru is one of my favorite countries to visit. There is a huge variety of things to see and do. My favorite is rock and ice climbing along with general hiking and trekking.

There is kosher food available in Lima and a very good kosher restaurant in Cuzco.

See the Peru page for more details.