Ice Skating on Bondi Beach

This Morning when I went down to Bondi beach to do some exercise I was greatly amused to see in middle of the beach set up was an outdoor ice skating rink. Being from Montreal and seeing an outdoor ice skating rink is a fairly common occurrence in the winter and not all to exciting. Observing one on Bondi beach did get my attention. I had notice them setting the rink up over the last few weeks but it didn’t quit take me until now that I sow the rink fully finished and operational.

The ice skating rink is part of the annual Bondi winter magic festival which runs for about a month. During the festival there are music and food events as any festival would have, as well as one day where they had some giant inflatable whale, a clothing swap and off course ice skating.

I guess it would be interesting to ice skate outdoors while hearing, seeing and smelling the ocean but would I pay over $20 for less than an hour of ice skating, mind you it’s not even a full size rink. In Montreal I can walk a 5 minutes from our home to where there is a full size ice hockey rink with free skating almost every afternoon.

So it got me thinking about what compels people to want to ice skate on Bondi beach. I mean after all your standing in a beautiful place with awesome surfing, swimming, coastal walks, and even scuba diving. “But no, we’ve got to ice skate!” I guess it is exciting to try new activities and have new experiences, for novelty. I’m sure there will be Australians who will ice skate there for the first time in their life, and perhaps last time, or maybe not for a decade. Maybe there are people who ice skate once a year, every year at this on the beach rink?

But here’s the thing; Is it enjoyable to go ice skating only one time? I’d say no, because you’d spend the time holding on to the walls around the rink, slipping and getting wet, and your feet most likely will be uncomfortable in some off the shelf rented pair of skates. It takes at least a few times to get the hang of skating before you can begin to enjoy it. You could feel good though by telling your friends that you’ve been ice skating

Perhaps the same with surfing. No one goes out the first time in their life with a surf board, catches a wave and has an incredible time. More likely they spend their times on the beach standing on the surfboard, then get in the water and end up with a few mouthfuls of salt as waves crash in their face.

Perhaps it’s like this with most things in life, it takes time to really begin to enjoy an activity. As time progresses and we continue in the practice it opens itself to us and we experience something new. Take skydiving; Plenty of people have been skydiving, though I’d say that ninety nine precent have probably gone once in their lifetime and did no as tandem jump. This means they were connected with a professional. But think about it, what would the experience be like to jump solo where it is just you out on your own and no instructor attached to you. It would be totally different.

The day you’re able to skate forward backwards comfortably around an ice rink and stop when you want, you will enjoy it more than the first time were you spent slipping around and falling, banging your knees, elbows, and wrists.

It’s the same thing when it comes to studying Torah and doing mitzvoth, it takes time to get into it, and the longer one goes the more exciting it gets. The first time you try and study through a page of Talmud will be a struggle. You may be trying to just stay on your feet but with time when you can go forwards, backwards, and stop whenever you want it will be a whole new experience.

Seeing a whale is a very exciting thing!

I went this week to a Marine Center on Bondi Beach (located in the Bondi Beach pavilion).  On the way in, the girl who works there (whose name is also Rachel!) mentioned that last weekend was the Whale Festival on Bondi Beach.  We were wondering what was going on there!

Anyway, I know Rabbi Ben has seen whales off the coast when doing the Bondi to Bronte walk, but I haven’t had the luck yet.  I’m really hoping that next time I go to Bondi Beach I’ll see a whale! Apparently the humpback whales migrate past Sydney between April and December. If you’re lucky in the winter you may even glimpse a Southern Right Whale off the Bondi coast.

If you are visiting Bondi Beach, you can take a whale watching tour

Anyway, at the marine center they said that a few days ago they saw a mother and baby whale right off of Bondi Beach – apparently they were there all day! I’m disappointed I missed it but I hope next time I am walking in Bondi Beach I will spot one.

Good luck spotting whales off of Bondi Beach – I know it happens a lot!

Parshas Beshalach: Never Judge a Book by its Cover

Our friend the Jordanian taxi driver showing us around Shobak Castle near Petra

It was a warm and rainy afternoon in Aqaba, Jordan.  We had crossed the border from Eilat the day before, only to discover that the Muslim festival of Eid was about to start.  This meant that there were no hotel rooms available the next night for any sort of reasonable price, so after spending the day exploring Aqaba, we figured we’d better leave.

We figured we’d take a bus to Wadi Musa, the village right outside the world-famous site of Petra, and try to find something there. Of course, it would be expensive, but it would be expensive anytime, not just when vacationing hordes descend for Eid, like they do in the beach town to the south. (Isn’t it funny how some things are the same in every culture?)  We tried in vain to find a bus, but everyone kept telling us they weren’t running because of the Eid festival.

While we were standing around, several taxi drivers approached us.  We knew the bus cost about $3 Jordanian per person and we were determined not to pay more.  Of course, the taxis wanted to charge us ridiculous amounts, but we turned away their $50 offers immediately.  One man kept persisting, insisting that he was a taxi driver from Wadi Mussa who had to return there anyway.  We eventually convinced him to take us for only $10, just slightly more than the $6 we would have spent to take a bus (had there been one).

We fully expected to be ripped off.  We were certain our cab driver would try to charge us $10 each instead of the $10 total that we’d agreed on – a common scam tactic used in third world countries.  To our surprise, as we drove the long way up to Wadi Mussa, we struck up a wonderful conversation with our cabbie.  We chatted about our families and the kind of foods the Jordanian people eat, which led him even to invite us over to his house.  Not only did he invite us for a meal, but he invited us to stay!

We ended up staying 4 days with the Jordanian family and the whole time they were incredibly welcoming and hospitable, even understanding that we couldn’t eat most of the food they offered us.  It didn’t even matter to them when they found out we were Jewish!  And of course, our cabbie didn’t overcharge us at all.  We had a great time.

Crossing the Red Sea (or the Sea of Reeds) would have been much harder for the Jews in a time where there were no giant ships to ferry them across.

At the beginning of time, when G-d created the earth, He knew that certain events would happen and designed the world accordingly.  The Torah was the blueprint for the world, after all.  One of the things that He did in preparation was to command the Sea of Reeds to split for the Jews.  Yet, we see in this week’s parsha that the Sea did not split immediately for the Jews, in spite of being told to directly by G-d.  Why?

When the Jews approached the Sea, they were spiritually filthy.  They looked and acted like Egyptians.  The Sea took one look at them and decided they did not meet the description it had been given of G-d’s chosen people.  It only split when one man, Nachshon ben Aminadav, was confident enough of G-d’s proclamation that He would save them, that he began to walk into the Sea.  Only once this happened was Moses able to lift his staff and split the Sea.  Only once the Sea recognized the true spiritual nature of the Jewish people through Nachshon’s action could it carry out G-d’s prior command.

Just as we judged our Muslim taxi driver unfavorably, the Sea of Reeds judged the Jewish people wrongly.  Yet both our taxi driver friend and the Jews showed their true selves and proved that judgment wrong.

The truth is, we do this every day. We see other people and we judge them – often poorly.  We are quick to anger and quick to judge, in spite of the Torah’s teaching to judge everyone favorably.  Yet we ourselves are often judged unfavorably and we don’t like it much.  We expect the traffic to split for us, we expect lights to turn green and grocery store lines to be short.  We expect others to recognize our inner worth and yet we have such a difficult time doing this for others.

There are two morals to this story that we can work on in the coming week. First, when we meet others, we must do our best to judge them favorably.  We must see them for who they really are, for the G-dly soul they possess within them.  Even if this means we must struggle to see the good in them, even if we can find only a tiny spark, we must seize hold of it and amplify it because this is what the Torah commands us to do and because it is what encourages others to grow.

Second, when we ourselves feel (or are) wrongly judged, not to react with wailing or anger or seek to retreat, as many of the Jewish people did when they were trapped at the shore of the Sea of Reeds.  Rather, we must do as Nachshon ben Aminadav did and walk boldly forward into the sea, showing everyone the true strength, beauty, and goodness of our inner selves.  Without us needing to argue at all, others will recognize our inner worth simply by our actions.  And indeed, we did this when we met our Muslim taxi driver friend: we acted as Jews in his presence, with respect and chessed, without anger or defensiveness… and, whatever his preconceptions may have been, he recognized our kiddush Hashem and reacted to that.  Today, I am sure, he sees Jews differently as a result of our friendly interactions.  If ever we are judged wrongly we must seek to act as true Jews and do a kiddush Hashem.

What’s Going on in Sydney, Australia in the Summer

Still having a great time in Australia. Last week I did some camping a few hours out of Sydney. It was great to camp along the river, going for a swim in the morning, time to pray and meditate, and over all be out in the fresh open air.

I guess I’ve not been rushed to travel around Australia because I’ve seen most of the country already: Darwin, Uluru, Cairns, Tasmania, Melbourne, Great Ocean Road, etc. Rachel has not yet been far from Sydney, so we will do some trips soon please G-d.

However, there is so much to see and do around Sydney, especially now with the Summer Festival going on. Also with the weather nice, I like to get out to the national parks as much as possible, for a day hike or longer. Rachel and I do some hiking together, but she is perhaps not as ambitious. I used to run trails doing ultra marathons, and sometimes when I get on the trail I can go to fast. So we do small walks together and Rachel leaves me the crazy long hikes to do solo.

We’re playing with the idea of buying a car and driving around the country. This is a common practice for backpackers to do. One option is to get a van with a mattress in the back, which makes for an easy place to sleep. However vans will use more fuel than cars. A camper-van is nice too, but uses loads of fuel.

Those are just some random thoughts.

We’ll keep you posted.

So… A short post for today.  We have up our new YouTube Channel!  So you can find us on there as TravelingRabbi!

One thing I thought to share was because I was just looking at a video I shot in Amman, Jordan.  We got to our hotel room, the best one we could find for a reasonable price, and it was very spacious.  Sort of like a palace.  Just… a palace in severe disrepair haha.  Rabbi Ben, who has traveled for much longer and to stranger places than me, thought it was funny that I wanted to do a video tour of our room.  When we got to India I understood why.  Compared to some places we stayed, this really was a palace!

Anyway, welcome to the world of travel… enjoy your stay!

Wine plays a big role in Judaism… it features prominently in Jewish festivals from the weekly Shabbat celebration to wedding ceremonies and, of course, the rowdy Purim parties.  One of my favorite wines is called Malbec and the most delicious Malbec wines in the world come from Mendoza, Argentina.  So during my time in Argentina, I took a trip to Mendoza to ride horses, go white water rafting, and, of course, to check out the wineries!

Anybody who’s been to a wine store has seen that there are many more non-kosher wines than kosher wines.  However, if you look into your foreign kosher wines (basically any of those not produced in Israel), you’ll find that those same wineries are producing non-kosher wines also.  How is this possible?  Most wineries will do a “run” of kosher wines once a year.  When those bottles are ready, they’re sent to the distributor who stores them for sales throughout the year.  This saves wineries a lot of money because since only Sabbath-observant Jews can handle the grapes and wine in order for the wine to be kosher. In places like Mendoza, where the small Jewish population is reform only, this means they have to import employees specially.

It happened that when I went to Mendoza there were still snow flurries, so it wasn’t exactly wine-making season.  When I did the rounds of the wineries, none of them had kosher wines on hand and so I wasn’t able to taste-test any.  Which makes me want to ask the next question: Why is it so important for wine to be kosher?

The laws regarding kosher wines are in place to prevent Jews from deriving any benefit from idolatry. Wines are often used in religious ceremonies for idol-worshiping religions and often a blessing is made over them or they are made for this purpose specifically.  I used to think this sounded ridiculous because, looking at the secular American society around me, I couldn’t imagine anyone using wine for idol worship.  But when I went to Mendoza, I noticed a giant life-sized statue of an idol sitting among the barrels in one winery.  And in another place, I saw lots of painting of non-Jewish dieties on the casks of wine themselves.  So next time you’re thinking of drinking a non-Kosher wine, please keep this in mind!