Rabbi Ben with scouts in Indonesia

We were not sure if we were going to spend Shabbat in Maryland or in New Jersey. We were already in the DC area and decided a few more days of catching up with friends would be good.

The last time I was in Silver Spring was for the ‘97 National Boy Scout Jamboree. We were the Shomer Shabbat and kosher contingent. We made up two troops comprised of 35 scouts and 5 adults to each troop. As part of the Jamboree experience we spent Shabbat in Silver Spring. It amazed me how the community was able to organize Shabbat hospitality for the 80 of us.

This past Shabbat, using Shabbat.com, a great site that matches hosts and people looking to be hosted, we stayed at a wonderful family in the Kemp Mill area. It was great to be able to see some old scouting friends – some I hadn’t seen in over 10 years! I was Chazzan at the Kemp Mill Synagogue where I davened mussaf. As usual, all the old ladies came over to tell me how beautiful it was and I was happy to make them happy.

Tomorrow please G-d I’ll write about how we got to New Jersey using ride share.

Continued from Part 1 of “Being a Jewish Vegetarian doesn’t have to be Boring!”

We’ve been spending a lot of times lately at farms… at Eden Village Camp and farm in New York, at Farmer Ben and Lisa’s farm in Virginia, and at Kayam Farms in Maryland last weekend.  All of these farms are vegetarian: They’re not slaughtering any animals.  So what on earth will we do with all those extra vegetables?! Here are some more ideas…

Salads don't have to be boring! This one incorporates kale, apples, white beans, and pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Yum!

Ok, the options we explored in Part One are yummy, but you’re still wishing you had meat.  Fortunately, you can get a similar taste and texture through the use of textured vegetable protein, or TVP.  Or you can use a soy alternative, like the popular Morningstar Farms products.  I find that I get the most realistic result by using the “beef” crumbles for things like tacos or spaghetti sauce.  However, I am not a big fan of using too much processed soy, so I’ve discovered that I can get a meaty color, texture, and flavor in my cholent by adding lots of brown and red lentils, plus some fun spices like cumin and coriander.  I’ve even had meat-eating friends tell me they couldn’t believe there wasn’t meat in my cholent, and walk away convinced I was lying when I told them that not only is my cholent vegan, but it’s fat-free, too!

Of course, you should also try to put some really healthy foods, like salads, into your kosher vegetarian diet, but you should be doing that anyway, vegetarian or not!  For greens, try adding some like kale, Swiss chard, mustard greens, or broccoli rabe.  You’ll find each one has a totally different flavor and texture, and you may be really pleasantly surprised!  You’ll see that salads don’t need to be boring at all – in fact, check here for 101 yummy and different salad recipe ideas.  Just remember to check everything really well for bugs because they definitely aren’t kosher or vegetarian!

As a kosher vegetarian, joining a CSA program is a great way to experiment with and try new foods. In mine, I tried delicata squash for the first time and cooked it by making a rosemary, sage, and apple cider vinegar glaze.

One final idea for avoiding slipping into boredom with a kosher vegetarian diet is to sign up for a CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, program.  These are offered all over the US and Canada, although they sometimes go by different names. Each program is unique, but the basic gist of it is that you purchase a “share” in a farm.  It’s as if the farmer divides up his land into 100 equal parts and you get your 1/100 of whatever the farm produces that week.  I did one of these programs in Florida and ended up with lots of interesting vegetables.  I became a delicata squash expert when I got a bunch of them and decided to cook each differently and I learned how to use butternut squash in soups, salads, kugels, and as a standalone dish. I had my first experiences with mustard greens and okra.  Not only are you supporting the local economy, but you are eating fresher food, too!

So even if you’re not planning to be a kosher vegetarian full time, you might want to try it out just for fun… and if you’re a world traveler, you should try it out now so that when you’re jet-setting around the world, you’ll have plenty of creative ideas for what to eat!

Here are some more blog posts you may find interesting:

Why would a Jewish and kosher world traveler become vegetarian?

Why do Jews become vegetarians?

What does the Bible say about vegetarianism?

Even top US military experts have said that Israeli military victories can't be explained by conventional means.

One of the most fascinating things about travel is that you meet so many amazing people and if you pay attention, you will learn all sorts of incredible things from them.  Not only does travel mean you live stories, but you also hear stories.  This week, we stayed a few days with the family of one of the kids from Rabbi Ben’s Derech HaTeva trip last year.  So while the two of them were off banging on bongos, I sat with the women and listened to some of the most astounding stories this boy’s mother told.

At one point, it came up in conversation about how miracles happen in Israel all the time.  I heard once about how at one of the most famous military academies in the US, a professor was showing examples of wars and strategies and how they worked out.  Throughout the entire course, he never once mentioned Israel and the wars fought there.  When a Jewish student spoke up and asked why, the professor responded, “I teach military warfare, not miracles!” Israel’s military history simply defies logical explanation: The only way to explain Israel’s victories is that G-d is on our side.  So when our hostess shared a story of salvation with me, I wasn’t at all surprised to hear it.  It was told to her by a soldier she was friends with, who participated in this situation.

These Jewish soldiers see miracles all the time. We can too, if only we open our eyes to see them!

It was 1967 and Israel was under attack.  Up on a small hillside, 15 Israeli soldiers were being attacked by hundreds of  Jordanian soldiers.  As they saw the Jordanian troops approaching, the 15 soldiers made a pact.  They knew they would be killed – they were grossly outnumbered – so they would fight to the death in the defense of their country and they would not give up.  As the Jordanians came closer, as one they all laid down their weapons and surrendered.  The Israeli soldiers were stunned, so, as they marched them to the jail, one Israeli soldier asked one of the Jordanians why they surrendered when there were only 15 Israeli soldiers.  “15 of you?!” came the shocked reply, “I saw you – there were thousands of you!”

In this week’s parsha, Moses gives the Jews encouragement before they enter Israel.  He addresses their fear that other nations will be more numerous, and that without the strength that comes with numbers the Jews will surely fail.  “Do not fear them!” Moses admonishes.  Instead, the Jews are told to remember what G-d did to Pharoah in Egypt and to never fear enemies on account of something like numbers.  I hope we can all keep this very apropos message in mind, given this week’s attacks on Israel.

This is just one of the many promises G-d made to Israel… and it seems to me, from this, and many other stories I’ve heard, that He truly is keeping up His end of the bargain.  If G-d can do these miracles for us, to preserve the People He loves so well, then He can and does surely keep up with all His other promises, too.  All we have to do is to open our eyes and see the miracles that are all around us.

Shabbat shalom.

Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

Yesterday we saw dinosaur bones at the Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. There they have bits and pieces dinosaurs on display. The dinosaur bones are dated with years, like 200 million years ago. Now this raises a big question for Bible believers, mainly as we know the world is less than 6000 years old so how could these dinosaurs have existed?

There are a few answers given which we’ll explore here in short.

1. Dinosaurs never lived: G-d created the world with a history. Think of the first vultures looking for carrion, they needed some dead animal to eat right away. They could not wait. Thus the world was created with there already being dead animals for them. For a perfect ecosystem to be imbalanced there would need to be dead rotting trees, oil in the ground, and various minerals which from an evolutionary process would take a long time to form. With the above in mind it is possible to say that only dinosaur bones were created.

2. Similar to the first answer: Dinosaurs never lived. So why did G-d create them? G-d made them to test our belief in him. This applies with everything in the ground that points to evolution. G-d wants us to see it and yet still believe in him.

3. Dinosaurs did exist but were destroyed in the great flood of Noah: There are references in the Kabala to large animals that lived before the flood thar were then destroyed. These could have been dinosaurs. When the flood was upon earth, according to the Torah/Bible boiling water churned from beneath the ground with tremendous force. Thus carbon dating the bones may be correct but it does not take into account that there could have been some extreme pressure on the bones and other things on or in the ground.

4. The Seven days of creation were not literally seven days: We think of a day as a 24 hour period but it is possible to say that the days went by over millions of our years as we know it. The interesting thing is that there is no contradiction between Genesis and evolution. The seven days of creation run parallel with the evolutionary process as to what came first. Thus it is possible to say that dinosaurs did really exist millions of years ago as did the many other fossils and land and sea creature. It is possible to say that G-d created Evolution.

Well that’s it for now. We are off to explore some more museums.

In the Amazon Rainforest of Cuyabeno, Ecuador, natives will fry and eat these giant ants - definitely not a kosher or vegetarian food.

As Jews, we have a pretty restricted diet.  As we travel around the world, we see more and more just how restricted we really are in our kosher diet.  In South America, we can’t put pork in our rice and beans.  In Germany, we can’t eat the bratwurst or rostbratwurst.  In Spain, we can’t eat the octopus or squid.  In Japan, we can’t eat the eel. There will be no frog legs or snails to eat in France. In Thailand, you can’t try the fried crickets, grasshoppers, spiders, scorpions, or worms for sale…. and in Ecuador you can’t eat the ants.  In Rajasthan, India, you can’t drink the camel’s milk and in Australia, there’ll be no kangaroo for you!  In Iceland you can’t eat the shark and in Cambodia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, you’ll have to miss out on trying the nearly-mature chicken fetus cooked in its egg.  Closer to home, we can’t eat the cheeseburgers or Philly cheese-steak… plus, in the American midwest you can’t eat the snake and in Florida, you can’t eat the alligator.

Now, I know you’re salivating at that list of worldwide delicacies you, as a kosher Jew, will have to go without.  So for many kosher Jews, the thought of going vegetarian gives them chills.  After giving up all those spiders, sharks, snails, scorpions, and squids to keep kosher, how on earth can I give up even more to be vegetarian?!  How can I sacrifice chicken soup, steak, brisket, and fried chicken? If I do that, there will be nothing to eat. I WILL STARVE!!!!

Well, yes, even if you become vegetarian, there will still be plenty to eat.  And no, as a vegetarian, you will not starve.  In fact, most of the time you won’t even really miss meat, although you don’t realize that now.  The truth is that vegetarian cuisine is neither bland nor is it boring.  In fact, you may find that if you explore vegetarianism, you will get more creative and expand your food opportunities even more than before.  You might even go out on a limb and try some new veggies you’ve been too scared to try before. (I did this, and discovered that okra is actually the magic ingredient that makes my vegetable soups almost too delicious to bear.)

We’ve been spending a lot of times lately at farms… at Eden Village Camp and farm in New York, at Farmer Ben and Lisa’s farm in Virginia, and at Kayam Farms in Maryland this weekend.  All of these farms are vegetarian: They’re not slaughtering any animals.  So what on earth will we do with all those extra vegetables?!

Being a kosher vegetarian doesn't mean you have to give up eating the most delicious foods - remember that desserts are vegetarian! Don't tell me you don't want to try this triple-layer chocolate cake I made... especially when the layers inside are filled with white chocolate ganache, strawberries, and homemade whipped cream!

The best thing about being vegetarian is that you will pretty much never have to go without dessert!  Desserts rarely include meat (and if they do, it’s usually lard and that’s not kosher anyway).  In fact, the yummiest desserts typically have diary, which means you can’t eat them after you have meat anyway.  To make life even better, when your friends are sitting around eating parve chocolate chip cookies after their meaty dinner, you can run to the kitchen and dip yours in milk. How’s that for a reward for being a Jewish vegetarian?

But you can’t live on desserts, so you will have to eat some real food eventually.  What if you’ve had a hard day and you are just craving that fried-chicken-comfort-food your loving Jewish mother used to make you?  Well, there are plenty of comfort foods that don’t involve meat at all.  Just whip up some macaroni and cheese or a grilled cheese sandwich to satisfy those cravings!

Part 2 coming up soon!

Why would a Jewish and kosher world traveler become vegetarian?

Why do Jews become vegetarians?

What does the Bible say about vegetarianism?