Parshas Ki Seitzei: Hungry? Help Yourself!

One of my favorite things about travel is trying new foods.  I love new foods and new flavors.  Even though I am vegetarian, the majority of the foods out there are still available for me to taste.  And even though there are some foods I have to give a miss, I can find kosher versions of so many foods that I still have a lot to try.

In fact, just thinking about certain foods makes my mouth water.  Ceviche from Chile, empanadas from Argentina, masala dosa from India… I could spend all afternoon listing foods from around the world that make my mouth water.

To be fair, I am very easily persuaded by my stomach.  I am like a man in that regard.  I love to cook and I love to eat and the kitchen is my favorite spot when I’m at home. If I don’t eat I get grumpy.  And you’d really be surprised at the amount of food I am capable of consuming.  So of course food plays a major role when I travel!

About a month ago I was traveling and staying in a hostel.  My parents were with me and as I went down to the kitchen to prepare myself some food, my mom came along, with Akiva in her arms.  He was content and full after a nice big feed, but the moment we entered the kitchen he began to cry.  My mom took him back up to the room and instantly he was quiet and happy again.  One of the men in the kitchen asked me why the baby was crying and if he was hungry. “He’s not hungry,” I explained, “but he thinks he is!” I realized that my baby’s hungry cry was not because he was actually hungry – he had just had a big feed and his tummy was full – but rather because he smelled all the delicious food cooking in the kitchen.  Even though a baby isn’t yet eating those foods, he tastes them in utero in the amniotic fluid and after birth in his mother’s breastmilk. He knows that they’re food and smelling them makes him hungry, just like it does for an adult.

Sampling an apple while apple picking in Montreal, Canada

The fact is that we might not be hungry, but as soon as we smell or see some delicious food, we want it.  It’s the reason why this week’s parsha insists that we allow anyone picking in our fields to eat as much of the produce as they want.  It’s not fair to put perfectly good, fresh, food in front of someone, even in their hands, and deny them the right to eat it.  Babies are no different (they often get hungry and want to eat if they even smell their mother’s milk, which is why it is sometimes easier for a stranger to settle them to sleep than their own mother!) and neither are animals.  Animals, too, want to have a bite to eat when they are surrounded by good food.  It’s why we’re not allowed to muzzle the animals that plow our fields for us.  The sages also derive from the mitzvahs in this week’s parsha that it is forbidden to put food in front of your guests but not to let them eat it.  It’s cruel to put delicious food in front of someone who is hungry – then make them wait through a long speech before eating it!

When Rabbi Ben and I went apple picking a couple of years ago, we noticed that the farm allowed visitors to eat as many apples as we wanted while we picked.  Maybe they were following the Torah’s law or perhaps they simply realized the truth and wisdom on their own.  Either way, it made for a fun time.

So for this Shabbos… Bon apetite!

Read more on Parshas Ki Seitzei: Just the Right Amount of Compassion

Read more on Parshas Ki Seitzei: The Reward for a Good Deed is… a Good Deed!

It is with great sadness we mourn the loss of my mother’s father, Harold (Emmy). He was a wonderful man always filled with love, warmth, and kindness. Growing up I lived in Canada and my grandfather in Minnesota and unfortunately I did not have many opportunities to spend as much time with him as I’d have liked to. Of the few times I visited my grandfather in one thing I’ll always remember about him is that he taught me and anyone around him how to live. When you asked Grandpa Harold how he was doing, his face would light up with a smile, and he’d say: “If I were doing any better, the Ebershter (G-d) would be jealous. I’ve got a beautiful house on the lake, so many wonderful grandchildren, family and friends, I ate a nice breakfast… what more could a guy want.”

Grandpa Harold was always happy with what he had. He served in with the US navy during WWII. His house burned down.  He lost his first wife who died of cancer leaving him with all the kids to take care of.  Then later he lost another wife who died of a stroke, yet despite this Grandpa always had a smile.

Grandpa Harold loved to say “I am the world’s oldest teenager.” And he lived it. He loved photography and when things went digital he went digital. We bought him a remote control boat which he would play with, and he was always so fascinated to hear about computers, internet, and anything really. Grandpa taught us to always keep our cups half full. There is always so much more to learn, experience, and grow.

Thank you, Grandpa.

Parshas Shoftim: What Is Justice REALLY?

We’re all familiar with the saying, “The grass is greener on the other side.”  We each have our little yard, our little world, and when we look over to someone else’s we think it looks better than ours.  But the reality is that when we climb over the fence and get a closer look, we see that their yard isn’t filled with perfect green grass after all.  It’s astroturf or weeds or crabgrass.

Parshas Re’eh: Not Everything in Life is 50 Shades of Grey

My mother is fond of telling me that not everything is black and white. Some things are grey areas. I, however, am a black and white kind of person.  Black and white cookies? Check. Old black and white movies? Check. Do I like dalmations and cows? Check. I even have a soft spot in my heart for skunks.

I guess when it comes to understanding people, tact is necessary, and compassion, and empathy.  And all of these can require you to enter the grey zone.  But when it comes down to it, there is a right and a wrong.  Just sometimes we have trouble identifying it.

Parshas Re’eh teaches us that things often are black and white.  We have set before us a blessing and a curse.  There’s no sort-of blessing and sort-of curse.  There’s no in-between.  We have the opportunity to do a mitzvah or an aveira.  The choice is up to us.

Unfortunately, there is still a temptation to believe there is a grey area.  We humans are notoriously good at finding 50 shades of grey in our lives and our actions.  It’s a trick that the yetzer hara (evil inclination) loves to play on us.  ”This isn’t really the wrong thing to do… it’s in a grey area… it’s ok. Go for it!”

In our lives, we need to strive now to avoid those actions of uncertainty.  It is up to us to choose to do the right thing.  Hashem has set before us a blessing and a curse – which will you choose?

Read more on Parshas Re’eh: Is Turkey a Kosher Bird?