A Practical Guide to Camping Over Shabbat.

Camping on Shabbat requires extra preparation and effort, but is not that difficult once you get the hang of it – and Shabbat can be a highly rewarding experience when spent in nature. This book will show you how to properly prepare so as to avoid any compromise on Shabbat observance, and enjoy the experience with full peace of mind.
Some of what you will find in this book:

> How to plan your sleeping, eating, washing, and toilet areas
> The basics of building an Eruv around a campsite
> Methods of baking bread in the outdoors
…And much more!

Available for purchase here https://www.createspace.com/4512825

Parshas Chukas: The Fine Art of Persuasion

I once heard something that struck me as very wise: We all manipulate others; the only thing that changes is the method we use.  When we shout at someone in anger, we are trying to force them to yield to our will.  When we smile at or thank someone who does us a favor we are trying to encourage them to do more favors in the future.  When we ignore a certain person’s phone calls we are teaching them not to call anymore.  Our every little interaction with other people is a form of persuasion, whether we do it consciously or not.  As creatures of action and reaction, there is nothing we can do to stop it – even changing our behavior will change others’ reactions to us.

Thus it follows that persuasion is an art that is all-important in each and every one of our lives.  We all know someone who always seems to get their way with no effort.  And we all know someone who never gets what they want no matter how hard they try.  Some people are masters of persuasion, subtle and powerful, while others just seem to stumble and fall over their attempts to persuade.  Yet, persuasion is a skill that can be taught and honed.

The Torah demonstrates over and over again the different masters and methods of persuasion.  From Moshe (Moses) challenging Korach to a “competition” of offerings in last week’s parsha as a way to win over the Jews’ loyalty to Aaron’s feeble attempts to prevent the Jewish people from building the golden calf, persuasion (successful or not) is as ubiquitous in the Torah as it is in our everyday lives.

This week’s parsha teaches us an important lesson about persuasion.  Moshe is told by G-d to speak to the rock to get water to come from it, but instead he strikes it.  Yes, water comes from the rock when Moshe hits it, but the consequences are very serious: Moshe is forbidden from entering the land of Israel.

In our lives, we can use different methods to get what we want.  Like Moshe with the rock, we can beat and bully others into submission.  Or we can do what G-d commanded: speak and be subtle.  The Torah is coming to tell us this message: Persuade softly.

Yes, there is a time and a place for force.  Pharaoh refusing to free the slaves is subject to gruesome plagues.  Pinchas must slay Prince Zimri for his sexual offenses in order to cure the plague afflicting the Jews.  If there is a rockslide threatening, we may need to blow up the stones to save peoples’ lives.

But when the circumstances are not so dire, we must speak softly and persuade gently.  First Reuven and then Yehuda use words to persuade their brothers from killing Yosef (as his death was not yet imminent, it was not necessary to intervene with force).  Moshe must speak to the rock to get water, not hit it. If we want to grow vegetables, we must coax them from the land with time and care.

This week, try to develop a better awareness of the methods of persuasion you use most.  Are they too forceful for the situation or not forceful enough?  Perhaps we each, like Moshe, need to learn to speak to the rock rather than hitting it.

Shabbat shalom!

Read more on Parshas Chukas: Explaining the Unexplainable

Read more on Parshas Chukas: We All Get Angry Sometimes

Read more on Parshas Chukas: Learning a New Type of Logic

Parshas Korach: Materialism?

Modern society places a strong emphasis on material goods.  We judge one another all too often by the car we drive, the house we live in, or the clothes we wear.  Some people cannot afford food, yet wear a Prada purse.

Many religions in the world repudiate materialism.  Many religions are ascetic in nature and exalt those individuals who can give up the most materialism.  Perhaps this is why Korach’s possessions are swallowed up when he sins? Perhaps Korach was too much of a materialist.

This cannot be the full explanation, however, because Judaism is not a religion that tells us to give up our material pleasures.  Instead, we are meant to uplift them and raise that which is “base” and physical to a higher, spiritual level.

The answer to the question lies in what Korach and his followers choose to offer up to G-d: incense.  Incense is an offering that is purely spiritual.  Unlike meat or other food offerings, where ultimately much of the offering is eaten, incense leaves nothing behind.  Korach and his followers were upset because they wanted to be priests so that, like the incense, they could live an almost completely spiritual life and be close to G-d at all times.  Yet, G-d rejected their offering. And then swallowed up Korach’s possessions.  It seems like a contradiction: I don’t want the spiritual and I don’t want the physical, either!

In part perhaps G-d was highlighting Korach’s hypocrisy.  He wanted to live in the spiritual world but he just couldn’t let go of the physical.

But much more than that, it seems likely that G-d was just trying to teach a lesson about the nature of materialism.  Material goods must be used in the right way.  They are neither to be adulated nor eliminated, but rather elevated.  By making an incense offering, Korach was advocating the elimination of the physical goods he was privately adulating, when in reality he should have been elevating those selfsame physical goods to a higher spiritual level.

This is what we, too, can do in our own lives.  We can elevate our physical possessions by using them in the right way.  Use candles for lighting on Friday nights. Use tables for Shabbat dinners.  Use spare beds for hosting guests.  Use cars for visiting the sick or elderly.  Every physical possession we have can be elevated in some way.

Shabbat shalom!

Read more about Parshas Korach: Being a Leader is Hard

Read more about Parshas Korach: The Wife in Judasim

Read more about Parshas Korach: The Battle Between Ego & Self-Esteem

Congratulations to Akiva for raising $180 for Clown Doctors and for actually walking 2.5 km. This is a fantastic accomplishment for a boy who has just turned two.

Walk Stats:

11:05 Start
11.46 Akiva says ‘up’ (meaning pick me up) I give him some food and he’s happy.
12:04 Break
12:12 walk
12:25 Finnish

Akiva’s Birthday Cake

Two year old walks for Clown Doctors

Akiva Walking

Akiva on his walk