If anyone is going to be here in Adelaide over Lag Baomer, please join us for a celebration.

Well I’ve made it two weeks eating only fresh raw fruit, nuts and vegetables. The longest I’ve ever done in the past was 10 days. Like in the past I’ve maintained exercise and living a normal life. I feel great, and thank G-d have plenty of energy. The only down side is that it takes a lot of time to eat on a raw food diet. Salad takes longer to chew than a chocolate bar, and considering how much salad I need to eat…

Well the good thing is that I can read and eat at the same time. I learned this from my father, who always studies Torah while eating breakfast. Now normally when we learn Torah we should recite the words as vocalising the holly Hebrew letters and words of Torah purify all of our body as explained in many Jewish sources. However reciting Torah aloud while eating is not possible. Therefore my father will read Torah based books in English.

I think I’ve taken on the same practice though not as diligently. I sometimes find it hard to eat and read at the same time. Instead I prefer watching some Jewish study lesson on the internet. There is no shortage of how much Torah there is out there to study.

So maybe the real benefit of this raw food diet I am doing is not entirely physical. Sure there is the increased energy, need for less sleep, clarity of mind and so on. However, perhaps it is all the time gained learning Torah while eating?

The Jewish Bucket List

Hey all, I’ve been inspired to create a Jewish bucket list for my readers on Traveling Rabbi.

Would love to hear your ideas, maybe comment here or send them to me so I can compile them all together.

100 Things for your Jewish Bucket List…

100 things to do in Israel…

100 kosher Foods to try before you die…

100 Jewish rituals to observe…

100 Synagogues to visit…

Here is an Idea of my Jewish Bucket list so far in no particular order:

1. Visit The Western Wall
2. Go on an all-inclusive Pesach retreat
3. Make the perfect bowl of Chicken soup
4. Tefilin Challenge for 30 days
5. Tiffilin challenge for one year
6. Charity Challenge: give every day for 30 days
7. Charity challenge for one year
8. Be president of some organization: WIZO, B’nei Brith, JNF etc.
9. Re-learn Bar Mitzvah Haftorah
10. Light Shabbat Candles for one year every Friday
11. Visit the great Synagogue in Sydney
12. Enjoy a service in the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem
13. Eat a felafel on the streets of Jerusalem or Tel Aviv
14. Snorkel or Scuba dive in the Red Sea
15. Float in the Dead Sea
16. Throw a Chanukah party with homemade jelly doughnuts and latkas
17. Bake your own hamentachen on Purim and send to at least ten people
18. Convince your Rabbi to let you give a Saturday morning Sermon
19. Visit the oldest Synagogue in your country, State, Province, continent, world
20. Raise 10,000- 50k or 100k for your favourite Jewish Charity
21. Serves on a board of something you believe in: Synagogue, School, etc.
22. Write a Jewish Cook book with all your Bubes, mother, friends, and your own favourite kosher recipes
23. Write a Jewish book, on anything
24. Go on a kosher cruise
25. Meet your favourite Jewish Author, Rabbi, Sports personality, Singer
26. Host a Friday night dinner
27. Fast the whole Yom Kippur (no cheating)
28. Complete all 5 fast days during the year (start with no food then no water)
29. Study a tractate of Talmud
30. Learn to sing 5 Shabbat songs
31. Learn to blow the shofar and blow it every day for the month of Ellul
32. Pray at the burial site of some famous Rabbi or great Jewish leader you admire
33. Don’t talk for the entire Yom Kippur
34. Break your Yom Kippur fast with your best friend or family member with a l’chaim on a whisky or down a beer (consult your doctor first)
35. Build a Sukkah
36. Decorate a Sukkah
37. Make a blessing in the Sukkah on each day of Sukkot
38. Be the last one dancing on Simchat Torah
39. Go to the hospital/orphanage etc. and give Chanukah gelt (money) and chocolates
40. Get dressed up on Purim as your favourite superhero, movie character etc.
41. Host  a Purim Hamentachen swap
42. Learn to chant the Meggilat Esther
43. Participate in a Passover Seder that goes until 5:00am or later…(this way no one will have out done you!)
44. Bake your own matzah
45. Host your own Seder
46. Learn to recite the mansihtana in a foreign language. Make it extreme, maybe in Swahili or Urdu…something unique!
47. Develop perfect vocal sound effects for the ‘chad gadya’ song: a cat, dog, Angel of death…
48. Eat the right amount of Matzah according to the Rabbi. Not just a bitsy piece…go on eat three whole Maztahs!
49. Count the Omer every day until Shavout
50. Do something special for Yom Hashoah: ideas
51. Visit Auschwitz
52. Send flowers, cookies, to some Israeli soldiers with a card telling them how much you love them, on Yom Hazikaron
53. Learn Israeli dancing
54. Make your own falafel balls
55. Walk the National Israel Trail. All of it or part of it
56. Study in depth the history of Israel. Read a few books
57. Stay up and study the whole night of Shavout
58. Bake your own cheesecake, blintzes and lasagne. Make your own ice cream
59. Volunteer for a month in Israel, on a kibbutz, Magen David Adom, in a hospital, study centre..
60. Successfully make a shiduch (match a couple who get married)
61. Go on the ‘March of The Living’
62. Learn to speak, read, write Hebrew
63. Learn to read and speak Yiddish
64. Visit the death camps in Poland
65. Start a Jewish Charity for something you believe in
66. Visit one hundred Chabbad houses around the world
67. Fly first class on El Al (is it any better?)
68. ???
69. ??
70. ?

Raw Food Lunch and Snacks to Take to Work

At last I am doing it. I have become a ‘raw foodist,’ this means eating only uncooked foods. In the past the longest I’ve ever done was a 10 day fruit and vegetable fast, which meant eating only fresh fruits and vegetables. I remember feeling awesome, experiencing loads of energy and a clear mind.
I’ve always thought about doing a raw food diet for longer, though it is seriously challenging. There is the personal aspect of overcoming

temptations from corrupt taste buds and the desire to consume other foods. Next is communal pressure of going to other people’s homes and events and not being able to eat. And further we have the Jewish religious observance challenges. There seems to always be a chag, some sort of festival that necessitates consuming various foods. And of course there is Shabbat where we need to eat bread Friday night and Saturday, day. There is also the obligation of having some hot food on Saturday. Thus I will never be able to do a pure 100% raw fast for more than six days. However on Shabbat I can minimise my consumption to only a small piece of bread and just a drop of hot food.

Eating only raw food has its challenges and one of them is the time it takes to shop for and prepare food. It is a lot easier to put a pot of rice on the stove to boil than throwing together a fresh salad. It is easier to make a coffee in the morning than a fresh cup of orange juice, never minds the time it takes to make an apple, carrot, celery, kale juice, with added coconut oil, cacao powder and other stuff.

On the upside, there is not much dishes to wash. There is no grease and burn stains to scrub off the bottom of a pot. Usually just a cutting board, a knife and either a blender, food processor, or juicer.

Books on Raw Food Diet, and Juicing

For me having to work full time along with a million other time commitments I need to multi task in order to prepare my food. I do an hour of vocal exercises in the morning while I prep the food I’ll need for the day. I used to just do the vocal exercise by themselves but found I could move around and prepare food at the same time. Then in the evening I can listen to an hour lecture while I continue with food prep.

If you choose to go on a raw food diet or any diet for the matter and want to succeeded at it, you must take responsibility for your own eating. Many people fail at their diet and blame someone else. For me it starts with the food shopping. This past Sunday I went the market. It took three hours to buy everything I needed for the week: 20kg carrots, 8kg tomatoes, 13kg bananas, 5kg cucumber etc…It takes a good bit of time walking around to find everything and then loading it into the car.
You may also say, “Wow, that’s a lot of fruit and veg and must be expensive!” Not true. At the local market it’s far cheaper than what it would cost in the supermarket. I also buy very ripe or damaged stuff because it makes no difference if it’s going through the juicer or in the blender.

Here is some of what I paid: $10/20kg carrots, $4/8kg cooking tomatoes (These are delicious, the best I’ve tasted in months!) $5/for a 13kg box of ripe bananas! So is this really expensive?
Anyway I am now one week into it and hope to go at least a month. I will please G-d post more on how it is going.

Lots of healthy bannanas for fruit fast

Very proud of my brother Yehudah for getting his Eagle scout award, and for this article published in the paper. to read more about the court of honor click here.