My Brother and Scoutmaster Playing Taps on the Bugle

We spent Shabbat in Norfolk, Virginia, which has a thriving Jewish community. We’ll write more about the Jewish communities around the area, over the next couple weeks as we stay here and visit them. What was amazing to me was running into an old friend from Boy Scouts. We were part of the same Shabbat and kosher-observant Boy Scout troop out of Sharon, Massachusetts. I overheard his name and recognized it immediately. I knew his whole family well from all the scouting activities we did. It has been probably twelve years since we last saw each other. We spoke Shabbat afternoon about the good old Jewish scouting days. I remembered how when I lost my kippah at camp his mother had an extra one from his brother’s Bar Mitzvah, which she gave me. We spoke about the Ponderosa camp, where we would each get our own horse for the week. We had to clean it, feed it, and ride it. Those were some fun old days.

By the nature of traveling around the world I’m often bumping into long-lost friends. There is actually a special beracha/blessing that one makes one seeing a friend for the first time. One makes a berach, blessing when seeing a friend for the first time in 30 days.

Baruch Ata Adonai, Eloheinu Melech HaOlam, shechechianu, v’ki’manu, v’higi’anu lazman hazeh.

This means: Blessed are You, Adonai Our God, Ruler of the Universe, Who has kept us alive, sustained us, and brought us to this time.

There is also a blessing which is made if one has not seen the friend in over one year. This blessing traselates as thanking G-d who revives the dead: “Baruch Ata Adonai, Eloheinu Melech HaOlam, mehayeh hameitim.”

One must also have had no communication with the person during the thirty days or the year in order to make the beracha. Making these blessings does not seem to be well-practiced today. Perhaps this is because we live in different times where it is really not so amazing to see someone again after a year.  People travel all the time. People go on a Sabbatical or away to school and come back after a year. It’s normal. But in the old days when someone would set out on a journey by land or by sea it was very possible that you may never meet again. Children would leave their parents to go to a far-off country knowing they may never see each other again, and therefore the beracha of ‘one who revives the dead,’ makes sense to say, as with the blessing of ‘shechachianu’ said after thirty days. Imagine if you were traveling by horse and carriage across the US a few hundred years go. When you’d come back and meet a friend it would be a special event. But now if you fly from New York for a holiday in Florida or the other way round, thirty days passing is nothing special.

Some hold that you should say the blessing without G-d’s name, which is what I like to do.

Here is a write-up about my Eagle Scout Court of honour that took place in a Synagogue, one of the special memories I share with my friend I met this Shabbos.

Lightning from the beach at Bal Harbor in Florida

Hurricane season has started in Florida.

So what’s good about hurricanes? Well for three days in a row last week I was able to make two special berachot in the afternoon as the storms slowly rolled in.

I’d love to go back in time with a camera to ‘Mattan Torah’ (the giving of the Torah). It says that the people saw the thunder. This is because the Torah is higher than time and space and when the Torah came into the world it created conflict in time and space. Thus the Jewish people were able to see the thunder. I’m not sure what thunder would look like but it would be cool to catch it on film…Actually that saying is outdated, now I must say ‘it would be cool to catch it on digital!’

So what are the Berachot to make on thunder and lightening?

On hearing thunder say: Boruch attah ado-nai elo-heinu melech haolam, shekocho u’gevurato malei olam.

[Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the Universe, Whose strength and might fills the world].

When seeing lightning: Boruch attah ado-nai elo-heinu melech haolam oseh maaseh bereishit.

[Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the Universe, Who makes the Work of Creation].

You only say these blessing if you see the lightning first and then afterwards hear the thunder. If they both come at the same time, you hear thunder and see lightning, you say just one of the berachot whichever one you choose to say.

You can make the blessing once per storm or on the same storm but on the next day. If the clouds were to clear and then come back, you can make the blessings again.

Easter Island, Chile. I made a bracha upon seeing this rainbow.

According to the Torah the rainbow came into being after the flood of Noah. G-d showed Noah a rainbow and said, ‘In the future if I am upset at the world I will show a rainbow.’ It was a sign of the covenant G-d made with Noah that he would not destroy the world with a flood again. Thus, seeing a rainbow is not a good thing even though we make a blessing (bracha) on seeing it. Because it is not a good thing, one should not point the rainbow out a friend if they do see it.

I have a few questions on this:

1. There is probably a naturally occurring rainbow every second somewhere in the world and If not every second than at least every hour or day. Does this mean that G-d constantly wants to destroy the world?

2. Why does G-d show he’s upset with a rainbow - which is a beautiful thing to look at after all - why not make an ugly dark cloud in the sky or something similar? Seeing a rainbow is hardly a motivator to repent. Almost anyone is happy to see rainbow because it is pretty to look at.

3. One is not supposed to point out a rainbow to a friend even when this means that his friend will be able to make the special blessing when seeing a rainbow. What I want to understand: If the rainbow is to show us G-d being upset with us and serve as reminder to repent then why should we not point out the rainbow to friends?

My answer to these questions is just a thought and I have no Torah quote to base it on.
Firstly, if there is a rainbow always showing somewhere in the world it is illogical to say that G-d is always mad and wants to destroy the world. Secondly, G-d rules with purpose and meaning. Nothing is random.

The world was created for us man and thus everything in it needs to reflect onto us. G-d does not need to vent His anger here in the physical world. He can probably do it somewhere else. If He is venting, i.e., showing us the rainbow, than He obviously wants us to see it. Why? So we will repent. Now if seeing the rainbow will lead us to repentance than we return to one of the initial questions: why should we not point it out to friend who is near us so they can see it too and also repent?
Here is my possible answer:

Man is considered an ‘olam katan,’ a ‘small world.’ Granted that the first time when G-d showed Noah the rainbow he was saying that he would never again destroy the world with a flood. Perhaps G-d is showing that he upset and wants to destroy a ‘small world.’ Thus the individual seeing the rainbow needs to see it as a sign for himself that G-d is upset with him and he needs to repent. It is not for him to point out to a friend suggesting that his friend needs to repent.

Why the beautiful rainbow? Because, this shows G-d’s beauty that even when He is angry and upset He shows his love by making it beautiful. The individual who sees the rainbow knows that G-d is upset at him yet still loves him very much and thus in a nice way is showing that He is upset.

Further, a rainbow comes after it rains and rain is an act of kindness from G-d. We need the rain to make food grow. No rain, no food. So G-d sends us rain with the rainbow which are in direct contradiction to each other in meaning, to show that He loves us even at a time when He wants to say, ‘I want to destroy you.’ Thus, we can have thousands of rainbows occurring all over the world at the same time when they are for specific individuals to see.

Airplane Flying through Rainbow in Florida

Yesterday afternoon while driving we saw this rainbow. There is a special bracha which one makes when seeing a rainbow which is: “Barukh attah Adonai eloheinu melekh ha-olam, zokher haberit vene’eman bivrito v’kaiyam bema’amaro.” Blessed are You, Lord our G‑d, King of the universe, who remembers the covenant, and is faithful to His covenant, and keeps His promise.

This is where the iPhone came in handy, because it’s one of those brachos you’re always trying to remember when you see the rainbow but can’t. Thankfully we could see the bracha on the iPhone.

According to the Torah, the rainbow came into being after the flood of Noah. G-d showed Noah a rainbow and said in the future if I am upset at the world I will show a rainbow. Thus seeing a rainbow is not a good thing and one should not point it out to a friend if they do see it.

In Udaipur, our first stop in Rajasthan, India, we didn't get a great feeling from most of the guesthouses set along the river. As a result, we kept on walking and we ended up finding a great little gem of a guesthouse that was clean, comfortable, spacious, and bright - and had a perfect view of the famous Udaipur Lake Palace! Because we decided to "go with the flow" and let G-d guide us instead of fighting Him, we got the best accommodations around. This has happened many times in our travels.

Our style of travel is pretty spontaneous. People are constantly asking us where we’re going next, and when, and for how long, and where after that… Occasionally we have an answer, but most of the time there’s simply no answer. We just don’t know! Sometimes we don’t figure out where we’re going until we’re at the train or bus station looking at what’s available that day. We just kind of let G-d send us where He wants us to be and it always works out. As much as I like to joke that I’m homeless, I have (thank G-d!) never had to sleep on the street.

This week’s parsha is highly apropos to this kind of travel. The Jews, while they wandered in the desert, would often get little warning of an impending move. They had to watch the cloud that marked G-d’s presence (the shechina) move from the mishkan (tabernacle) to hover over the camp of Judah and only after this would Moshe sound the trumpets that meant it was time to move. Sometimes the Jews could get pretty confused by all the moving around of the cloud because it didn’t always move at convenient times. It might move in the middle of the night. Or it would pause only for a few hours, giving the weary travelers but a short respite, or it would pause for such a long time that they would start to make camp, only for it to begin moving again without warning!

Our travel tends to be a lot like this. Even when we do have tickets taking us somewhere, it’s often impossible to get a truly “comfortable” travel schedule that allows us to sleep and eat when we need it. Sometimes we have a very long layover and sometimes we have to travel for days with hardly any sleep. I guess you could say that this is the less glorious side of travel!

I got stuck for about 12 hours in the tiny town of Deshnoke in Rajasthan, India. At first I wasn't happy about my train being delayed by so much, but because it was, I made a sweet new Indian friend and ended up having a great time!

The thing is, while they were journeying around the desert, the Jews never dawdled or complained about G-d’s crazy schedule. They had His very presence resting on them and protecting them. They didn’t try to fight Him. It’s a lesson we all need to learn. G-d is with each of us, helping us, holding us, directing our lives. Yet, so often, we try to fight Him. How many people told the story that traffic, or a sick child, or a fight with the spouse kept them from arriving to work on time on the day the World Trade Center was attacked? Yesterday, I was reading a story about a little boy with cancer. When he went in for radiation, he refused to remove his tzitzits… because he caused such a delay in the treatment, someone noticed that the settings had accidentally been set fatally high for a boy this size! We really never know just when and how G-d is watching out for us.

Travel is like this constantly and that’s why we rarely have a need to worry. There will be a hotel to sleep in, there will be a bus to the place G-d wants us to go (even if we don’t think it’s the best place!). G-d’s presence is always with us, protecting us, guiding us, if we’ll only let Him.

Happy travels and Shabbat Shalom!

The Atlantic Ocean from Hollywood Beach Florida

Rebbetzin Rachel and I are now in Florida and it’s great to be by the ocean.

There is a special berachah/blessing that one makes when seeing the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in thirty days. The beracha is “Baruch at ado-nai elo-heinu melech haolam oseh (or She’asha) hayam hagadol.” Blessed….who made the great sea.

I believe that this blessing is not said when seeing the Pacific Ocean.

A blessing “oseh ma’aseh bereshis” is made when seeing the Mediterranean Ocean if one has not seen it in the last thirty days. According to some authorities, one should add the words “She’asa es hayam hagadol” immediately after saying “oseh ma’asheh bereshis.”

Now what happens when you are traveling between North America and Israel and will have the opportunity to view both the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean? You only make one berachah. If your flight originates in North America you will say the blessing “Oseh (she’asah) hayam hagadol,” and not make a beracha when seeing the Mediterranean Sea, since there are Rabbis who rule that the Mediterranean Sea is also called “yam hagadol,” the great sea.

If, however, your flight originates from Israel, you will have made the blessing “oseh ma’ase bereishis,” upon seeing the Mediterranean. You will then not make the beracha “oseh (she’asah) hayam hagadol” when seeing the Atlantic Ocean, because according to some Rabbi the correct Blessing to make on seeing the Atlantic Ocean is “oseh ma’aseh Bereishis,” and you already made it on the Mediterranean Sea.