Letters of Thought

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Camping in Cabo: A Photo Essay

This year for Passover we're spending our holiday with my good friend Rabbi Benny and his wife Sonya Hershcovich - the Chabad Shluchim to Los Cabos, Mexico on the tip of Baja California. (You can give 'em a tip and help their amazing work here - tell them I sent you!)

Our gracious hosts suggested camping on at the tip of the peninsula - where the Sea of Cortes and the Pacific Ocean meet.

Though I'm dreadfully behind on sharing photos - pictures of New Orleans, Israel and even Mendel's Bris(!) idle away on my hard-drive, the photos of our boat ride to Land's End and the Cabo Arch at the tip of the peninsula, and of our early morning walk after spending the night camping on the shore, are too good to pass up.

California Sea Lions basking majestically on what is purportedly the last rock of California.

The Arch of Cabo S. Lucas - take from the Sea of Cortes

That night we camped on the beach - and had a Passover style Kumzitz. The waves on Lovers Beach, named for the calm waters of the Sea of Cortes, lulled us to sleep.

Sporting my Foursquare tshirt

In the morning Chana and I went for a walk with the children on the two beaches.

Buenos Días Mexico!

Boo leaving the camp site - you can see where the tides came up to the night before

Boo on Lovers Beach

The Eponymous pelicans of Playa Pelicanos - We went snorkeling by that rock.

The path to the Pacific

The others side of the peninsula is the Pacific side. The tumultuous waters and strong rip current make swimming very dangerous. The Pacific-side beach, then, is aptly named Divorce Beach.

Boo crossing from the Sea of Cortes to the Pacific

The powerful waves of the Pacific beat against the beach

Mendel is a real camper!

A local water-taxi comes up to the shore to take us home

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Blue Cheese Nachos

Last night I was somewhat hungry - so I threw together this midnight snack .. .

Corn chips
Danablu Cheese
Chèvre
Mozzarella
Oregano
Freshly ground pepper
Pickled Hot Peppers - sliced
Paprika
Rosemary

Paired with a 2010 Old Foghorn Barleywine.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Tefillin @ the Foursquare Court - a Chabad moment at SXSW

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Thoughts at 2:43am

Here I sit.
2:38 am.

My wife is sleeping.
My older son is sleeping.
And now my younger son is sleeping.

Wow.

A husband with a wife form a couple.
A baby with a couple is a couple with a baby.

But two kids? That's a family. That and another .6 of a kid a dog and two gold fish and we're set as Classic American family unit.

How does love spread itself over so many people? When you marry someone, and love them with all your heart and soul - how does that love expand to include a little baby?

And when that baby grows older, when he can speak and understand, how does it grow to include yet another?

Does my older son think I love him any less?

And yet it turns.
And yet it grows.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

What’s Bothering Boteach?

The following thoughts were previously published on CrownHeights.info

In recent weeks, the pages of various Crown Heights community blogs, the Algemeiner Journal and the Huffington post have hosted a series of op-eds, responses and rejoinders about Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s new book, “Kosher Jesus.”

Taking a step back from the criticism over an (as of yet) unpublished book, noted more for its “fun romp” than its pinpoint historical accuracy or groundbreaking scholarship, one must question the motivation for Boteach’s stream of op-eds.

The initial response, written by Rabbi Yitzchok Wolf, while strong in its condemnation of Boteach’s choice of subject, was hardly brilliant prose and rambling in nature. When Boteach’s response was pulled from the sites, he felt it necessary to bring the discussion to the Huffington post in a series of articles, making claims of ‘Religious Incitement,’ allegorical (one hopes) ‘Crucifixion,’ and a ‘Global Ban’ on his book.

He quotes, at length from anonymous comments left on these community blogs, and notes that “the more incendiary ones... hav[e] been scrubbed under my threat of legal action for incitement.”

At this point, the reader must take pause. Why is Shmuley so upset by anonymous comments on a community blog? I understand his personal response to the comments. They were rude, vicious and cruel - but that, for better or for worse - is the nature of the Internet. Anyone who is offended by anonymous, trollish, comments on ANY website - be it Youtube, Huffington Post, Reddit or a series of community blogs - has either never been on the Internet before or is so naive as to not know that these comments are as baseless as writing on a gas station’s bathroom stall.

I don’t think Rabbi Boteach can be accused of either of these traits.

Had Boteach let the matter go, the issue would have died out within a day. The nature of these blogs is to bring in a constant flow of new stories to drive in hits and with them, ad revenue. What is more, the Crown Heights, and even global Chabad, community is hardly Boteach’s target audience. We’re speaking about a few thousand readers, many of them hostile to Boteach’s legacy after his acrimonious split with Chabad’s leadership in the UK well over a decade ago. Given Boteach’s long-term association with the movement, there may very well be an issue of pride at hand. Nevertheless, these sites, and the communities they represent, are hardly a major demographic for his book. As such, the question remains, what was the motivating the force behind his response?

In truth, despite claims of a global ban against his book, Boteach would only be so lucky for such a response. Had a real ecclesiastical ban been acted against the book, it would have been quite the sensation. Boteach has already tried to draw parallels between the Internet trolls and the current religious tension in Israel. With heightened media attention to Beit Shemesh, news of a ban against Boteach would be written up in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other periodicals of note. It would become an instant best-seller.

Though the rabbinic and communal response hasn’t succeeded to this degree, by keeping the issue alive, Boteach has been able to create controversy around the book and with it . . . the potential for sales.

Boteach has said as much himself. In a tweet Friday, he wrote “controversy over #kosherjesus seems 2 have made it a best-seller. climbing publishing charts everywhere. but prefer people read it” and his website currently announces the “West Coast Launch of Rabbi Shmuley’s Blockbuster and Controversial book...”

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

A Few Thoughts On Matisyahu's (Lack of a) Beard

Matisyahu released his statement: http://matisyahuworld.com/news/detail/note_from_matisyahu/

A few thoughts:

I wish Matisyahu, all the best in his personal journey - no matter where it takes him, if I agree with him or not.
I make no judgments as to his motivations or other personal actions he takes in his life.
I think Matisyahu's action, whatever the motivation, failed to take into account the ramification on his own life, that of his family, and those who look up to him - like it or not, he came to represent something beyond whatever he assumes himself to be.