Tag Archive: sports
How to Still Have a Fun Passover Vacation on a Budget!
With the economy in the doldrums, many families won’t be able to afford amusement parks or attend a big concert over Chol HaMoed. To that end, without some suggestions of how to still have fun this Pesach, I’m near certain that there will be a good amount of Jewish kids spending their time in front of a computer screen, playing PlayStation, or hanging out on social networking sites. Frankly, as this and this article indicates, that’s not something that I, as a Rabbi, would encourage spending hours and hours of time on!
As such, I’ve compiled a list of 5 economically friendly but fun activities that will allow you to have a great time over Pesach vacation.
- If you’ve got little kids, they will most probably love this economically friendly but creative Portable Art Studio. It will certainly keep the kids occupied while cleaning for Pesach!
- As a kid, I enjoyed watching private planes or small commercial airliners land and arrive at Santa Monica Airport. In fact, because there’s less of a crowd, President Clinton used to land there when coming into the LA area. Indeed, I even got to meet the President, shake his hand and see what a real Presidential entourage looks like up close and person. Even today in a post 9/11 world, you and your children can go to one of the local but smaller airports around your area and watch for the flying planes in the sky!
- As far as snack food, purchasing Kosher for Passover products can add up to one pricey bill! Indeed, growing up as a kid, something that we always looked forward to on Pesach was my Mom’s homemade potato chips or homemade ice cream. As Passover became more of a commercialized event, and as the Jewish community rapidly grew in Los Angeles, one could easily purchase Kosher for Passover Potato Chips, ice cream and so on and so forth. Nowadays however, people may not want/be in the position to shell out hundreds of dollars on just eight days of Passover. To that end, if you are looking to have a great snack, such as potato chips, check out this recipe.
- During Pesach vacation, instead of going to commercial venues, Why not try the outdoors? Consider a family hike. Go fishing, cherry picking, pick-nicking on a beach, or bike riding together as a family. You may walk away from this even surprised to find that you had more fun doing an activity such as this, as opposed to going to Six Flags!
- If your family is like most, you may have just a couple people who may enjoy a great sporting event and cheering on the local team. That said, with the ever-growing price of tickets, taking your family to a MLB, NBA, or the like event can make a major dent in your wallet. As such, in addition to checking for promotional days or nights to lower the cost somewhat, why not try the minor leagues or become a fan of your local college teams. In general, tickets are usually less expensive, the games are more festive and you can sit closer to the action for a lot cheaper!
A Female Orthodox Basketball Star
Being that I work for Sharfman’s Seminary, a wonderful post high-school program for young Orthodox Jewish women, I often take particular interest in any story that may speak to our student body. That said, I never thought that I would find any of the words from the title of this post in one sentence…but sure enough the day has arrived!
Every heard of Naama Shafir?
I certainly hadn’t heard the name until I came across this article. And while I do not agree with the position that her particular Rabbi took, that of allowing her to play competitive college hoops on Shabbat (the Jewish day of rest not of exercise), she does nonetheless come across as a good teammate as well as an Orthodox Jew struggling to define herself in a contemporary world and in a sport that she loves.
Indeed, the first high profile Orthodox basketball player was a lanky red head from Baltimore named: Tamir Goodman. Truth be told, the man once featured on magazine covers and labeled, “The Jewish Jordan” now finds himself more spiritually in tune and fervently devoted to God and Judaism. Interestingly, this is seemingly due to the fact that his playing career led him not to the coveted NBA. Rather, he ended up playing ball for several years on various Israeli teams. Spending time in the Land of Israel allowed him to discover his heritage while playing the game that he loved and by extension, has allowed him to develop into the person he is today. On the other hand, it appears that Ms. Shafir seems to be pursuing her dream while making the opposite move. She has traveled thousands of miles away from the Holy Land to American soil.
And yet, what I took away from the article that features Ms. Shafir is how far America has come in terms of the acceptance of Shabbat within the workplace. Indeed, many great Rabbis have remarked, that when they were growing up in America, they would sit in Shul, and following the morning services, men would have to go off to work. Nowadays however, the need to express this level of religious observance is being accommodated to an unprecedented level.
May it be Hashem’s will, that it today’s economy this level of understanding and religous acceptance does not creep backwards but only continues to be accepted!
Halacha and the National Football League
Many audiences have been moved by the athletic abilities of Super Bowl Champion Alan Veingrad. Prior to becoming an observant Jew, he was a member of the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers!
Today, he moves audiences by enlightening them as to why he has gone from football to frum.
On that note, one of my favorite blogs out there, has a great piece that I believe should be retitled: The Halachic Ramifications on Playing in the NFL (or for that matter being a boxer)…definitely worth the look!
The Spiritual Message of the Beijing Olympics
Seemingly, the most celebrated athlete at the recently concluded Olympic Games is not the Chinese born Yao Ming, instead it’s a 23 year old American, by the name of Michael Phelps. The young swimming sensation has officially achieved the impossible, by moving past Mark Spitz, to become the greatest Olympian ever, and win 8 Olympic gold medals, while also breaking world records.
And yet, I believe that the person who carries the most inspirational of stories is not a young phenom. In fact, she did not even win a gold medal at the Olympics!
Dara Torres, is a 41-year-old mom, and the first American swimmer to compete in five Olympics: 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000, and 2008. What’s more, she began her comeback to the sport just a mere 6 months after giving birth to her daughter and beat out swimmers who were much younger in age. What’s more she came within 0.01 seconds of receiving a gold medal in the 50m competition.
In truth, we have seen a Jewish person, who became inspired by water, and decided right then and there to mount his spiritual comeback, despite being just one year younger than Torres. According to Jewish tradition, there was a simple Jew who worked for Ben Kalbah Savuah, one of the richest men in all of Jerusalem. Once, while shepherding his flocks, he gazed into a pool, and noticed a hollowed-out rock resting under a waterfall. He silently contemplated how a rock, one of Nature’s most dense substances, had been hollowed out. His curiosity got the best of him, as he decided to analyze this peculiar find. After some time, he noticed that water had, over a long period, drop after drop, caused a drastic change in the appearance of the rock. This event allowed him to reach the following conclusion:
“If a rock, though extremely hard, can be hollowed out by water, how much more so should it be possible for Torah, which is compared to water (in that is vital to the nourishment of the soul), to change my heart, which is certainly softer. I will begin to study it, and try to become a Jewish Sage!”
Despite being 40 years old, the shepherd began by learning how to read the Hebrew Alphabet. Ultimately, he went to Yeshiva and devoted himself to full-time Torah study for a whopping twelve years. As the years passed, the shepherd received Rabbinic Ordination, and became known to all as the famous Rabbi Akiva. He opened his own Yeshiva, and developed a following of 24,000 students.
There is a modern day expression developed by the shoe company Nike, that directs society to seize any moment of inspiration and well…”Just Do It!” As illustrated from the above two examples, God created human beings with the innate ability of free will, which by extension sets us apart from any other creature on God’s Green Earth. The fact that we have free will should remind us all that we have the power to always climb (or swim) to achieve accomplishments that seem at the surface physically impossible. Likewise, at a spiritual level each and every Jew has the ability to ascend spiritual realms and achieve everlasting meaning in their life-even if you may think that you are too old, or simply don’t have enough skills.
So the next time you feel a wave of inspiration I have 3 words for you: Just Do It!
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