Preparing for Passover

Preparing for Passover

We added a new tradition to our Passover preparation this year, a new tradition that links Passover to yet another Jewish holiday.

Passover is linked to Tu B’shevat because, as we know, on Tu B’Shevat we plant the parsley that we will eat on Passover. Admittedly our parsley took so long to germinate this year that the plants on the window sill are still a bit sparse. It looks like we will sprinkle parsley on our Shavuous blintzes instead.

Shavuos is linked to Passover because we count the days between the two holidays (called counting the Omer.) If you are looking for a way to make this tradition more powerful, check out a new book by my college Rabbi Gavriel Goldfeder.

http://www.amazon.com/50th-Gate-Becoming-Through-Counting/dp/B003CNHVTK/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268841994&sr=8-5

His book provides a reading and practice for each day and is cleverly designed to lay open on your desk or counter.

I love how Passover weaves together the holidays preceding and following and now my kids added a third link – Purim. You see when Purim arrived, I was in the middle of a crazy two week travel stint. I was in Aspen teaching about the connection between Judaism and the environment, then leading spiritual ski days, then spirited off to Lake Tahoe to snowshoe with Reverend Karen Foster and Dr. Marcia McFee (authors of Spiritual Adventures In the Snow http://www.amazon.com/Spiritual-Adventures-Snow-Snowboarding-Renewal/dp/1594732701/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_2  to talk about how wilderness can prepare us for the holy times of Easter and Passover. See the USA Today Article featuring our conversation >>
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2010-03-24-SpiritualAdventures24_CV_N.htm?csp=AdventureRabbi

Then back to Colorado to lead Purim services in Grand Junction and then back to Boulder for two Adventure Rabbi Purim celebrations, one for children and one for adults.

So all that to say, although my kids got a lot of Purim, they did not get to make my homemade hamantaschen, which Sadie has proclaimed are the best hamantaschen in the entire world. Thanks to the recipe we use from the New York Times http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/the-perfect-hamantaschen/

And adding Dickson’s Lemon Curd for the filling as taught to me by my friend Cassie Fishbein, I think they may well be.

I managed to buy the ingredients but, when the crazy two weeks ended, I just wanted to sleep. And then you know how it goes. One day we were finally ready to bake but we were out of eggs and the next time, well you know how it goes.

So suddenly we found ourselves on the Sunday before Passover and it was time for “the big clean.” The kids went through their drawers and pulled out the clothing that no longer fit to give away. I went though my office and sorted through papers that could be recycled and filed the rest. Finally we tackled the kitchen. I was about to toss the flour when Sadie said, “Wait, we didn’t bake hamantaschen.”

And that is how I found myself baking hamantaschen as part of my Passover preparation. Of course to make the kitchen kosher for Passover we then had to eat them all, but fortunately that was not a problem! We ate every last crumb.

Well the cleaning is done and this Thursday, Jeff the kids and I will leave for our Moab Seder, which begins on Saturday at 2 p.m. There might be a couple of spots left, so if you want to come contact us here: http://www.adventurerabbi.org/contact.htm and we will see what we can do. The Denver Post and Boulder Camera http://www.denverpost.com/ci_14776481 ran lovely stories about the trip. Thanks to Rachel Berry for pitching the story to them!

Wishing you and yours a happy Passover.
Hag Sameach!

USA Today Article About Adventure Rabbi: God is found in the wilderness for Passover, Holy Week

I'm thrilled that USA Today is running an article about my work in tomorrow's print version of their newspaper. It was just published on their website, so here's a sneak peak.


You can read it on the USA Today Website >>
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2010-03-24-SpiritualAdventures24_CV_N.htm?csp=AdventureRabbi

(Or buy a paper tomorrow)

Early Happy Passover!

Rabbi Jamie Korngold

Adventure Rabbi Passover Retreat - Next Year In Moab (Blog Posting)

FYI, our Passover Retreat in Moab, Utah was just mentioned on the trippingwithkids.com blog:
http://trippingwithkids.com/archives/2010/03/21/next-year-in-moab/

Thanks for a great review!

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Rabbi Korngold Named One of 50 Top Jewish Spiritual Leaders In US

In Rabbi Mike Comins new book, Making Prayer Real, Rabbi Jamie Korngold, the Adventure Rabbi, is featured as one of the leading 50 spiritual Jewish voices in the Jewish world. 

Other Rabbis mentioned in the list of rabbis: Rabbi Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi, founder of the Jewish Renewal Movement (he also lives in Boulder, Colorado), author Rabbi David J. Wolpe, and author Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD.

I read a lot of books. Lately I have been reading a lot of books about God.

I read a lot of books. I used to take my books out from the library because I don’t like to own a lot of stuff and my office is already crammed with floor to ceiling bookshelves overflowing with books. But now that I am a published author, I feel a responsibility to purchase books to support other authors as well as to do my part to help the struggling publishing houses.

Now that I actually own the books, reading has become a multi-disciplinary event for me. I write copious notes in the margins and underline in blue, green and yellow marker. I draw brackets, stars, arrows and passionate explanation points, “Yes!” next to passages I love. My books have that “well loved” look to them.

I do not however, bend page corners over. I abhor the bending down of pages. My sister, a poet who taught me my love of books, also somehow taught me this. Somehow it seems like unperpetrated violence against the book. Funny isn’t it, where we each draw the line of right and wrong?

Lately I have been reading a lot of books about God. I didn’t know there were so many books about God. God probably doesn’t know there are so many books about God. I would think you would have to have name like Sir Reginald Oxberry Meticulous III to have so many books written about you. But no, its just 3 simple letters, G-o-d.

Books about God remind me of the pre-Galilean models of the solar system. Back then astronomers thought the earth was the center of the universe. In order reconcile the orbits of the planets that they observed (reality), with the belief that the earth was the center of the universe, they had to build elaborately complicated (and erroneous) models to explain the universe.

This reminds me of theology. It seems to me that theologians and clergy do elaborate gymnastics to prove why a kind and loving God allows such terrible things to happen in the world.

When I read books about God, I find that I often am intrigued by the questions, such as, “Why do bad things happen to good people and good things to bad people?” and, “Does healing prayer work?” and, “What happens when we die?” and, “Why is there suffering in the world?” But sadly, I am seldom satisfied with the answers.

The other consistency that I notice in books about God is the big words that authors feel compelled to use. The other day I was reading a book that was going off about the “urtext” and “theurgy.” Now I can urtext and theurgize with the best of them, but what’s the point? Why not just say “original text and “divine or supernatural intervention in human affairs?” I guess it might mess up the word count for a limerick, but it sure would be more accessible.

I once read that Renee Descartes, the father of modern philosophy, often wrote in the layman’s French rather than the Latin used by the academics of his day because he felt that everyone should have access to his work, not just the intellectual elite.

That is the kind of God book I am trying to write. No fancy models concocted to support the unsupportable. No bizarre words that require you to leave your comfy chair and go to your computer to look it up on. My goal is to write a book that keeps it simple, so that you can sit on the porch and read it while eating a bag of chips. Of course you may want to bring a pen to draw some arrows, stars and hopefully a few big exclamation points, “Yes!”

Now I better get back to writing……

I was recently asked a question by a mother of a Bar Mitzvah student, on why Hebrew is required in a Bar Mitzvah service

I was recently asked a question by a mother of a Bar Mitzvah student, on why Hebrew is required for a Bar Mitzvah student. The student asked, "I want to do it in English so I can understand what I'm saying."

As I think that he's not the only student ever to ask this question, here's my response back to his mom:
I'm not sure I have a good answer, but here is my effort:

Hebrew is the language with which for thousands of years are people have prayed and pleaded, have mourned and rejoiced. So the very language itself, the sounds, the letters the utterances, are laden with the emotions of our people. When we pray in Hebrew it is not an intellectual exercise, It is a spiritual and emotional one. It's not about thinking about it, it's about feeling it.

Dissecting the prayers or the Torah for their literal meaning is helpful but not necessary while reciting them.

It's like dissecting a frog.

You have to kill it before you cut it open and look at the parts.

So too with prayer or Torah. If you are going for the intellectual, your going to kill it. Reading it in in English a good exercise, but not the one we are going for here.

Learning Hebrew is a tool of entry into a spiritual practice.

Like any spiritual practice it takes a lot of hard work. But ultimately, when you get it, it is a tool that you can use your whole life.

Hebrew is the language which unites Jews wherever we go. If you go to Italy you may not be able to ask the Italian Jews where the best wine store is, but you can pray the Amidah with them and you will be connected.

I hope that can help you figure out how to better explain why we need to do the prayers in Hebrew.

-- Rabbi Jamie Korngold, Adventure Rabbi
March 2010

Video of Book Talk From Wilderness Workshop Speaking Series in Aspen, Colorado now live

We've posted the video from the Wilderness Workshop Speaker's series in Aspen, Colorado on the God In The Wilderness Website:

http://www.godinthewilderness.com/index.php?id=27&page=Video_Book_Talk

Part I: Rabbi Korngold, the Adventure Rabbi, speaks about her book, God in
the Wilderness in Aspen, Colorado:

Part II: Rabbi Korngold, the Adventure Rabbi, speaks about her book, God in
the Wilderness in Aspen, Colorado:

Part III: Rabbi Korngold, the Adventure Rabbi, speaks about her book, God
in the Wilderness in Aspen, Colorado:

Part IV: Rabbi Korngold, the Adventure Rabbi, speaks about her book, God in
the Wilderness in Aspen, Colorado:

Part V: Rabbi Korngold, the Adventure Rabbi, speaks about her book, God in
the Wilderness in Aspen, Colorado:

Part VI: Rabbi Korngold, the Adventure Rabbi, speaks about her book, God in
the Wilderness in Aspen, Colorado:

Part VII: Rabbi Korngold, the Adventure Rabbi, speaks about her book, God
in the Wilderness in Aspen, Colorado:

Part VIII: Rabbi Korngold, the Adventure Rabbi, speaks about her book, God
in the Wilderness in Aspen, Colorado:

Part IX: Rabbi Korngold, the Adventure Rabbi, speaks about her book, God in
the Wilderness in Aspen, Colorado:

Part X: Rabbi Korngold, the Adventure Rabbi, speaks about her book, God in
the Wilderness in Aspen, Colorado:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Skiing Video of Shabbat On Skis From Copper Mountain

Here's a video of our Shabbat on Snow at Copper Mountain from earlier today:

Book Review: Making Prayer Real by Rabbi Mike Comins

I'm featured in Rabbi Mike Comin's new book, Making Prayer Real. Here's a copy of the review I posted to Amazon:

I love this book! Making Prayer Real is the best book I have read in years.

It's like eating an Oreo cookie. (Or in my case a Newman's Hint-of-Mint cookie.) Rabbi Comins commentary on its own, would have been fabulous. Dayeinu - enough. (The chocolate cookie.) And the other contributors' voices alone, also would have been enough. (The creamy filling) But put the two together and you have a delicious, well written, inspiring, re-assuring piece of work.

I had no idea I shared the same thoughts about prayer as so many other Jewish people. We also differ, but that's okay too. I am simply inspired and relieved.

Here's a link to the book >>

This book rocks. You will read it in one sitting. Or maybe two. I had to get up in the middle to get more cookies and refill my milk glass.

-Rabbi Jamie Korngold, The Adventure Rabbi and author of God in the Wilderness: Rediscovering the Spirituality of the Great Outdoors with the Adventure Rabbi