Lazarow World-Hike-About

Shabbos At class in San Diego, Rabbi Wohlgelernter explained a verse in Parsha Vaeschanan, which commands us to work hard for 6 days and rest on Shabbos. We moved our focus from his eyes to his left ear and then after a while, to the right ear. Were we embarrassed? We wondered. ‘What about hiking and climbing?’ Is that indeed work? The Rabbi commented that work could be studying in the halls or involvement in the fields. Hmm! We think we could fall within the ambit of fields so we relaxed and looked back at the Rabbi with relief. The point of the mitzvah is that there should be a contrast between the workweek and the holy Shabbos. In order to make Shabbos special, one must extend oneself during the week. We believe this might be true in our case. Without feeling too smug, we relaxed further during the class. Thank goodness for our editor. She nudged us just in time. We became so relaxed, it could have been construed as sleep. A number of people expressed interest in our Shabbos at the ...

Hello All, Every now and again, a person lives a little dangerously, which we admit is not very smart. It always begins with a small step and before you know it, there’s another and another. By that time, a person is committed and then there is no turning back. Besides, who wants to be called a ‘wuss’? The moral of the story. If you are a male, ensure that you marry a woman less brave than yourself. Last year in Zion, the editor used the word ‘wuss’ to express her feelings towards me. On our first rock climb in Sedona some years ago, with my knees quivering while looking into the abyss, she said ‘you’re a big baby’. So on Friday, we put the head down, closed the eyes, stuck extra bubble-gum on the shoes and climbed the jagged rocks. We gave her no excuse for name-calling. If nothing else, it would be nice to be thought of as a ‘somewhat brave wuss’. Across the way, we saw a great-grandfather and his nine year old climbing down the less severe side of the falls. Admittedly, it was a re...