No, I’m not making a Game of Thrones reference, unless I’m skiing like there’s a hot Targaryen at the bottom of the ski hill. I’ve been a telemark skier for about 23 years. I’ve done alpine and I’m fine with it, and I’m mildly curious about splitboarding, but telemarking has become special to me. I
Our rabbi mentioned briefly in his dvar this week “hitbodedut,” the form of private Jewish meditation, associated most with Rabbi Nachman of Breslov and the Breslover chassidim. Rabbi Nachman urged forests or fields for this. Can do! Says I. Muir said, “Into the woods I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.” I find
“There is some factor in man, some form of special adaptation, which prompts a few individuals to exploits which, however purposeless they may seem, are of value to the survival of the race.” – J.L.R. Anderson, The Ulysses Factor
It was only about a quarter of the mile up the East Branch Penobscot from the Lunksoos put-in when Atticus and I saw the bull moose. I’ve lived in Alaska and spent many nights in the Adirondack and White Mountains backcountry. I’ve seen moose. On Fort Richardson, Alaska, where I was stationed in the Army,
After a test of my RAV4’s tires and suspension coming down a 4.5 mile stretch of rocks and pits, Amelia and I stood on the perhaps manufactured beach along the Debsconeag Deadwater at Omaha Beach. We were swarmed immediately by Maine’s patent cocktail of black flies and mosquitoes, in spite of our best efforts with
The world presents itself in two ways to me. The world as a thing I own, the world as a mystery I face. What I own is a trifle, what I face is sublime. I am careful not to waste what I own; I must learn not to miss what I face. Rabbi Abaraham Joshua
.יַעֲלוּ הָרִים, יֵרְדוּ בְקָעוֹת–אֶל-מְקוֹם, זֶה יָסַדְתָּ לָהֶם The mountains rose, the valleys sank down–unto the place which Thou hadst founded for them from Rosh Chodesh Psalm 104 Psalm 104 is my favorite because it channels all the grandeur of nature and attributes it to G-d. And I found that on a hike on an unseasonably
In working on my book about “kosher” backpacking, one thing stands out – Judaism isn’t really big on the outdoors. Even Sukkot, which to me screams “outdoor holiday,” is commoditized and safely packaged, even among the Ultra-Orthodox. Sure, there’s camp, but take your kids to one, and it’s not about outdoor adventure. It’s about Zionism,
Ella Wheeler Wilcox’s most famous poem came to mind recently. Laugh, and the world laughs with you, or something like that, cry, and you cry alone. Grief has been bad. It’s been isolating, I think, for all of us. I took Herschel to the vet on Friday. He tried so hard to pretend to be
The cougar sighting appears in my forthcoming book, THE KOSHER BACKPACKER, a self-help book on being an observantly Jewish outdoors enthusiast.. In 2002 or 2003, I saw a cougar in the Adirondacks. Max, my black Labrador Retriever, and I were coming down Bennies Brook Slide from Lower Wolf Jaw, and in the middle of the
Writer, President of Bangor's Congregation Beth Israel, soon-to-be-retired-soldier, programmer, father, musician, Heeb, living in the woods of Maine with three ladies and a dog. Brian is also a rabbinical student with the Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary.
Director of Education for Congregation Beth Israel in Bangor, Maine, runs joint religious school with our sister congregation, special educator and former school board member, mother to Avi and Nezzie.
