The Surfing Rabbi

Parshat Dvarim

2007-06-05T00:30:00.000-07:00

Parshat Dvarim

"Elizabeth Taylor, Surf Shops, and Charity!"
For surfers on the island of Kauai, 1971 was an epic year! Lots of trade wind days, moderate rain, and a steady swell that seemed to last all Winter long. The Kauai "experience" was like another world, really. You could be out at Hanalei Bay, one of the most challenging and fastest waves on the Earth. While sitting in the line-up, watching the waterfalls cascading off the Napali cliffs, the volcanic peaks rising through the billowy clouds, one senses that this is a very special, auspicious moment. Those famous North Shore breaks: Cannons, Windmills, Pinetrees, "impossibles", the "bowl"-all with their own lure, each of them offering their own intimate secrets since the millenia of Creation!
Part of the Kauai "experience" for some surfers was the accomodations at Taylor Camp, a loosely run hippie commune for revolutionaries, exiled Americans, poets, minstrels and low-budget surfers. Word has it that once Elizabeth Taylor visited the place, fell in love with the beach and for some reason decided to build a commune there. Needless to say, with such an eclectic milieu in the "Camp" ( a collection of huts and tree houses), there was no shortage of interesting goings-on!
One of the "vets" at Taylor Camp was a good-natured soul named Jake (Jacob was his real name), who bailed out of a lucrative insurance brokerage in the Bay area to ease his soul on Kauai's North Shore. What was Jake's claim to eclecticism? He loved the ocean and, though himself not a surfer, had a tremendous admiration for those wandering navigators of huge open swells. In his tree house was a veritable "one-stop" surfer's warehouse of used boards, surf wax, extra fins, fibre glass, and resin for impromptu repairs. No money? No problem, Jake would take out a ledger and give you a line of credit. Unemployment check not here yet? It's cool, just pay when you can!
You came into Jake's hut, and one look at his operation would tell you that his whole gig was not a business at all, but a marvelously disguised type of charity- without the debtor even feeling it! Jake undoubtedly understand the great value and importance of his cheritable "institution", recalling this week's Haftarah portion in Isaiah (1-27), "redemption through charity". May it be, that surfers like Jake, serving as a "pillar upon which the entire world stands", will continue to be an inspiration to us all! One more story in the Aloha Spirit that made surfing more than just a "sport!"

A Shabbat Shalom to all!

Parshat V'Zot Ha Bracha

2007-06-05T00:31:00.000-07:00

Parshat V'Zot Ha Bracha

Zevulon, a living example of Surf and Soul
Surfers represent the truest balance in life: on the one hand, they possess a recognition of the wonder and awe of the mightiest aspect of Creation; on the other hand, they deal with the nuts and bolts of making and living and family matters. How many people have the opportunity to paddle out into the hollow barrels of the Pipeline in the morning, and later on, show up (WITH suit and tie) to work at the office, with boss and colleagues totally unaware of the metamorphosis!
This week's Torah portion informs us that Zevulon was happy going out to sea, being a part of the challenge of the ocean: "rejoice, Zevulon, in thy going out....(to sea)" (35-18). But the business partnership that he had with his brother was a bit more profound than we find in the world of finance: Zevulon was happy at sea since knew that his success was guaranteed by him supporting his brother's spiritual quest in the study of his Torah ( Kli Ha Yakar). A perfect symbiosis: Surf and Soul!
With the closing of this chapter, we begin anew our "Surf and Soul" odyssey, starting next week with the exciting dawn of creation in the book of "Genesis". Stay tuned!

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2007-06-05T00:06:00.000-07:00

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