The One Minute Farbringen

Parshat B'Shlach

Sunset Beach and The Red Sea
Surfers at Sunset Beach on Oahu's North Shore would probably tell you (if you caught them in a moment of candor!), that each time they paddle out to the reef on a big day, there's a lump in their throat. True, some deal with fear differently, but it's there. Corky Carroll once confided that he still gets the jitters when he jumps into the rip. Owl Chapman, long-time regular and one of its most colorful watermen, noted wryly: "If you're not drawing the right lines at Sunset, you're doing it all wrong!"

You can surf Sunset for years, think you've got it wired, and then one day, take off a little too late, get a little too cocky near the pitching lip of the wave, and you're smashed like a fly, with your self-esteem left on the coral reef.

No one reading this week's Torah Portion could miss the similarities of the "over-the-falls" treatment of Pharoahs charioteers in their suicidal pursuit of Moses and company through the Red Sea. The haughty, we are told (Kli Yakar, 15-1), are given an extra portion of incorregibility and insolence by our Creator, allowing them to momentarily reach lofty heights, only to have them hit the bottom with a bigger splash (..."if you lift yourselves up to the Heavens, from there I will bring you down!....").

Some food for thought while paddling out through the channel at Sunset Beach!


Tired of just plain "touring" the Mediterranean? Have the time of your life with a "surf and soul" surfing experience in the crystal waters of Herzliah!! Nachum Shifren, the surfing rabbi, will teach you:

Rivkah Shifren
Heaven Ink Publishing
Heaven Ink Jewish Women's Journal
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Rabbi Nachum Shifren
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