There are some surfers that have to have a regime, they thrive on "schedules". You know the type: "O.K., we'll pick up the car at the airport, beat the traffic and surf Trestles till noon. Lunch at 'Big Bob's' till 1. Beat the traffic and make it back at the hotel by 5. Shower, dinner, and hit it to the Greek for the Jimmy Buffet concert by 7:30." Whew!- well, somebody better tell these surfer's about the most "penciled-in" spot on the planet: Puerto Escondido!
The Marina battalion starts their drum roll EVERY morning at precisely 6:a.m. ( or around there!) and after that if the dogs don't get you out of the sack, then you no doubt fit in the category of the typical, "well-adjusted" surfer. There's just no time to kick back at "Puerto!" You've got about two and a half hours from the first sounds of tympani to get out there for a ration of heavy lip-pitches and sand stuck in your teeth before that West wind blows out and makes suicidal one of the heaviest beach breaks on the planet!
In the early 70's when 6 guys out was crowded, the place was a meeting grounds for the eclectic and the brave. One character who really stood out was a fella named Stan, a lifeguard down at Moonlight State Beach. As skinny as a fin-box, he existed on mangos, sprouts, and "oxygen", regularly fasting in order to reduce any "excess fat build-up" and get a spiritual "high". With his past-shoulder-length-hair, gaunt features, sunken eyes and ever present smile, Stan was a true child of the "age of Aquarius," excepts for one difference: He had no fear! When he swung his 8'6" Bruce Jones gun around, often making the vertical drop, it was awesome! Many a carnivore backed out of waves that Stan would take for granted, all with a smile!
Stan's search for a "higher consciousness" would no doubt have led him to read this week's Torah portion, "Acharei", where the Ramban (z"l) informs us that the statement concerning "affliction of the soul" is really the act of fasting, in contrast to those whose interpretation includes a "breaking" of the physical, etc. (Va Yikra 16-29).
This journey, when attempted, is known in the language of the Kabbala as "returning the soul to its source before its descent into this world of physicality" (Likutei Tora). Thank goodness we have this auspicious day only once a year, "on the seventh month, of the tenth day" (the Day of Atonement), in which to "return" from the physical restrictions of our world..............along with its schedules!
Shabbat Shalom to all!
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County Beach Lifeguard (CPR/First Aid certified), with over 30 years
experience.
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Find out more about your heritage, introductory Talmud and Kabbala classes
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Rabbi Nachum Shifren "The Surfing Rabbi" Email: rabbisurf@aol.com
Surf & Soul Online: http://www.surfingrabbi.com
P.O. Box 654, Jerusalem, 91006 * Israel Tel: (03) 906-7281 * Fax: (03) 906-7280