Vegetarian

[close] Many cultures have traditional stories about a certain type of character a person whose understanding of cause and effect is twisted; whose gullibility is unbounded; who is so confident of his wisdom, he is unaware of his own foolishness. But in the Jewish storytelling tradition we do not have such a character; we have a whole village. The Village of Chelm. But what happened to those people?

Some generations ago, a real estate broker offered them an amazing property, a far away tract of land where, he claimed, "every acre is two acres, you can till the soil with a teaspoon, and there are not only four seasons, there are five."

When they arrived they found that everything the real estate broker said was true! Every acre is two acres because the land is so steep, if you flattened it out, for every acre you’d get two! You can till the soil with a teaspoon because that’s how deep you can dig before you hit bedrock! And there are not only four seasons, there are five: summer, fall, winter, spring, black fly season.

Welcome to Chelm’s Pond, centrally isolated in New York's Adirondack Mountains, where the ridiculous stories of Chelm meet the preposterous tall tales of the Adirondacks, and yet raise serious questions about the nature of God and the meaning of prayer.

Welcome to Chelm's Pond, home of Adirondack Mendel, Bloomie, Rabbi Chayim "who looks to heaven," aka Rabbi Chayim Shmayim, and Aufruf, the Yiddishe talking dog, and join me for lunch at The Broiled Beet -- serving the finest in Adirondack-Ashkenazick fusion cuisine.

Zayt gezunt!
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[close] Agnosticism + Logic + Faith = My Spirituality

These are the ingredients in my ice-cream cone, along with Soul Energy, Reincarnation, Karma, Detachment, Vegetarianism, Astrology, Meditation, and the Ego. I believe these concepts make some sense based on the tenets of logic and science. Even to a skeptic like me.

But I am entitled to change my mind at any time. If tomorrow someone were to show me some indisputable, miracle-backed proof that their way is the correct way and I will go to Hell if I don't squat on one foot chanting 3.5 times a week, I will happily throw away my chocolate cone and switch to strawberry.

For now, here is what I believe, and why . . . [close]