Can We Change?

According to the Jewish calendar, last Wednesday was Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement. Those Jews who follow the prescribed tradition, spend the whole day in the synagogue, praying, asking for forgiveness, while abstaining from eating and drinking. This is the day (year after year) when our future is sealed for at least one year (that is, if you believe there is a higher power, whom we call God, who knows what each of us is doing and how we spend our day to day lives). In the prayers on Yom Kippur, we acknowledge that we missed the mark and promise to change our behavior, or even who we are. Is it possible? In the Torah one of the first stories is about the first children, Cain and Abel. When both of them brought an offering to God, He chose Abel’s and not Cain’s. “This annoyed Cain exceedingly, and his continence fell. And Hashem (God) said to Cain, “Why are you annoyed, and why has your continence fallen? Surely, if you improve yourself, you will be forgiven. But if you do not improve yourself, sin rests at the door. Its desire is toward you, yet you can conquer it” (Genesis 4:5-7). It is easy to say this, even for the God, but how can we change?

We all would like to improve our lives, and change our future. If you do not know how, perhaps reading the book could be beneficial.

P.S. There is however, another way for a change – adopt a dog. Since our labradoodle puppy Max became member of our family two years ago, many things have changed in our lives. Most important, we experience more love. Max wakes me up with a kiss at 6:15 in the morning, and gives me a kiss after 10 in the evening, signaling that I have to stop writing and it is time for both of us to go to bed. And with love, you can change anything. While I am finishing working on my next photo-story book “42 Encounters with Love”, you can buy “42 Encounters with Dog Lovers” on Amazon.com. I guarantee a positive change. Meanwhile, please enjoy these four images of Max.

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Symbiotic Relationship

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is known for its very special exhibits; however, one of them recently surprised me. For the first four months this year, it presented “The Sea Ranch: Architecture, Environment and Idealism.” It was surprising, since The Sea Ranch is not a place I’ve ever thought to be seen in a museum; but rather, it had to be experienced. And this is exactly what we’ve done many times, including just a few weeks ago. Just in case you missed the show at the SFMOMA, The Sea Ranch has a very interesting history.

The first people known to live in the territory where The Sea Ranch is today were the Pomo Indians, who gathered kelp and shells for food on the beaches. In the 19th century the area was mainly used for sheep farming. And then things changed in the 1960s. Architect Al Boeke envisioned the design of the community that would preserve the area’s natural beauty, which would span along 10 miles of the Sonoma County coastline. Online I learned that The Sea Ranch is noted for its distinctive architecture that blends with nature.

The success of The Sea Ranch as a tourist destination is in a big part not only for the beauty of nature in the area; but also, that it borders with Gualala, an incorporated community in Mendocino County. The name of the place of today’s Gualala, which has a population of over 2000 people, comes from Pomos Indians, who had named the area Kha Wa La Lee, meaning “coming down water place”. When I mentioned to a friend that we are going to The Sea Ranch, he told me that he loves to come here to fish in the Gualala River. The trend to come to the area to hunt and fish and get away from the crowded cities started around 1861. By the end of 1800s Gualala had become a major commercial hub for the entire area with a dancing school, Brass Band and an Opera House. The economy of Gualala was supported by a lumber mill, which logged the redwood trees. But gradually it transitioned from a logging town to a tourist destination. Today Gualala has ten hotels, restaurants, two supermarkets, two gas stations, several art galleries, tourist stores and it serves the local center where visitors to The Sea Ranch and locals can fill all their living needs.

P.S. I wanted to share with you the beauty of the area in these four images. Two women with two dogs appeared in my book “42 Encounters with Dog Lovers” which you can buy on Amazon.com.

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The Numbers Game

On the eve of last Sunday, September 29^th, the Jewish calendar showed that the world entered into year 5780, which according to Torah is the birthday of the first man Adam and his wife Eve. It is not related to the age of our universe, which is according to the information I found on Google is 13.8 billion years, and Planet Earth is about 4 billion years old. For my story, I am going to focus on the much lesser number – 5780. The event is called Rosh Hashanah, which literally translates to ’Head of the Year’. My first thought was, what size does a birthday cake have to be to fit 5,780 birthday candles on it? But I will let you figure this out by yourself. Meanwhile, I wanted to check the meaning of each of the numbers 5, 7, 8 and number 20, which is the sum of other three numbers. There are different systems that define the meaning of the numbers; among them are Numerology, Gematria (a form of Jewish numerology), Angel Numbers and some others. Numerology is any belief in the divine of mystical relationship between numbers and one or more coinciding events. Gematria is a Kabbalistic method of interpreting Hebrew Scriptures by computing the numerical value of words, based on those of their constituent letters. And Angel Numbers are sequences of numbers that carry divine guidance by referring to specific numerological meaning.

There are a number of traditions associated with Rosh Hashanah, which among different names is called Yom Hadin – “The Day of Judgement”, since ten days later it is followed by Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement”. Therefore, Jews greet each other on the Jewish New Year with, “May you be inscribed in the book of life, and sealed for a good year”.

As far as food is concerned, it is traditional to eat slices of apple dipped into honey. This goes together with the other common greeting, “Shana Tova u Metuka”, which means, “Wishing you a Good and Sweet Year.” And this is what I am wishing you. Another tradition is to ask for forgiveness from people before Yom Kippur which is going to be on next Wednesday, for the sins known and not known to us. I would like to use this opportunity to ask from you for your forgiveness.

P.S. I used my artistic ability to share these four images with you. Each has a different numbers of apples: 5, 7, 8 and 20. The most challenging part in this project was to put twenty images of apples into one frame.

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The Familiarity and the Difference

We’ve been visiting The Sea Ranch for over thirty-three years. It is located on Highway 1, about 110 miles North of San Francisco. However in spite of the relatively short distance, it takes about three hours to get there, due to the long windy road. Perhaps this is why during the two and a half days we stayed there, we saw very few people on the trails along the ocean, unlike our recent trip to Carmel.

During our vacations, we want to visit new places, and have different experiences. But then we come back. Why? Doesn’t the place look the same as before? You may have heard the Chinese saying “You cannot cross the same river twice.” However, there is a continuation – “since it is not the same river, and not the same you.” While this is a true statement; nevertheless, we “cross the river” again and again. We just need to learn how to see our world and the people we encounter through a “different” lens (the new iPhone 11, has three lenses, for instance). Of course you can learn how to become a better photographer, which in the core is an art of seeing, and then you will be able to perceive the difference.

P.S. I would like to share four “similar” images to show what I mean.

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Is The Road Always Better
Than The Inn?

The immortal words of the proverb come from the book “Don Quixote de la Mancha”, which was written in 1613 by the famous Spanish novelist, poet and playwright Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.

I am writing this email on a Sunday night, while staying in The Sea Ranch. We arrived here on Friday afternoon. It took us three hours to get here because of the traffic and road construction. On the way, we stopped in Jenner to stretch our legs and to have lunch on the deck overlooking the Russian River, before it connects with the ocean. We’ve taken this journey many, many times and in spite of the familiarity and the winding road, it takes an hour to drive the last 27 miles on the winding, very picturesque road.

And though we enjoyed the road which goes through the agricultural area, this joy is nothing in comparison with the experience which we have during our stay in The Sea Ranch – the Inn (hence the question mark in the title). But this experience I will share with you next week.

P.S. These four images are from our journey, including our stop in Jenner.

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