Summer is for Judaism

Every lesson we learn has an unintended consequence, for example: school summer break teaches us that learning takes a vacation.  

Still, there are great Jewish things to do even in summer to counteract this odd lesson.  And while summer is half over, there's still time to make a Jewish impact.

Here are my top ten suggestions for having a great Jewish summer...

1. Read a Jewish book in your backyard (Wear sunscreen or sit in the shade)*
2. Eat a kosher hot dog at a Jays game (I recommend having the Old Spadina curly fries on the side.)
3. Learn a new Jewish skill (Sean is teaching a second beginner's Hebrew class at Pride starting August 25th.)
4. Buy a new kosher cookbook and experiment with the recipes.  
5. Have a Shabbat barbecue.  Shabbat starts late.  Invite everyone over, and get the barbecue going.  When the food is done, light candles, and eat Shabbat dinner in the backyard by the light of votive candles while serenading your neighbors with ruach.
6. Attend an Eicha (Lamentations) reading on Tisha B'Av.  Join us at the Pride next Monday night as we sit on the floor reading by candle/flashlight.  The tune for chanting Eicha is haunting, recalling all the tragedies of our people.
7. Buy some Jewish music.  Listen to it while taking a trip. 
8. Read your machzor during Elul.  Write notes in it so you have something to read during long High Holiday services, or even the rabbi's sermon.
9. Have a special Shabbat lunch.  Try a cold blueberry soup.  Ontario blueberries make a great cold soup (Soup: A Kosher Collection, by Pam Reiss, has a great recipe.)
10. Choose a new mitzvah to start.  Daven Mincha in the early evening when you get home.  Start lighting Shabbat candles every week.  Put on your t'fillin each day (Can't get them on before work?  Don't worry.  The hiyuv, obligation, lasts until sunset giving you plenty of time).  Choose a charity to support (I can recommend some good ones).  Be a Zionist; support Israel on your table, in your home, and with your tzedakah.

*Last summer I read "Walking the Bible", by Bruce Feiler, an excellent read. This summer I'm reading "The Spirituality of Welcoming", by Ron Wolfson.  It's informative, and Ron is a great person.  I am also reading, and thoroughly enjoying, "A Letter in the Scroll", by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of England.  

To me reading voraciously is a Jewish activity itself.  It's part of the Jewish ideal of learning throughout life.  Besides the books by Wolfson and Rabbi Sacks, I finished books 1-4 of the series, "The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel", by Michael Scott.  It uses mythology from cultures all over the world, and I've really enjoyed researching some of the mythical creatures in the series beyond the story.  I can't wait for book 5!  I am also reading "Why Does E=mc2 (and Why Should We Care?", by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw.  


If this seems like a lot, I have a tendency to keep a pile of books on my night table and one in my tallit bag.  The Rabbi Sacks book is my Shabbat morning book.  I read during the repetition and even sometimes during the Torah reading.  I alternate with the others Shabbat afternoons and most evenings.  My kids have all inherited this, and books are piled on their night tables, and even in their beds.