The Nostradamus Kid

Luke Ford writes: I love this movie! It’s a coming of age story about an Australian boy raised a Seventh-Day Adventist who yearns for the pastor’s daughter and fears the world is coming to an end.

I dig how the protagonist alternates between giving his life to God and giving his life to girls.

I guess this movie reminds me of my own life. It starts with a Billy Graham crusade. I went to one of those in high school in Sacramento. It was moving and for a while I believed.

I’ve believed in God while I’ve lived in a believing environment and not believed in God when I’ve lived in God-free places like college and the news media.

I discuss the weekly Torah portion with Rabbi Rabbs every Monday at 7pm PST on my live cam and on YouTube. Facebook Fan Page. This week we study Parashat Pinchas (Numbers 25:10-30:1).

The Nostradamus Kid II

Luke Ford writes: I love this movie! It’s a coming of age story about an Australian boy raised a Seventh-Day Adventist who yearns for the pastor’s daughter and fears the world is coming to an end.

I dig how the protagonist alternates between giving his life to God and giving his life to girls.

I guess this movie reminds me of my own life. It starts with a Billy Graham crusade. I went to one of those in high school in Sacramento. It was moving and for a while I believed.

I discuss the weekly Torah portion with Rabbi Rabbs every Monday at 7pm PST on my live cam and on YouTube. Facebook Fan Page. This week we study Parashat Pinchas (Numbers 25:10-30:1).

Parashat Mattot (Numbers 30:2-32:42)

Luke Ford writes: This week we study Parashat Mattot (Numbers 30:2-32:42).

* This week’s Torah portion is concerned with vows. It doesn’t like people making vows. The Torah enforces all sorts of restrictions about vows. The Torah lets men feel in charge because they have 24 hours to revoke a wife or daughter’s vow. I think this is more about a man feeling in charge of his domain than actually giving men power. It is similar to the Torah’s approach to slavery — evolutionary not revolutionary. The Torah makes slavery difficult. It makes it difficult to annul the vows of his wife and daughter, giving him but 24 hours.

* Do modern men need to man up and take charge of their households? I was raised to believe that the man has the final vote in the home. He’s the one in charge because he is more rational and less ruled by his emotions. I had this modern atheist Jewish girlfriend who said to me, “You are so afraid to set limits on me, but when you do, I’m just a meek little lamb.”

Women don’t respect it when you let them do what they want. They only respect you and only feel safe if you step up at the right times and protect them from their worst enemy — themselves. I remember I had this girlfriend who wants speaking back to the cops for giving her a ticket for letting her dog run loose in West Hollywood, and I had to calm her down and wind her down. 

I discuss the weekly Torah portion with Rabbi Rabbs every Monday at 7pm PST on my live cam and on YouTube. Facebook Fan Page. This past week we studied Parashat Pinchas (Numbers 25:10-30:1).

A Brief History Of My Beard

Luke Ford writes: Noon. Thursday. Jan. 31. 2008.

I’m at the Robertson branch of the Los Angeles Public Library leafing through the February issue of Commentary magazine.

It’s been a few days since I’ve shaved.

I stop at an article on the role of the beard in Judaism by Rabbi Meir Soloveichik. I read it all the way through. I decide to not shave again.

The clean-shaven Rabbi Soloveichik says the beard plays an important role in Judaism. It’s been the way of the Jewish people for thousands of years. Growing a beard is a rejection of Egypt, where men would obsessively shave to look young. Judaism wants you to look your age. Judaism wants you to accept who you are. Judaism wants men to look like men and women to look like women. A beard distinguishes a man from a boy.

For the past 14 years, I’ve been using Grecian Formula to try to hide the growing amounts of grey in my hair. Now I decide to stop fighting my age and to embrace it.

I discuss the weekly Torah portion with Rabbi Rabbs every Monday at 7pm PST on my live cam and on YouTube. Facebook Fan Page.  

Scenes From An UnOrthodox Dating Life

Luke Ford writes: I met this bird at a Shabbat dinner at a nice Orthodox home in my neighborhood.

At the time, I was a bit socially retarded during the week. So when I got an invite for Shabbos, I was a bit over the top.

So I’m sitting there at dinner and I’m introduced to Sammy*. And a while later, not wanting to seem too eager, I say to her, “What high school do you go to?”

She looked 28, but a young 28. She looked prim and proper and modest. I love brunettes like that. Particularly when they’re a raging tiger behind closed doors.

(She later asked me, “Did you really think I was in high school?” No, I admitted. She said, “Men lie!”)

Take Responsibility For Your Bad Back

Luke Ford writes: I have a friend with a bad back. He had surgery on it a year or two ago. And by the way he uses himself, I can tell he’s going to have nothing but trouble with his back in the future.

Despite this, he has zero interest at looking at his habits that are causing his problems.

This man — in his twenties — walks around with a chronically compressed neck and spine and hunched shoulders. There’s nothing he can do to overcome this. He can only learn to undo his habits that are causing his back problems.

This guy is big into exercise but every time he exercises, he only ingrains his bad habits deeper and deeper. 

I discuss the weekly Torah portion with Rabbi Rabbs every Monday at 7pm PST on my live cam and on YouTube. Facebook Fan Page. This week we study Parashat Pinchas (Numbers 25:10-30:1).

Dark Night Of The Soul

Luke Ford writes: The hours between midnight and four a.m. are usually restless ones for me.

I can usually nod off to sleep by about 11 p.m. but then I typically wake up around midnight. If I check my email, it’s likely I’ll encounter somebody I care about not responding to me exactly as I wish, and this increases my anxiety. If, say, I have to wait an extra week for an anticipated date or business meeting or payment, my fear of abandonment and of financial catastrophe becomes crippling and I don’t sleep until daylight.

When I’m smart, I don’t check my email late at night. I just put on Barry Manilow’s Greatest Hits or perhaps some Air Supply or Mozart or Haydn or Debbie Friedman. I know I don’t want to lie alone in the quiet and just wrestle with my thoughts. I must be distracted. If I have to face who I am and where I am, I’ll get uncomfortable and restless and I won’t sleep. Instead, please God, let me lose myself in some romantic dream and then drift off.

If I were in a relationship, my need for romantic music would not be as acute. Meanwhile, Barry Manilow is my substitute for love.

I wonder if my musical choices are a cause of or just a symptom of love addiction?

I discuss the weekly Torah portion with Rabbi Rabbs every Monday at 7pm PST on my live cam and on YouTube. Facebook Fan Page. This week we study Parashat Pinchas (Numbers 25:10-30:1).