BlackballingTimTebow

  • Subscribe to our RSS feed.
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Facebook
  • Digg

Sunday, 5 August 2012

Talmud: Try to swim 100 laps every day

Posted on 06:43 by Unknown
The Tosefta quotes Rabbi Meir saying that everyone should strive to recite 100 blessings each day. It then goes on to explain how one can do this.

Blessings are berakhot ברכות in Hebrew. In modern Hebrew the laps that one swims in a pool are called berechot בריכות.

I playfully read the Talmud such: Don't say berakhot, say berechot.

And so I have my Talmudic encouragement to swim 100 laps a day. On occasion I get to to that goal.

Here are a few of my reflections of the past on swimming...

Some time ago, JTA reported that "Liberal men take the plunge into ritual immersion, slowly" -- Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist Jewish men were going to mikvah and finding it meaningful. Sue Fishkoff wondered why and so did I.

She ended her article with a quote from mikvah user and attorney Merrill Hassenfeld, “We’re always doing things for others, why don’t we set aside time to go to the mikvah?” he asked. “It prepares us to go out into the world and start yelling and screaming again.” (A greater non-sequiteur has never been uttered.)

Now, my confession. I am a pool addict. I am a serious lap swimmer. Since 1982 my aim has been to try to swim a mile of laps every day. Finding the time. Finding a pool. Finding the energy. Not easy.

When I come out of my pool, I find that I feel healthier, more centered and completely relaxed. Swimming a mile in around 30 minutes is hard, aerobic work. That is what I have to invest to get results from my "mikvah" experience. I'm happy to hear that others can achieve their own "incredible" positive benefits from splashing around in a state of heightened imagination.

I have sought out pools to swim my laps all over the world. My most favorite pool was the old Gordon Pool on Tel Aviv beach near the Sheraton, pictured from a few years ago.

It was one of the wonders of the world. Each night they emptied the entire 50 meter pool, cleaned it and refilled it from underground saltwater wells 120 meters below. The pool opened at 5 AM at 24 degrees, which was just fine for us serious lap swimmers.

Unfortunately, the Gordon pool was leveled in 2008 without warning by the city of Tel Aviv. They rebuilt and reopened it as a more modern facility. I swam there in 2011.


[repost in part from 5/20/09]
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest
Posted in haaretz, health, israel, pools, talmud | No comments
Newer Post Older Post Home

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Popular Posts

  • Thanksgiving Turkey Drumstick Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin Pie Table Song - A Lone Pumpkin Grew
    Thanksgiving will be upon us soon and we sing traditional holiday songs at our Thanksgiving dinner. Here are the words to one of our favorit...
  • Update on the Insults: A Battle Over a Book: Haym Soloveitchik v. Talya Fishman
    Our once-upon-a-time teacher at Yeshiva University has panned a new book about rabbinic cultural development. It's a veritable battle ov...
  • Is Sigourney Weaver Jewish?
    Now it is far-fetched that anybody would think that actress Sigourney Weaver is Jewish. No, Sigourney Weaver is not a Jew. The tall actress ...
  • Is John Oliver Jewish?
    John Oliver is filling in for Jon Stewart this summer, 2013. He is one funny dude. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Get More: Daily Show Full...
  • Free Download of the Soncino Talmud in English Online at Halakhah.com: 25,000+ satisfied customers a month
    The Soncino Babylonian Talmud English translation is online - at a site that is not anti-Semitic or polemical. Download the Talmud in Englis...
  • Was Christopher Columbus Jewish?
    Yes, Christopher Columbus was a Jew according to some historians. Charles Garcia, writing via CNN, summarized the case for Columbus the Jew ...
  • Is Paul Volcker Jewish?
    No, we do not think that former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker is a Jew. According to reporter Roni Sofer of the usually reliable Is...
  • Rav Soloveitchik's Dissertation at the University of Berlin
    In honor of the 20th yahrzeit of the Rav's passing (on Hol HaMoed Pesach, the 18th of Nisan, in 1993) and of the 110th year since his bi...
  • How Peter Salovey is related to Rav J. B. Soloveitchik
    In a comment to a Yale Daily News story , Peter Salovey, president of Yale explained his relationship to Rav Soloveitchik. (Hat tip to Billy...
  • Note to Self: Do not wear Geox shoes in the rain or snow. They have little holes in soles!
    We wear Geox shoes almost all the time nowadays. They are truly more comfortable for someone like us who mainly sits at a desk throughout th...

Categories

  • 9/11 (1)
  • Alan F. Segal (1)
  • amazon (33)
  • antiSemitism (14)
  • apocalyptic (1)
  • apple (11)
  • archetypes (35)
  • are-they-jewish? (73)
  • ariely (1)
  • art (18)
  • atlantic beach (3)
  • audio book (1)
  • barack (20)
  • baseball (2)
  • beyond belief (1)
  • bible (48)
  • bloggers (12)
  • bobby knight (1)
  • book club (3)
  • book serialization (14)
  • books (83)
  • boteach (2)
  • brooklyn (10)
  • buddhism (5)
  • christianity (59)
  • circumcision (3)
  • copyright (4)
  • daf yomi (4)
  • daphne (1)
  • dead-sea-scrolls (4)
  • dirty tricks (4)
  • egalitarianism (3)
  • einstein (2)
  • film (20)
  • footnote (2)
  • gay rights (12)
  • golf (8)
  • google (15)
  • haaretz (5)
  • haggadah (9)
  • Harvard (1)
  • hasidism (17)
  • health (36)
  • heath (1)
  • hebrew (18)
  • history (12)
  • Holocaust (18)
  • huckabee (1)
  • hullin (3)
  • humor (76)
  • inventions (30)
  • iPad (12)
  • iPhone (9)
  • Is-it-kosher? (46)
  • islam (19)
  • israel (108)
  • juergensmeyer (2)
  • kabbalah (12)
  • kaddish (6)
  • kindle (33)
  • kosher (16)
  • kugel (1)
  • kushner (1)
  • laptops (1)
  • lex talionis (1)
  • madoff (15)
  • madonna (4)
  • Maimonides (5)
  • meditation (22)
  • menorah (2)
  • Merkin (10)
  • microsoft (1)
  • Minnesota (8)
  • Mishnah (2)
  • money (65)
  • mormons (5)
  • morton smith (3)
  • music (29)
  • nazis (3)
  • netanyahu (1)
  • New York Jews (46)
  • norman lamm (5)
  • obama (19)
  • orthodox (86)
  • Passover (20)
  • politics (91)
  • pools (13)
  • prayer (92)
  • Purim (9)
  • rabbis (124)
  • rahm emanuel (1)
  • rav (15)
  • recipes (2)
  • religion (170)
  • schachter (1)
  • science (45)
  • shaiel (1)
  • sikhs (3)
  • smoking (2)
  • software (6)
  • soloveitchik (17)
  • soul (2)
  • sports (47)
  • statins (1)
  • supreme court (1)
  • Surfing (1)
  • synagogues (73)
  • talmud (117)
  • Talmudic Books (30)
  • teaneck (37)
  • terrorism (6)
  • texas (1)
  • Thanksgiving (4)
  • theodicy (1)
  • tim tebow (3)
  • universities (56)
  • videos (19)
  • wikipedia (1)
  • wine (3)
  • wingnuts (22)
  • women (64)
  • yeshiva (41)
  • yiddish (5)
  • youkilis (2)
  • zev zahavy (21)
  • zichron ephraim (12)
  • zionism (21)

Blog Archive

  • ►  2013 (187)
    • ►  August (5)
    • ►  July (30)
    • ►  June (23)
    • ►  May (25)
    • ►  April (30)
    • ►  March (33)
    • ►  February (17)
    • ►  January (24)
  • ▼  2012 (313)
    • ►  December (31)
    • ►  November (23)
    • ►  October (16)
    • ►  September (15)
    • ▼  August (20)
      • Attention Daf Yomi students! Get a Free or 99 Cent...
      • Times: Jesus and Talmudic Rabbis Set Examples for ...
      • Was Beruryah raped?
      • At the Barclay's Golf Tournament at the Bethpage B...
      • Is Dîner en Blanc New York Like Ancient Passover?
      • The Adelsons back Rabbi Boteach
      • On Piyyutim and Pesukim - two new Stellar Free Hal...
      • Augusta National Golf Club Admits its First Two Wo...
      • Is J. J. Goldberg an Am-Haaretz?
      • Amazing Shanghai glass bottom swimming pool in th...
      • Was Ayn Rand Jewish?
      • Thoughts on the publication of Alan F. Segal, "Sin...
      • Yahoo: Romney Attends Orthodox Jewish Wedding in L...
      • ABC: Romney's Dirty Religion Ad
      • Times: Is Einstein's Physics of Relativity Jewish?
      • The World's Most Expensive Bible at $130,000 a cop...
      • Talmud will be an Olympic Medal Sport in 2016
      • Talmud: Try to swim 100 laps every day
      • Post: Trustee Irving Picard wants to undo Ezra Mer...
      • Israeli swimmer Yakov Toumarkin finished seventh i...
    • ►  July (20)
    • ►  June (34)
    • ►  May (19)
    • ►  April (38)
    • ►  March (39)
    • ►  February (31)
    • ►  January (27)
Powered by Blogger.

About Me

Unknown
View my complete profile