Lazer Beams

A Lot on his Mind

This photo, courtesy of AP via Maariv (nrg.co.il), has the Beam's vote for photo of the month. This is an enterprising Arab watermelon vendor on the road between Gush Etzion and Hevron, with a show-stopping method of catching prospective motorist/customer's attention. By the way, if you haven't eaten a July-August watermelon from the soil of Israel, you don't know what sweetness is. I take my hat off to this vendor - he certainly is level-headed. As you can see, my caption for this photo is, "A lot on his mind."

Now, as long as we're talking about watermelons, the Beams is going to teach you the fool-proof way of picking a ripe, red, sweet watermelon: If the entire watermelon is round and green, it's not yet ripe. The riper a melon gets, the heavier it gets, and the more it sits on the ground. The watermelon develops a whitish-yellow patch on the spot that it sits on the ground. The bigger that yellow patch, the riper the watermelon. Also, when you flick it with your middle finger, it should give a "thump" like hitting a drum. Now, it's ready to enjoy. Don't forget to make a blessing before and after you eat.

The wonders of watermelon: Watermelon not only yields more of the cancer-inhibiting antioxidant lycopene per serving (15 mg in 1.5 cups) than raw tomatoes (11 mg per 1.5 cups), but it's also a rich source of vitamins A and C. Chuck the man-made junk food, and go enjoy a watermelon. Nobody produces finer delicacies than Hashem does, and healthy ones at that! Enjoy!

Hashem Does a Better Job

Dear Rabbi Lazer,

I am a nurse and enjoyed reading your articles on medicine - I agree with your articles. I work in a cardiac unit and see the results of patients who eat fast food and diets high in fats. Not surprisingly, almost all the recommended foods on the recuperative diets for heart patients are natural foods - predominantly fruits, vegetables, and whole grains - and little or no processed foods.

As a nurse and as an objective observer, I've arrived at the following conclusion as far as choosing the best foods for your health: If Hashem made it - it is good for you and eat it. If man made it - beware, it is not good for you. As for Hashem's foods, there's no need to count calories; Hashem doesn't use dangerous additives to make money off of people. There's no such thing as junk foods that grow in the soil or on a tree.

Man's use of chemicals, preservatives, and fats don't lead to good health. Hashem's perfectly balanced foods, such as the whole-grain wheat kernel, certainly do lead to good health. Hashem does a better job. Thanks and many blessings to you and best wishes, Peggy from Indiana

Well said, Peggy. With Hashem's help, we hope to do more posts on natural eating and health in the future, for a healthy body is so very conducive to a healthy soul.

Parents: Begin teaching your children healthy eating habits at a young age. Rather than giving them or a cookie, candy, or cupcake, give them a treat that's popular in the Brody household: Take a pitted date, insert a toasted almond, and reseal it with your fingers. The kids will love it, and it's really healthy. Also, the money and effort spent on preparing your own food at home will save you umpteen times the time and money spent on doctors and dentists.

Hashem does a better job. There's not a food processor in the world that can improve on a fresh strawberry. So, if you're on the way to the donut or fast-food joint, do yourself and your family a favor: make a u-turn and head out to the farmer's market. Substitute the geasy burger and fries for fresh-steamed corn-on-the cob and a salad of fresh veggies. Your body and your soul will thank you.

Meals and Memories - a new cookbook

One of our close friends and long-time readers from the Chabad community in Montgomery County, Maryland requested that we tell the world about the new kosher cookbook that was put together by her synagogue.

With 350 recipes, Meals and Memories: A Collection of Recipes Old and New is a fantastic collection of kosher recipes containing a wide variety of cuisine, from traditional Jewish recipes to Italian, Mexican, Indian, Asian, and American sources. Each is marked "meat," "dairy" or "pareve." It has recipes for matzah balls and chicken soup as well as layered party taco dip; chopped liver and Mexican lasagna; honey cake and Kung Pao chicken. 

It's eclectic nature stems from the contributors, Jews and non-Jews, whose names appear next to their recipes in the loose-leaf-style cookbook. All recipes were checked for kashrus by the synagogue's rabbi and wife, and about 1/3 were tested by one of the three editors.

Jews and non-Jews alike can use the cookbook, but it provides a particular service to those who follow stringent rules of kashrus. Meals and Memories is available online for purchase here. The tastiest part of the deal is that the profits from the cookbook will be earmarked for Jewish outreach. So what are you waiting for? B'tayavon! (Hebrew for "bon appetit")