To the Victims of the Nepal Earthquake and Mt. Everest

     My heart goes out to the victims of the Nepal earthquake, especially those that died doing what they loved and were drawn to do---climb the highest mountain in the world knowing it's a killer, Mt. Everest. It is such a reminder of the danger of our addiction to climbing high mountains. Two died while I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, no one died when I climbed Mt. Shasta, and let's hope that no one will die the day we climb Mt. Whitney. Because I love my children and want to see my grandchildren and my daughter told me the statistics of high altitude female climbers getting more heart attacks in their mid 50's, this will be the last high mountain for me. Hopefully, I'll get her climbed this time. 


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P.S.  To my blog readers:  If you want to support a struggling math/engineering teacher and author, please buy my first book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," soon to be followed by my second book at:  https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960         Thank You!


P.S.  To my blog readers:  If you want to support a struggling math/engineering teacher and author, please buy my first book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," soon to be followed by my second book at:  https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960         Thank You!

Adam and Eve and Teshuvah---Repentance

     A common theme in religion is forgiveness.  Though we are all innately good, we all give in to the darkness which is constantly testing our free will to see if we will choose the lightness or the darkness.  When we do behave badly, we desperately want G_d to forgive us, but what do we do for Him?  We must do Teshuvah---repentance---learn from our mistakes and earnestly try to sin no more.

     It's not like this was invented a couple millennium ago.  It was first mentioned with Adam and Eve.  The snake in the Garden of Eden did much too good of a job tempting Eve and made her think that to be more like G_d she had to eat from the apple from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil to know about good and evil.  Though G_d told Adam and Eve not to eat from this tree, she wanted desperately to be closer to G_d.  G_d just wanted her to restrain herself due to her love for Him, even if it made no sense not to eat the apple.  The snake, however, convinced her that eating the apple was actually the right thing to do to be closer to G_d which is why the snake who was once upright and walking got a terrible punishment of becoming legless and crawling on its belly after that.

     Acting with pure love for her soul mate, Eve convinced Adam to also take a bit of the apple which brought the knowledge of good and evil into both of them.  That was when G_d finally stepped in after the test of their free will went horribly wrong.  He asked Adam about their misbehavior and Adam replied, "The woman that You gave to be with me, she gave me what I ate from the tree." (Genesis 3:12).  Adam did not take any responsibility for his sin.  Eve, on the other hand, admitted that the snake seduced her and was more humble about her bad choice in the matter.

      Then comes the next generation---Cain, the bad, and Able, the good.  It was very important for this tragic relationship to occur to teach Adam about Teshuvah.  Adam's teacher was none other than Cain, believe it or not.  Yes Cain made a very bad choice and killed his brother Able, but when G_d questioned Cain about his brother's death, Cain explained that his sin was too great to bear.  He took ownership of his sin, confessed his sin and repented---performed Teshuvah.  For this G_d did not sentence him to death, but gave Cain a lighter sentence.

       When Adam saw that Cain returned alive after his judgement from G_d, he reflected upon his actions when he was asked by G_d what had occurred with the apple.  He wondered what would have happened had he accepted fault for his choice to bite the apple.  He wondered if G_d would have forgiven him then.  He became repentant.

       Which is why immediately after the story of Cain and Able the Torah states, "Adam knew his wife again and she gave birth to...Seth" (Genesis 4:25)  Then the bible restates, "On the day that G_d created man, He made him in the likeness of G_d.  He created them male and female.  He blessed them and named them Man (Adam)" (Genesis 5:1-2).   Per Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan in his book "Inner Space," "By knowing his wife again, Adam was showing that his repentance was complete.  He was now ready to receive the blessing of being like G_d by uniting with Eve.

       "It is for this reason that the Torah is able to write in the very next verse: 'Adam lived 130 years and he had a son in his likeness and form whom he named Seth' (Genesis 5:3).  According to tradition, Adam was totally depressed in the wake of his sin for all of 130 years.  It is only after he saw Cain repent that he realized his mistake and was able to elevate some of the sparks of holiness that had fallen as a result of his sin.  By stating that Seth was born in Adam's likeness, the Torah is indicating that he was on an extremely high level.  In the language of the Midrash, Seth was born circumcised just as his father had been before the sin.  We are being told that, to the extent that it was possible, Adam and Eve were able to rectify what they had done wrong.  Their Teshuvah was thus the human parallel to the Tikkun-Rectification of Atzilut."


P.S.  To my blog readers:  If you want to support a struggling math/engineering teacher and author, please buy my first book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," soon to be followed by my second book at:  https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960         Thank You!

The Art of Turning A Drug Dealer to a Legit Life

    One of my students finally returned after a few weeks of absence due to strep throat and told me that he was not going to be doing anything today, because he was feeling bad and wanted to be up front with me.
     I, of course, asked, "Why?"
     Without hesitation he confided, "One of my good friends got shot to death yesterday."
     "You know that you've got to get away from that life," I gently scolded since he is the biggest drug dealer at the school.  "At JobCorps there was this student from the gangs of Stocton that was so scary that none of the JobCorps teachers would teach him.  Four of his brothers were in jail for murder.  I saw that he was a leader, not just a thug, and taught him to lead for good, and he passed high school math for the first time under my tutelage and got his high school diploma.  He had bullet holes in one of his shirts from a day when a lot of his friends were killed.  He left his gang and chose a different, legit life."
      "My uncle is also in jail for murder, and I already got out of my gang."
      "Well now you've got to get away from your friends, because they're just going to drag you down and aren't going to be happy about your success.  You've got to go to college and study business, because you're wonderful at delegating and running a business."  (In reference to the fact that all the administration has been watching him, and he's never been caught.)
     "Yeah, I'm good with numbers.  I definitely am going to college and studying business."
     "Well you have a lot going for you.  Just stay out of trouble."
     Just as I finished those words of advice, the head of campus security came in to get after him for selling drugs at break.  No one, of course, could pin down how he did it, but a huge girl fight arose over money right at the end of break---indicative of deals having been made.
     When he came out of the interrogation, he actually hung around me the rest of the class as I helped his female friend finish up her oak chest's 45 degree cuts.  It was nice to start to slowly turn someone from a future of taking life to one of living a legit life again.


P.S.  To my blog readers:  If you want to support a struggling math/engineering teacher and author, please buy my first book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," soon to be followed by my second book at:  https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960         Thank You!

The Third Climber for Mt. Whitney

     Well, I've got our third person to climb Mt. Whitney. I did have to do some heavy encouragement, since he's been in mountaineering retirement and didn't feel up to the challenge. But, I told my son, so many stories about how my brother and I would get lost in the woods together or sprint too fast down the mountain for my unprepared boyfriends or get chased by a herd of cattle while wearing red backpacks. The third person had to be my oldest brother, smile emoticon He saved my life once by pulling me from the Upper American River when I was drowning, so I wouldn't be climbing any mountains if it wasn't for him!


P.S.  To my blog readers:  If you want to support a struggling math/engineering teacher and author, please buy my first book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," soon to be followed by my second book at:  https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960         Thank You!

Training Day on Training Hill at the North Fork of the American River

   When my son and I climbed Mt. Diablo two weeks ago, it took me about 5 days to not feel any sore muscles.

    Realizing that I was in terrible shape, I googled the hardest trail near Sacramento and found that Training Hill at the confluence of the North Fork of the American River was the spot to take my son and continue to improve our climbing strength.  It is 1000 feet of straight up!!! The reward is the beautiful meadows shaded by Oak trees.  We had a lovely hike and continued on the Olmstead and Western Loop trails.  The wildflowers were spectacular!

P.S.  To my blog readers:  If you want to support a struggling math/engineering teacher and author, please buy my first book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," soon to be followed by my second book at:  https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960         Thank You!