of note tho is that among all the places where jews live, NYC + Israel probably have the highest rate of self-identification w/ Jewish culture + practices (even non-observant Israelis keep holidays + Shabbat at higher levels than diaspora Jews). but you're right too, i think, that intolerance + anti-semitism can create a Jewish identity, esp where one didn't necessarily exist before. i prefer living among a lot of jews just bc of the comfort + convenience (lots of jewish community services can only exist when you have a certain # of ppl making use of them) plus i'd rather avoid discrimination if possible. but i don't think this reduces my level of identification, but maybe puts a different spin on it?
― Mordy , Monday, 6 January 2014 17:33 (ten years ago) link
I think I'm trying to get at something slightly different though - it's not necessarily about "intolerance" or "anti-semitism." It's just that there's a certain comfort in being part of the default group, or at least one of them -- of existing in large enough numbers that you DON'T have to be constantly reminded of your "identity."
Like, people who celebrate Christmas in America probably mostly wouldn't talk about it being part of their "Christian identity." Celebrating Christmas is just What You Do.
― signed, J.P. Morgan CEO (Hurting 2), Monday, 6 January 2014 17:36 (ten years ago) link
I am also reminded of a story (maybe from Metropolitan Diary in the Times?) of the post-9/11 era where a conversation between a passenger and a muslim cab driver was described, something like:
Passenger: "Do you find it hard to be a muslim in New York today, with all of the prejudice?"Cabbie: "Well, it's not always so bad, but I get tired of people interrogating me."Passenger: "How do people interrogate you?"Cabbie: "Like you are doing, right now."
― signed, J.P. Morgan CEO (Hurting 2), Monday, 6 January 2014 17:38 (ten years ago) link
a nice takedown of that lazy surname piece making some rounds:http://mosaicmagazine.com/tesserae/2014/01/jewish-surnames-supposedly-explained/
― bnw, Tuesday, 21 January 2014 21:29 (ten years ago) link
some of you might get a kick out of this: my dad's voice at age 11 can be heard on this recording at around 3:50.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx1c7TUWHVo
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Saturday, 25 January 2014 04:11 (ten years ago) link
very cool, thx for sharing
― Mordy , Saturday, 25 January 2014 05:37 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB5jyYD2WEw
― maralin mansion (color definition point of "beyond "color, eg a transient that), Saturday, 25 January 2014 06:02 (ten years ago) link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nGSNEhXEu_s
― Mordy , Wednesday, 5 February 2014 15:45 (ten years ago) link
let me try that again…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGSNEhXEu_s
― Mordy , Wednesday, 5 February 2014 15:46 (ten years ago) link
I've been idly speculating about joining a temple/congregation here in SF but have never found one I really liked. My wife was chatting with a co-op friend of ours whose also Jewish and she said they found one they liked and sent me the link:
http://www.orshalom.org/web/guest/home
My wife asked me what Reconstructionist meant, which I had a little difficult explaining (I've never attended Reconstructionist anything; I was raised in a Reform household though, so I have some educated guesses). Website is a bit lol. Feel like my options are so limited - on the one hand there's the super-rich and super-conservative temples on the other side of town and then on my side of town all we have is the LGBT temple, and I'm not into either of those. My daughter was telling me yesterday how she wants to go to Hebrew school, feel like I better come up with something and maybe this isn't too bad/ridiculous? I dunno.
― How dare you tarnish the reputation of Turturro's yodel (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 14 March 2014 20:43 (ten years ago) link
so i was thinking i might wear a costume today but the only one i have on hand is a dashiki + like rasta hat from college. question: from a scale from 1 to blackface, how racist is a rasta costume on purim?
― Mordy , Sunday, 16 March 2014 17:46 (ten years ago) link
our bit of london is very close to the *very orthodox stamford hill, and there were some AMAZING costumes being worn today
― you are clinically deaf and should sell you iPod (stevie), Sunday, 16 March 2014 18:55 (ten years ago) link
i have to leave for this chaggiga in about an hour so speak now or forever hold ur peace xp
― Mordy , Sunday, 16 March 2014 18:55 (ten years ago) link
dont do it
― gbx, Sunday, 16 March 2014 18:56 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, don't do it. Where a crown or something.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 16 March 2014 19:43 (ten years ago) link
Wear.
Dont do it
― How dare you tarnish the reputation of Turturro's yodel (Shakey Mo Collier), Sunday, 16 March 2014 20:30 (ten years ago) link
dont
― socki (s1ocki), Monday, 17 March 2014 15:00 (ten years ago) link
did you do it
― coops all on coops tbh (crüt), Monday, 17 March 2014 15:02 (ten years ago) link
i just wore the dashiki, which is really a nice piece of clothing that's very colorful. i didn't wear the hat or anything which felt a little over the top and maybe tipped the scale into minstrelsy.
― Mordy , Monday, 17 March 2014 15:06 (ten years ago) link
http://www.complex.com/style/2013/08/clothes-white-people-shouldnt-wear/dashiki
obv wearing any outfit of another culture as a costume is complex (punz, lol) tho hopefully this wasn't too offensive to anyone :/
― Mordy , Monday, 17 March 2014 15:07 (ten years ago) link
fwiw, I saw a (non-blackface) rasta dude at the purim party I went to, fake dreads, some kind of colorful shirt, etc. It didn't really register as minstrelsy to me since there are already so many white reggae dudes with dreads, but IDK.
― james franco tur(oll)ing test (Hurting 2), Monday, 17 March 2014 15:08 (ten years ago) link
yeah, i wouldn't have done fake dreads and like i said i thought the hat was too much, but idk, u know i love western african culture and music and so i hope my wearing the dashiki was more respectful than just drunken college student going lol?
― Mordy , Monday, 17 March 2014 15:09 (ten years ago) link
don't worry, i'll make sure to pick up a keffiyah for next year
(jk, next year we plan to do a family costume as adventure time characters)
― Mordy , Monday, 17 March 2014 15:21 (ten years ago) link
shakey mo, my DC shul shopping (which is rather lol for a non-Jew) led me to a Reconstructionist synagogue, where I will/would totally go if/when I were to actually convert. I go to High Holy Day services there and it is awesome and reconstructionism is a good fit for a not-feeling-the-personal-god-thing person such as myself.
― quincie, Thursday, 20 March 2014 11:27 (ten years ago) link
and the music is so much better than at Reform temples. Sorry, Reformers!
― quincie, Thursday, 20 March 2014 11:28 (ten years ago) link
not sure how i feel about this but seeing jay leno on their front page puts me further into the "fuck off" ledger though.http://nicejewishguys.net/
― bnw, Thursday, 20 March 2014 13:16 (ten years ago) link
If I join a synagogue I want it to have a really good cantor, which is hardest to find in reform temples for whatever reason.
― james franco tur(oll)ing test (Hurting 2), Thursday, 20 March 2014 14:01 (ten years ago) link
xp, yeah, generally a little sick of that kind of easy, corny, self-deprecating jewish humor schtick at this point in my life, but it's such a part of the culture, whaddyagonnado? As for whether it's actually offensive, I don't think so.
― james franco tur(oll)ing test (Hurting 2), Thursday, 20 March 2014 14:05 (ten years ago) link
the twin sons of the cantor at the synagogue i went to when i was growing up became a briefly famous canadian boy band
― socki (s1ocki), Thursday, 20 March 2014 15:03 (ten years ago) link
Excellent!
Reform synagogues I have been to have had cantors who don't have the vocal power and passion of cantors in conservative synagogues; plus the reform ones have had Rabbis who strum acoustic guitars in a very insipid folk music kind of way. But alas, some of the conservative ones I have been to include participants who want to make the temple nearly Orthodox, which is not for me.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 20 March 2014 15:08 (ten years ago) link
I guess I was lucky, the cantor I had at my reform temple growing up seemed (to me anyway) totally old school - sonorous, booming voice, all organ+vocal arrangements/no acoustic gtr.
― How dare you tarnish the reputation of Turturro's yodel (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 20 March 2014 15:17 (ten years ago) link
I saw a kid dressed for Purim in my neighborhood on Sunday wearing sweatpants, basketball shorts, a hoodie, an Obama mask and a gigantic afro wig. :-\
― bi-polar uncle (its OK-he's dead) (Phil D.), Thursday, 20 March 2014 15:21 (ten years ago) link
Speaking of which: http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Israelis-who-dressed-up-as-Ku-Klux-Klan-members-on-Purim-make-waves-on-Facebook-345846
The JPost's coverage is pretty weaksauce too -- "A tasteless brand of humor, or a clever display of satire?" No, it's fuck you.
― james franco tur(oll)ing test (Hurting 2), Thursday, 20 March 2014 15:27 (ten years ago) link
secretly always resented the cantors b/c they would just sing x 5 everything the rabbi just said thereby lengthening the boring service.
― bnw, Thursday, 20 March 2014 15:32 (ten years ago) link
http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201403191756-0023572
― ∞, Saturday, 22 March 2014 03:36 (ten years ago) link
oh jesus
― socki (s1ocki), Saturday, 22 March 2014 18:41 (ten years ago) link
NAGL for the jews
― quincie, Sunday, 23 March 2014 00:33 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWzK5mVuGzM
― Mordy , Thursday, 27 March 2014 20:27 (ten years ago) link
xpost My first reaction is that no way were Israelis stupid enough to dress as the KKK for Purim, but then I thought, yeah, pretty much everyone is stupid enough to do something that stupid.
Back in school we had to read transcripts of the original Klan meetings, and it's kind of amazing how many people showed up to join. Iirc, it's basically like:
"blah blah early Klan stuff"
(guy raises hand) "Can Jews join?"
"No. Blhal blah more Klan ..."
(another hand goes up)
"Can Catholics join?"
"No" And so on.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 27 March 2014 20:49 (ten years ago) link
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/mitt-romney-corners-matzo-market
Bain Capitol buying Manischewitz
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 8 April 2014 14:47 (ten years ago) link
They should go heritage brand with it
― ביטקוין (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 8 April 2014 14:50 (ten years ago) link
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/passover-with-a-strictly-biblical-flavor/2014/04/07/f6893c04-b531-11e3-b899-20667de76985_story.html
How Karaite Jews celebrate Passover (I've never heard of them before)excerpt:
The Torah’s Book of Exodus, Chapter 12, offers one description of the instructions for Passover fare: “The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: [Each household] shall eat [lamb] roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs” (Jewish Publication Society translation).
Remy Pessah of Mountain View, Calif., follows those words and long-standing family traditions each year at Passover time. Born in Egypt, the 66-year-old chemical engineer turned fiber artist was raised with Karaite Judaism. (“Karaite” is a form of the Hebrew word “karaim,” or “followers of Scripture.”) She joined the Karaite community in the San Francisco Bay area, which by some estimates includes more than 200 families. Pessah’s Seder table reflects this Jewish movement that takes its cues directly from the Tanach: the Torah, Prophets and additional texts known as Writings.
“Our Seder is pretty much different from the rabbinical Seders,” Pessah says. “The way we read the Haggadah, the preparation of the Haggadah, the whole atmosphere.”
It indeed differs, both in terms of the Haggadah, the book of readings that tells the Passover story and guides the Seder, and the meal. There are no Four Questions at a Karaite Seder. There is no fruity charoset and no wine — the latter is a fermented product. Instead, Pessah serves homemade grape juice.
The rabbinic Seders that Pessah referred to are what most observant American Jews know as the standard. Those Seders are based largely on the ancient rabbis’ redaction of the Tanach. That redaction is called the Oral Torah. The Karaites see the Oral Torah an interpretation rather than hard-and-fast rules. Some of the several thousand Karaites in the United States, especially those far from the Bay Area enclave, practice a mixture of Karaite and rabbinical traditions. The biggest Karaite community resides in Israel, and another pocket lives in Turkey.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 11 April 2014 19:42 (ten years ago) link
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/passover-seders-move-to-nights-that-work-for-busy-lives/2014/04/13/3eca9316-c106-11e3-bcec-b71ee10e9bc3_story.html
No Karaite Jews quoted here. This is about how Passover's 8 nights, and you may as well do the seder on a night that works for everyone to get together (according to some).
― curmudgeon, Monday, 14 April 2014 14:47 (ten years ago) link
We actually had a seder last night which is kind of ridiculous but that was what worked for my very secular in-laws.
― ביטקוין (Hurting 2), Monday, 14 April 2014 14:48 (ten years ago) link
It's that time again!!!!
Hey Jews I wrote a little passover ditty, sung to the chorus of "Eye of the Tiger":
It's theBread of afflictionIt's the bread of the JewsRisen bread--it's not kosher during Pe-sachAnd my boss--says "be careful! It is con-sti-pa-ting"I-don't-care-I-just-ate-sev-en sheeeeeeeeeetsOf the mat-zah
― quincie, Sunday, April 12, 2009 9:44 PM (11 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― mom tossed in kimchee (quincie), Monday, 14 April 2014 16:07 (ten years ago) link
loool
― ביטקוין (Hurting 2), Monday, 14 April 2014 16:08 (ten years ago) link
ooooh I need matzah crack recipe--the stuff with toffee and chocolate and nuts. Anyone?
― mom tossed in kimchee (quincie), Monday, 14 April 2014 16:09 (ten years ago) link
i love that song
― gbx, Monday, 14 April 2014 19:41 (ten years ago) link
I need matzah crack recipe
hold on a sec let me ask my wife
― How dare you tarnish the reputation of Turturro's yodel (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 14 April 2014 19:46 (ten years ago) link