Ask a Rabbi

Are there any things in various traditions that you prefer or not prefer?

Are you asking if there are certain customs/laws/traditions I prefer, or whether there are certain traditions in Jewish I prefer over competing traditions?

the former

I don't even know which traditions are duking it out!

Hmmm. Well, I really love Shabbat meals with friends/family. It's really nice. We sit and have these two long 2-3 hour meals over Friday night and Saturday. And it really feels communal, and people drop by to say hello, and it's just really nice. I'm not really into praying, and I'm sure that makes me a horrible person, but honestly the communal stuff in Judaism moves me much more than the explicitly doctrinal stuff. One of the reasons I didn't feel comfortable becoming a Rabbi.

Do you feel guilty over the bits of the talmud you do not follow?

Not particularly.

one thing i always wondered about is the sephardic/ashkenazi(sp?) split - are theses 2 strains of ethnicity both supposed to be descended from the original tribes of israel?? because they don't really look the same. the sephardic jews look like people who live in the middle east/mediterrranean, the ashkenazi don't (as much). also, aren't sephardim looked down upon by ashkenazi in israel?

They are all supposed to be from the same tribes. Basically some Jews went to the Middle East during the Diaspera and some went to Europe. That explains the complexion situation (Israeli Ashkenazim and Sephardim don't look so dissimilar, I think, after a generation or two).

And yeah... I've heard that Ashkenazim look down on Sephardim in Israel, but it used to be the other way around. For hundreds of year, Sephardim were considered the "good Jews" among gentile cultures and Ashkenazim were shunned as inferior dumbasses. During the modern return to Israel, tho, the Ashkenazim were all coming from a generally enlightened Europe and had a number of philosophers, mathematicians, scientists, poets, etc. And all the original Zionists were Ashkenazi (like Herzl).

sephardim nor ashkenazim got nothing on these poor guys tho right?
http://api.ning.com/files/Xs-k*eMqJUBpbTZr43Y*qZn19-BEcW3A8jatJNa352dkHmerPr0XnlQGJSIlg9Id7iEpUI0dbCMdQGdsMoMaFuDMKGL8xP8b/ethiopian_jews_photos_6.jpg

Yeah... I don't know what the current situation is like, but I know for a long time Ethiopians were apparently facing racism and whatnot. Actually, AFAIK, a number of Ethiopian Jews started identifying hard with hip hop culture in the United States. I don't know if this is still true, but it was about a decade ago.

This thread reminds me of the time I saw a book called "Secrets of the Rabbi" in a local university library.

Then I realised there was a T missing from the last word (explaining why it was in the natural history section).

why do i see jews dressed up when it's not their sabbath?

another question:

why are you so fat?

I'm really skinny!

Also, you probably see some Jews dressed up because very right-wing Orthodox Jews have certain dress codes that are commonly worn. Among one right-wing community, the men tend to wear black hats and jackets and the women wear long dresses and cover their hair (either with wigs or hats). In the Chassidic community, women dress similarly, but the men are known to wear big furry hats and long, vividly patterned jackets.

(sorry mordy, i was confusing you with someone else and being a smart-ass about it.)

ok, cool, thanks.

it's weird though, because i always see dudes and their sons/wives dressed up in black w/ flat-brimmed hats on wed/thurs/fri in central los angeles. i 'm not sure they're orthodox (though they could well be for all i know), but it always seems like they're going to/from a service of some sort that doesn't happen on a saturday. these guys don't look like hardcore orthodox jews, more like dressing up in whatever black + furry hat for some kind of service that isn't on a saturday.

Well, they are probably Orthodox (non Orthodox Jews don't really wear the get-up ever - for services, Sabbath, or anything). But it's possible there's some service going on. Like a funeral or a wedding or something. I don't know LA well enough to tell you. Sorry.

Cool, thanks. I'd bet they're Orthodox since it's a very Jewish area.

I don't know what the current situation is like, but I know for a long time Ethiopians were apparently facing racism and whatnot.

I was in a village that had previously housed Ethiopian Jews the other day, and I asked this Ethiopian guy why the Falasha had left, asking if they were being persecuted and stuff. He looked at me like I had two heads and pretty much said that anyone would seize any opportunity to get out of Ethiopia. He also came out with an Ethiopian version of crazy Chrisian Zionism, but I think the get-me-out-of-this-hellhole reason for their emigration was to him paramount.

I'm not sure still whether at that stage the Ethiopian Jews were being oppressed more than anyone else (this was during the nasty Derg dictatorship), though they were somewhat persecuted in the past (hence the existence of Falasha villages outside the environs of proper towns).

It kindof embarrasses me to admit this, but the racism I heard about was on the part of Israeli's towards recent Ethiopian Jewish immigrants into Israel.

Oh sorry yeah, I heard about that too.

Oh yeah, me three.

Mordy, is it true that there are some people who take very literally some Biblical/Talmudic exhortation to "keep the sacred texts on your mind" that they carry sacred texts around in a little box strapped to their foreheads?

I saw some fellows in Jerusalem with little boxes strapped to their foreheads, and this was the explanation given to me for their odd behaviour.

I also saw some of the guys with the furry hats. They rock.

Well, all Orthodox Jews (and many non-Orthodox Jews) take the "keep the sacred texts on your mind" thing totally literally. They wear tefillin (phylacteries) during the Morning Service every day. It's a black leather box with 4 different texts written on scrolls in it. (There's also one you wear on your upper-arm, to keep it close to your heart.) Some people, mostly in Israel, do so all day long. That isn't really the custom in the rest of the world, tho. Generally it's just a prayer thing - you wear them while you are praying.

Regarding hats, what is the difference between the regular, run of the mill top-hats and the big round ones that are cylindrical in shape?

Different traditions generally depending on where your sect of Judaism originally comes from. The bigger round fur hats come from Hungary and Poland. The normal hats come from a variety of places (parts of Ukraine, Lithuania, etc).

Incidentally I read somewhere recently that the fur hats are usually purchased for grooms by the bride's family, as a wedding gift. So when I see men wearing them now I think "LOL U MARRIED!"

Also re tefillin, is it "Orthodox Jews" who wear them, or Orthodox men in particular? Don't think I have ever heard of women wearing them normally? But then my info is strictly anecdotal.

in your opinion whos the best looking jew

Oh yeah, it's mostly Orthodox men who wear tefillin. Some Jewish women wear tefillin (mostly not Orthodox) but that is fairly rare. The tradition for women to wear tefillin comes from the daughters of the 11th century French Rabbi Rashi - who tradition says wore tefillin. So some women rely upon that.

According to the letter of the law, tho, only men are obligated to wear tefillin. Women, according to the Torah, aren't obligated in commandments that must be performed in a specific time frame. (And like I said above, tefillin are supposed to be worn in the mornings.) Sorry if this is getting overly complex.

I don't know... Scarlet Johansson is pretty hot.

No, actually, Mordy, thanks. I don't think that's overly complex at all. I was just curious about how quickly DV saying "I saw some fellows" became "all Orthodox Jews" since I had never heard of the women's tradition via Rashi. But I like to know that stuff!

scarlet johansson is jewish!?

alison brie too!

well that i guessed!