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(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!