City versus Country
Apr. 7th, 2006 10:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fabrisseI had the weirdest moment of revelation tonight. I've always been a city kid.
Both my parents were country kids. A quick example from Mom's life was the rattlesnake that came into the living room to get cool. My Dad had no electricity until he was 15. The town he grew up in still didn't have electricity: they moved.
Part of their urge to make a better life for the kids was making certain that we knew how to behave in restaurants, that we weren't afraid to try new things, and that we were aware of other religions.
Tonight, a friend of my mother's was amazed at having seen her first Orthodox Jew. I've mentioned before that they lived in a frum neighborhood. To give you an example, within two blocks of my sister's house there's a Conservative group, a Sephardic group, and a small rabbinical school. Sis doesn't live in the really Jewish part of the neighborhood. The local drycleaner cleans tallit's for free as a mitzvah.
It never occured to me that a 70 year old would never have seen someone dressed for shul.
I put it down to her having always lived in a small town in the central California valley.
Both my parents were country kids. A quick example from Mom's life was the rattlesnake that came into the living room to get cool. My Dad had no electricity until he was 15. The town he grew up in still didn't have electricity: they moved.
Part of their urge to make a better life for the kids was making certain that we knew how to behave in restaurants, that we weren't afraid to try new things, and that we were aware of other religions.
Tonight, a friend of my mother's was amazed at having seen her first Orthodox Jew. I've mentioned before that they lived in a frum neighborhood. To give you an example, within two blocks of my sister's house there's a Conservative group, a Sephardic group, and a small rabbinical school. Sis doesn't live in the really Jewish part of the neighborhood. The local drycleaner cleans tallit's for free as a mitzvah.
It never occured to me that a 70 year old would never have seen someone dressed for shul.
I put it down to her having always lived in a small town in the central California valley.
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Date: 2006-04-08 07:23 am (UTC)I love my parents' neighborhood. Mom hates it because no one will walk single file on Friday nights (there's no sidewalk), so if you don't see the prayer shawl you might not be able to see them at all. Personally, I think that's a minor inconvenience for living in such a fascinating area.
Within half a mile of their house there are Reform, Orthodox, Hasidic, and a couple of stripes I'd never heard of congregations. Sis and I get the HUGE Conservative congregation and the smaller Sephardic one I mentioned above.
Is Simchat Torah the night that everyone studies and attends lectures? My Dad and I already have a date to go visit any synagogue that will allow goyim and study with them.