I was tagged by Here in Highland Park.
I'll be a good sport, but the truth is that I've already done a few other memes which are very similar.
About a year ago, my friend David, still languishing in San Diego, sent me something similar, sort of a 6 x 4 meme e-mail.
Before that Jacob Da Jew "smagged" me with a 6 x 8 meme.
Like my Six Word Memoir, this meme has turned out to be mostly about where I have lived.
Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people (if possible) at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. (See below about "tagging.")
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.
Seven facts about me:
1. From birth until the age of 27, I lived in the State of California, 24 years in the south, three years in the north.
2. I have not left Israel for the past 10 years, 3 months.
3. During my 11 years in Israel, I have lived in Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem (Qiriyath Moshe), Beth-El (Beth), Ofra, and K'far Tapu'ah.
4. K'far Tapu'ah (4 years) is where I have lived for the longest period of time in the same house after my father's current house (16 years).
5. From my bedroom window, I can see an olive grove, a goat shed, a parchment factory, a dog kennel, and up to three donkeys.
6. Two years ago, the question arose as to whether my town (K'far Tapu'ah) should keep two days of Purim min hasafeq like Shiloh and Hevron. That question was very short-lived. We continue to keep only one day, the 14th.
7. I have been designing "authentic" Jewish clothing for a few years now. Now all I have to do if find the right material and either have them made or learn how to make them myself.
OK. Nothing terribly exciting, I know, but I'm "yotzei." OK. Here's one more:
8. I do the Set and Quiddler on-line puzzles on a daily basis. I also do Sudoku.
As far as "tagging" goes, like Rafi, I do not usually tag anyone. I will let them know about this meme, and see if any of them want to play along. In the meantime, checking out these bloggers' blogs:
1. The Jewish Fist - inquiring minds want to know, plus I want to get him some traffic
2. How To Measure The Years - because he hasn't been blogging for a while
3. Ehav Ever - recently, sort of, met him on-line
4. I don't know who else. I like doing these things, but I really don't like harassing people who don't, even though I am not really tagging them.
Sorry,...best I could do.
Hurray! You made my day. Authentic Jewish clothing sounds cool. And I'm wondering what a parchment factory looks like.
ReplyDeleteHappy Kislev.
Um,...it looks like a large, metal shed. Nothing exciting.
ReplyDeletewhat is "authentic" Jewish clothing? robes?
ReplyDeleteHasn't clothing always been part of the local culture in which Jews lived, at least to a certain extent? What would make one generations or countries style more authentic than the next's?
Hasn't clothing always been part of the local culture in which Jews lived, at least to a certain extent?
ReplyDeleteNope. We even kept "our" clothing in Egypt, remember?
It's only been as way to fit in, and thus not get singled out and attacked. It's why you could make an argument for sheitelach and tucking in tzitzith, shaving and dressing the way the local culture does. Piqu'ah nefesh, just like being mehallel Shabbath in Hu"l to save a goy, or returning his wallet {R'M. Feinstein ztz"l}, even though that's not the leKhathillah halacha.
Haredim in America, though, I have found a great deal of freedom and safety than in Europe. Thus, Hasidim, for example, feel no need to dress, and in some cases speak, like Americans.
We can't certainly speculate and debate what IS Jewish clothing.
I can tell you what it's not quite easily:
Black hats and suits {European}
ties {Croatian}
Shtreimels {Ukrainian, although fur is practical in the winter}
We're supposed to distinguished from the goyim. Why should clothing be any different?
Hassidishe qaftans actually come pretty close.
When Jews walk around wrapped in a garment requiring tzitzith {including a talith}, instead of hiding it underneath other goyshe clothing, I would say that's the most important thing.
R' Avraham ben HaRamba"m writes about clothing in his book on the the Sufim. The N. African and Mizrahi Jews have a lot more closely than the Ashkinazim.
Unfortunately that is disappearing due to how crappy these Jews are treated, and they colledtive pressure they receive to "mishtaknez" {Ashkinaify}.
while the hassidim in America have not dressed, to a certain extent, like Americans, they instead are dressing like Eastern Europeans. So it is the same difference.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, only their outer layer is not American. Underneath the bekkeshe or long coat, they wear the same button down shirt and pants as everybody else...
But the litvishe bekkeshes or the hassidic long coats always avoid the tzitzis anyway, either by curving a corner or whatever. So they too have converted the "more jewish" cloak to hide its jewishness.
I hear you though.
You're right about the Hassidim in America. What I meant was that they didn't have pressure to Americanize more, thus they're stuck in E. Europe, instead of moving forward or back to something more authentic.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes you're right about the underneath part. I'm just saying the beqeshe makes it "less worse."
Yeah, the split up the back {assuming it were far enough up} would have been, and still is an opportunity for tzitzith. But yeah, the whole rounding the corner thing....