Band Rehearsal

What an amazing energy at the rehearsal!

I'm super excited for the show this week. Especially now. I could only work schedules so that we (the three of us) could rehearse one time. That's usually running pretty close for a show where the group hasn't ever performed any of the songs previously. Needless to say, things went fabulously. The energy and freshness was at a very high level. The mix of sounds, the personalities of each of our voices, was really shining and creating something very spiritual.

I feel so excited to be able to do this again this week, and have other people there to enjoy and contribute to the experience as well.

Hannah's Shabbes Neshama

Hannah truly has a Shabbat Neshama (Sabbath Soul). Lately, the single most amazing time on Friday night is watching her face as we light the candles and recite the blessing. As soon as we start singing her face just fills up and explodes with joy. She will turn Echad (1) on the 27th of Elul (Tuesday night, even though her birthday in September will be later). She carries a joy about her that is just so special and incredible to watch, and join.

We also just got a new book and cd from Rabbi Joe Black called "Boker Tov" which I promised we'd read first thing in the morning.

Patrick Swayze memorial post

Top 5 Favorite Patrick Swayze Movies:

1. Roadhouse
2. Point Break
3. Red Dawn
4. Youngblood
5. The Outsiders

Honorable Mention: Ghost, Donnie Darko (okay Dirty Dancing has a good soundtrack). His SNL appearances were golden too.

(Not the) Music Post

Okay, since I committed to leading the Renewal service on Saturday, I didn't quite have time to write the big music post I promised. I will come....eventually.

Some Jews have come out with some great CD's lately. Matisyahu - Light. So far I'm liking this a lot more than Youth. Hot tracks include Smash Lies, So High So Low, and For You. The second one is the new one from the Phab Phour, Phish - Joy. Their Jewish rhythm section (Mike Gordon and Jon Fishman) is on top, not to mention Trey being at his best. My favorite tracks so far include Backwards Down The Number Line, Time Turns Elastic, and Sugar Shack.

The band(*) will also be having a marathon rehearsal on Saturday night to prepare for the Jew Year's Eve IV show next Thursday. It will rock!

Shabbat Shalom, y'all.

Here we go

I think I'm getting the hang of trying to dedicate the minimal time necessary to have a somewhat interesting blog. Part of why I don't have that much to say is because my days are pretty ordinary in the sense that they stick to a variation on a theme. There are only so many places I go to in a given day, week, month. Most of my activities revolve around being a stay at home parent, and the second being a musician. Every once in a while something different happens. Today Hannah and I had our first experience at The Mall(tm). It was rainy. Normally we go for a walk outside but we took mom's suggestion and walked the mall. I spent 95 cents so the abundance of consumer options didn't hit me too hard. We did discover that at one end of the mall there is a kiddie play area. Cool, Hannah would love to run around in there, right? She did love it, but was the smallest kid running around. The other kids her size were crawling or immobile. There were two Orthodox women with about 6-7 children between them there. I could tell they didn't know what to think of me, but to be honest, I didn't know what quite to think of them either. Usually Orthodox boys their sons ages would be wearing kippot, and probably tzitzit, but they weren't. One of the littlest girls wore pants, but mom told me that was normal until they get a little older. Shows even my assumptions can be a little off as well as the next persons. Okay, will work on a music post, probably by Friday afternoon.

Quick Torah: Vayelech

G-d to Moses: I've got some good news and some bad news, okay mostly bad. You're not crossing the Jordan, you are to die and Joshua is taking over. Also, the Israelites will eventually stray and worship other gods. But thanks, and here's a poem to read. It's a really fab poem. It goes like this...

Quick Torah: Nitzavim

Choose Life!

Parasha thought of the week - Ki Tavo

98 Curses....whoa. Well at least it's almost Rosh HaShanah.

Decorate the Sukkah, not the tree

This year I'm hoping (b'ezrat Hashem) to have my first sukkah ever. We never had one growing up and it's always been problematic in places I was renting. This year, however, will be the first in our own home, so although it's the start of September, I'm already starting to think about Sukkot.

Now that I have a daughter, I was thinking about the juxtaposition of Jewish life and living in the secular, non-Jewish world. While other kids will excitingly decorate their trees come Christmas, she will not. However, she won't have to wait! Decorating the sukkah can, and will, be just as much fun. And for those people that didn't grow up Jewish and miss the family tradition of decorating a tree, well just move it up to Sukkot and decorate that sukkah! Even if you won't be building one this fall, you can make a mini-sukkah for the kids to decorate. And when they find something nice in December, well just put it in that box marked Sukkot and you'll have it ready for next year.

New focus of the blog

Writing about tzitzit really isn't what I though it might be. I still believe that 95% of people don't notice them at all. The few people that do aren't inclined to say anything. Because of this, I'm going to change my focus of the blog to my general experiences, as far as they relate to my Jewish identity.

This will allow me to post more often and keep the topics flowing.

I've gotten a little lazy updating this blog already. Not a good sign for a burgeoning blogger but it fits my personality quite well. Recently, I attended what I'd describe as a progressive text study with a rabbinical student and socially minded Jews. Everything went well and no one mentioned my tzitzit until afterward. The exchange between myself and the soon-to-be-Rabbi went something like this:

"Well, I can see by your tzitzit that I can assume certain things about you."

"Oh, really? I wouldn't be so sure."

"Well, maybe I'm wrong but..."

"I guess that depends on what you're assuming, but if it's anything more than that I wear tzitzit, and that possibly this makes me religious, whatever that might mean, well, I wouldn't assume too much."

I guess what really struck me was that here was a progressive Jew, soon to be a Rabbi, that assumed by the tzitzit a whole host of ideas about me as a person.

We didn't have time to go into further discussion, but what I was left wondering is what these assumptions were/are. What do Jews assume about Jews who wear tzitzit, and otherwise do not dress in a remotely Orthodox manner?

It's been a month

It hasn't been as difficult as I thought.

It hasn't been as controversial as I imagined.

It has been challenging at times, but they've been mostly self-imposed challenges.

Serene* hasn't been bothered too much.

Had a good conversation recently with a visiting cousin. She lives in NYC so is used to seeing orthodox Jews but had questions about what the fringes were. It was nice to be able to explain why they are worn with someone who calls themselves a 'cultural' Jew. I have my own love/loathe relationship with cultural Judaism, but I definitely feel as good around cultural Jews than I do religious (loaded term) ones.

I had my first encounter with Jews this past Sunday. I was kind of surprised that NO ONE mentioned the tzitzit. No one even made a comment, or referenced them at all. Then in the past few days I've been to the park, Target and a few other places. Not one single comment. Maybe this experience won't be as interesting as I had originally believed. I even went to a jam session and none of the musicians either noticed or remarked.

Although....

I can't tell for sure if it does or doesn't affect the way other people size me up or prejudge me. I thought I'd at least have an interesting or educational conversation at some point. Well I haven't.

Day 2

Day 2 was fairly uneventful as I didn't leave the house for most of the day. I did decide to mow the lawn on one of the hottest days of the year. Well it was long! Needless to say, I didn't wear a shirt, let alone the tallit katan, while mowing. We did go over to Serene's aunt's house for dinner. Her aunt loved that I was wearing the tzitzit and loved the idea of this blog. That was encouraging! I get the feeling that most of the people that I come into regular contact with will be supportive. It will likely be people I know by being fairly active in the Jewish community that will probably spark the more interesting encounters. That and people who have no idea why some strings are hanging out of my pants.

My first post - Day 1

This is my blog about my personal experience wearing a tallit katan, or tzitzit. I am a Jew, albeit not an orthodox one. I would describe myself as non or post denominational. I involve myself in Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Chassidic, and Renewal communities. If we had a Karaite congregation, I'd probably be there too. I have long be facinated with tzitzit and think that being in a middle sized American city with a mid sized Jewish community will give me a unique experience. While I will mainly write through the lens of my expereince with the fringes, I will also touch upon my personal relationship with Judaism and the world. I hope to talk more about why I made this decision and how it affects my life.

I guess technically it was Day 2 but because I spent the better part of the first day in a synagogue, I'll call today Day 1. I did not wear a kippa today but wore a cap for part of it. Serene* and I went out to brunch and she noticed that the manager had a big gold Chai necklace. I didn't feel like anyone looked at me/us differently. It's my opinion that generally, most people don't notice most things, especially other people all that much. Afterward we went over to my parents house, where they asked why I was still wearing the tzitzit. I found it interesting that "still" seemed to be the operative word, maybe since neither of them mentioned it at all the previous day. Then it was home. Day 1 didn't prove to be all that remarkable. I'm sure when I run into people who know me I'll have something interseting to write about.

*because I'm blogging anonymously, I have changed this individual's name to protect the innocent. "Serene" is my newly consecrated wife so she'll obviously be a major character in the blog, as will our daughter (who I've yet to come up with a clever nick name for).