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?