Synagogue Woes

[iolanthe_rosa]

I'm having such a crisis of faith right now. Actually, it's not a crisis of faith, because I'm a fairly hardened atheist, but I've always nevertheless had a part of my brain that demanded spiritual care and feeding, and I find that it is no longer being fed by my synagogue. There are three legs to my problem's stool:

Comments

[elanorkat]

Ooh, by the way, I forgot to comment on the prayer shawl. I don't really know anything about these, only that the fringes are important :-), but I do remember reading on some crafty person's blog that she was commissioned to do one, and I was surprised by the appearance, having expected something woven and sort of traditional-looking. This one was mostly ... pink. It was very beautiful, sort of a patchwork of differently-textured silks, but I had no idea that they looked so modern or so - girlie! I can see that a crafty textile person would have a lot of enjoyment making one for a relative. (And in charging $300 for one - eek!) So if you don't commission the delightful lady down the road to do one, what are the alternatives? And what does one do with a Bat Mitzvah prayer shawl afterwards? Does it get used at regular services, or for special occasions, or is it hoarded away like my wedding dress? :-( See, I know zilch about Judaism, aside from what I've picked up from novels along the way.

[iolanthe_rosa]

I made my own prayer shawl using silk paints and it's absolutely gorgeous. It has sweet peas on it and poppies. You wear them for Saturday morning services. They are optional for both men and women in the Conservative congregations, but mandatory if you go up to the bima (the place where the Torah is kept during services). So the bat/bar mitzvah boy or girl has to have one, because their whole ceremony is spent at the bima. Then they can wear it for the rest of their lives when they go to Saturday services

[zarchasmpgmr]

synagogue gift shops

Why am I drawing a very strange parallel between this and the fact that most special exhibits in museums (or single-purpose museums, cf. the California State Railroad Museum in Old Town Sac) at their end open into the gift shop?

[iolanthe_rosa]

Indeed! Our gift shop is a money-maker for the synagogue (one of the few). There's a huge world of Judaica out there, and we want our piece of the blintz pie!

[elanorkat]

Thank you for the very comprehensive rundown on tallit! Wow. I honestly had no idea that they could be so varied and colourful. So theoretically, you get to wear one that reflects your personal aesthetic (and pocket!). I love the sound of your one.

Hey, look! Shawls with applique pomegranates on! pretty! And I do remember what you said about pomegranates and cultural associations a while back!

I can also see how they can be an opportunity for people to charge the earth, something akin to the opportunity provided by wedding dresses... It's a shame that people don't wear their showy ones later on, but I can sort of understand that.

[iolanthe_rosa]

Ooh, I like that pomegranate one, and there's one just down the page with pomegranates and birds. That would be perfect for me (my Hebrew name Zipporah means "small bird.")

[elanorkat]

'Little Bird' - really? That's lovely, and I've always liked the sound of the name Zipporah too. So is that why your English name is Robin? :-)

There were many, many beautiful shawls with pomegranates and birds on that website!

[iolanthe_rosa]

Jews in the US give their children both a secular name and a Jewish name. Sometimes they are the same -- Rachel and Sarah are the same in English or Hebrew -- but more typically there is only a slight relationship between the two. Note that the distinction is between secular and Jewish names, not secular and Hebrew, because many Jews have Yiddish names as their non-secular name (my mother, for instance.)

It is Ashkenazic Jewish tradition for the parents to give the baby a secular name whose first initial is the same as the most-recently deceased member of the family. My name Robin was "R" for my paternal great-grandmother Rose. My brother Charles was "C" for his paternal great-grandfather Carl.

My ever-rebellious parents did not give us Jewish names, though my mother claims on and off that mine is Rachel. Or Rebecca. She can't remember which. I decided that was wishy-washy enough to allow me to go and choose my own damn Jewish name.

Now, Sephardic Jews do the opposite. They name their children for living relatives, so I decided I