Yet another interfaith experience and the inevitable post-event thought dump

[scarlettina]

wanton_heat_jet teaches church school (read "Sunday school") at a local Unitarian church of which he's a member. He's a staunch atheist, but has a deep interest in history and spiritual traditions and is very well read on the subject. He recently asked me to come to his class and speak about Passover; today was the class. The whole experience has been interesting

Comments

[mevennen]

I'm sorry about the cup - that's rotten. :-(

but overall it sounds like an interesting experience and I bet the children will never forget it. I was very kindly invited to a Passover supper in London a few years ago and found the whole thing fascinating. I sometimes get invited to schools to talk about Druidry etc and that's always rewarding - last time was a Catholic school in London and they were great.

[scarlettina]

I always enjoy an opportunity to talk about faith. dochyel woke this up in me, and it's one of the (many) things about our friendship that lives on in me.

Yeah, the cup breakage, even this morning, still makes me sad. It's hard to lose a ritual item you've put love and time and thought into. I can't throw it away; I may end up burying it the way one does a torah that's no longer kosher or too old and delicate to handle. It seems the only respectful way to handle it.

[caryabend]

That's a great thought. I'd like to think that David would be glad you're using your heart and your head together.

What was the cup made of? I'm presuming a ceramic of some kind. That would make it hard to incorporate into another ritual item.

[scarlettina]

I made it at one of those paint-your-own-ceramics places so, yes, it was ceramic. I'll need to find someplace appropriate to bury it.

As regards David, well, while I was teaching, I was wearing the Jewish star he gave me and the one I gave him (which I always wear together now), so I know he was there in spirit.

[mysticalforest]

Hold the phone: How can a torah be kosher or not? I thought kosher applied only to foods.

[scarlettina]

"Kosher," in a broader sense, means "legitimate, acceptable, permissible." A kosher torah is one that is ritually clean, letter-for-letter correct, undamaged. Many torahs did not survive the Holocaust because they were desecrated by the Nazis and so stopped being kosher, i.e., usable in service. Torahs that are damaged are usually buried; since objects which are used for holy purpose (i.e., for worship or study) acquire holiness themselves, burial is considered the only appropriate disposal if disposal is required. This applies not just to torahs, but to prayer books, yarmulkes, prayer shawls and the like.

[mysticalforest]

Interesting!