Part of my friend’s conversion process requires that a Rabbi from the beis din he is working with to come over and meet with the family and take a look at their house. So he put away all of the sex toys, non-kosher animal blankets and old pictures of their family swimming in mixed beaches to get ready for the rabbi’s visit and still the rabbi found two things that weren’t up to par.
He noticed that My Name Is Asher Lev was on the bookshelf and said that it was not so kosher. That kind of got me thinking about what else may not be kosher reading, I can imagine that beis dins would really be against potential converts reading anything written by Heshy Fried, Shalom Auslander, Shmarya Rosenberg, Nathan Englander, Binyamin Cohen, Samuel Plotz, Chaim Potok, Leon Uris and a slew of other Jewish authors that may sway the opinions of potential converts and give them too much of an insider’s look at things.
The rabbi then interviewed my friend and his family and one of the questions that came up was whether or not they make cholent on shabbos. They said no and the rabbi then launched into a diatribe about how cholent was part of the tradition and they should really make an effort to make cholent on shabbos. I thought he was joking but he wasn’t. He was quite serious. He launched into another diatribe about how cholent was allowed even though it was cooking on shabbos and how that would be good practice for dealing with those issues.
Since I am not converting I don’t have to deal with this. I do know there are a lot of converts that read this blog and was wondering if you have similar stories to the one listed above.
The beit din with which I am working has not forced itself into my personal life at all. Not sure why…
I am a convert…I married a Yekkishe man and in the summer we don’t make cholent on Shabbos. We have a milchig Shabbos instead and make something called fruit soup. Some people seem to think you need to be Polish to be a Jew. I say to be Polish you just have to have the crap beat out of you by the Germans a few thousand times, but hey, thats just me…::::grins:::::
I’m Polish! Polish people got the crap beat out of them by Italians, Swedish, Russians, Prussians, Germans, Austrians, and their own economy. Being Polish is almost a religion. 😉
S*x toys aren’t kosher? I wonder if the one’s they sell in Williamsburg come with the CRC or badatz.
Phil, in Williamsburg they don’t use S*x toys, they use shiksas. I dated a chassidish guy from Boro Park and this is what he told me. I never saw him again.
Idiot,
Comparing Boro park to Villi is like comparing apples to oranges, but you might have a point.
He’s not that far off. In that respect, they are similar.
But yes, there is a big difference between Villiamsboig and Booroy Puhrk. The yuppies, artists, and freaks have yet to infiltrate Booroy Puhrk.
Image of pot of cholent.
Piece of silicone in pleasing organic shape.
Must resist.
Pain. Shatnerian. In. Intensity!
Cant be kosher if its from the hindquarters
These beit dins are out of control. Simply ridiculous. They’ll talk about Jewish unity, and then draw lines about which Jews are and are not ok to learn about.
Kind of like Henry Ford. You can have any color you want so long as it’s black.
Henry Ford wasn’t kosher. 😉
Henry Ford translated The Protocols of the Elders of Zion into English, said it’s the most important book he’s ever read! I don’t understand why people boycott German cars but you never hear of anyone boycotting Ford!
When I was a child in the 1950s and 1960s, I knew Jews who would not purchase Fords for that reason.
Ford’s grandson did a number of things to disassociate himself from his grandfather’s actions.
Actually, anyone from my Father’s generation (which is probably two generations before you), they were careful never to buy Volkswagens or Fords.
Thanx. I was only born in 1979, so I’m a bit removed. As a kid, I was told about BMW, Mercedes, and Volkswagen, but didn’t learn about Ford until at least I was in high school.
Anything wrong with Saturn?
Anything wrong with Saturn?
To give his descendants justice, when Ford died they completely repudiated that nonsense and took steps to make sure the company did not discriminate against Jews or Israelis. They have kept to those promises.
So then what’s the deal with all the anti-Israel crap funded by the Ford Foundation?
The Ford Foundation has not been associated with the Ford family or Ford Motor Company for a very long time.
The Ford Foundation has not been associated with the Ford family or Ford Motor Company for a very long time.
We had books by male and female authors on the same shelf. The rabbis made us put up a mechitza in our shrank.
> I can imagine that beis dins would really be against potential converts reading anything written by Heshy Fried,…
The internets already assur, remember?
> the rabbi then launched into a diatribe about how cholent was part of the tradition.
These ethnocentric Eastern Europeans.
I did a web search on “cholent”, “hamin”/”dafina”, “teebet” and “Claudia Roden” a while back. Found the most amazing variety of Shabbos dishes from all over the world. Most of them have etymological roots which mean “hot” or “hot food”. Cholent really is limited compared to an entire chicken skin stuffed with meat, herbs and rice or pots of grain, parsley, and meat with spices, little meat loaves and slow-cooked hard-boiled eggs buried in embers.
OK, it’s not completely fair. Outside of Hungary and parts of France the Ashkenazim didn’t have that many ingredients to work with.
Re: Cholent. What a load of peckel! I like it, don’t get me wrong. But as A. Nuran as written, most groups have their own form of a hot dish for shabbos lunch (especially in winter) We ate dolmas – but not just wrapped in grape leaves. It was a HUGE pot, lined bottom and sides with the rolled grape leaves ones and in the middle there were stuffed onions, zucchini (so we did not *accidently* use them for s*x toys I am sure) and even tomatoes. This got boiling water poured on it just before candle lighting and sat in the oven overnight with only the pilot light heating it.
btw, I eat rice and beans during Pesach. Let the stoning begin.
😉
To future converts – do your best. That is all you can do. That is all Ha’shem expects as he knows we are only humans – all trying our guts out. Hang tough and don’t feel too much pressure. <3
“…beis dins would really be against potential converts reading anything written by Heshy Fried” Great line!
The chulent thing is a little crazy. You can say that it’s important to have hot food but don’t overdo it.
Cold, leftover chicken and salads are not too bad Shabbos day either. It is not like most of us live in huts in outer Mongolia these days, yanno?
I wonder if this same beit din was associated with Tropper………
I read My Name is Asher Lev. There is one part in that book when Asher is looking at paintings in the museum with his mother, and they get to the subject of Jesus. His mother says “Christians think he is the Messiah” Asher thinks to Himself, “He must be the Messiah, because there are so many paintings of him.” The Rabbis probably hate that part.
Because “the Rabbis” have ever read the book?
Also, how is cholent in any way connected with cooking on Shabbos?
Depends. When do you put it on and when does it become cooked? Half-cooked? One-third-cooked?
When chulent was cooked back in the bad old days the pots were put into the communal bread oven. Claudia Roden’s The Book of Jewish Food has pictures of Jewish peasants lining up to put their chulent pots in. The fire would have been raked out long before Shabbos. A good brick or mud oven can maintain its heat for days. No fire would be lit. No work outside carrying the pot and opening and closing the oven door would be done. If it were done inside the eruv it probably didn’t violate any of the forbidden categories of work.
The rabbi doesn’t even understand his own customs.
I’ve read the “take the cholent pot to the baker’s oven” story; it seems logical.
When my Bubbie was growing up in Depression-stricken Detroit, they would cook the cholent in the furnace.
Interesting. I’d never heard of that, but it makes all kinds of sense.
Ironically, author Chaim Potok is himself an ordained rabbi, albeit Conservative.
Worse, he grew up frum. In the introduction to “As a Driven Leaf” by Milton Steinberg, he discusses being in YU, and how Steinberg inspired him to eventually switch to JTS. I can’t help but think that certain parts of “The Chosen” and “The Promise” may well be autobiographical.
Actually, Chaim Potok was originally an orthodox Rabbi. When he stated “going off” his congregation fired him.
Unless he was ordained by an orthodox institution, a JTS semicha is not recognized by most Orthodox Jews.
i’m so glad my parents are “ignorant” baal tshuva’s. i got to read the hardy boys, play with treif toys, and wear t-shirts and baseball caps. i haven’t read “My Name is Asher Lev,” but The Chosen was a great book.
…my Rabbi said its “kosher”.
And whenever I read this blog, thats how I feel I take it…up the @ss.
how pathetic. there used to be a time when jews–orthodox jews–were encouraged to have education outside of learning torah. now, higher education is often discouraged. i’ve read chaim potok’s books and really have to wonder why the rabbis are so concerned. perhaps they realize that potok portrays reality and are afraid that if more people are turned on to him, then they might start to question their own beliefs and be tempted to leave the fold, rather than enter into it. i say that orthodoxy should be able to hold its own, without any censorship. if it cannot, then its legitimacy is definitely called into question.
as an aside, the lubavitcher rebbe discouraged kids from going to college, despite having had an extensive secular education. why so many leaders in the orthodox world (and i am not counting the modern orthodox crowd who are often very educated) insist on raising generations of ignorant young people is beyond my scope of understanding.
bec,
While I agree almost completely with what I consider the essence of your post, I feel that I have to point out the Potok is a writer of fiction, and writes things that are not true (obviously, I repeat myself). Some know his inaccuracies. Some have also read his novel about a Korean which has to be one of the most racist things I have ever read, and I don’t say this lightly. I don’t feel that Potok was a bad person, but he suffered, as many of us do to one degree or another, from limited knowledge and, more important, limited imagination resulting in unawareness of our limited knowledge.
I cannot comment on the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s attitude towards college, except to say that I know of several cases where he encouraged BT’s to STAY in college and complete their educations, and even to pursue occupations in the chosen field. At least one of these cases that I know of is today a respected Lubavitcher whose children have married within Lubavitch.
These are small points which I chose to clarify. I fully agree with what seems to be the main thrust of your argument.
Oops. Didn’t put my handle in. The above is mine.
while potok is a writer of fiction, he does portray reality–his view of it–he takes society and he puts his spin on it. can one use his books as factual pieces? no, but he uses his talent to key the readers into certain aspects of the community and of society that are evident. as a writer, i use my work to bring about awareness of certain social issues. i write fiction, but i portray reality. not all writers do this, but i believe that potok does this. he weaves stories, but they have very real messages.
one of the letters in the letters to the rebbe series strongly discourages kids from going to college, and discourages parents from sending them. i would cite it, but i (happily) no longer own any of the series. this letter may have been intended for someone who is ffb, but i’m not sure.
From Barry Hugharts Bridge of Birds, one of my favorite (treif books):
That may not be literally true, but the abbot of our monastery always said fable has strong shoulders that carry far more truth than fact can.
BS”D
While I was converting in Israel I asked my Rabbi if I could keep the same cell ringtone, which was musical in nature, during the Omer. He said it was fine because I wasn’t hearing it for pleasure, BUT, ringtones in their essence aren’t kosher and I should probably get rid of it and just put it on vibrate all year long.
vibrating is not kosher. you should have a standard ring
I thought The Foreskin’s Lament was required reading, isn’t the bet din supposed to try to dissuade you? Re. cholent, it’s called Sephardic Envy.
By the way, there’s interesting news about R. Ovadia Yosef:
http://cgis.jpost.com/Blogs/conservative/entry/rav_ovadia_yosef_a_masorti
“i say that orthodoxy should be able to hold its own, without any censorship. if it cannot, then its legitimacy is definitely called into question.”
People who aren’t well versed in the Torah and it’s oral teachings aren’t able to answer all the questions that might be presented. The same way a mother may tell a child not to do something even though the child doesn’t understand why. Sometimes people don’t understand. That doesn’t mean that it’s wrong.
Let’s translate that into English:
Without complete indoctrination and total suppression of the urge to question and investigate they might realize there is some tiny shred of truth outside of Authorized Revealed Dogma and Acceptable Thought. Unless they’ve spent an lifetime in hermetic isolation from any possibility of encountering an alternative view they might reject abject reflexive obedience to authority.
Of course, after thirty or forty years of this they’ll be weighed down with a wife, kids, social ties and economic dependence on the community. Even if they question a thing or two in the privacy of their hearts they’ll be too scared to step out of line.
Lousy assumption implying that any given Masorti/Conservative Rabbi is automatically lacking in Talmud skills.
Isn’t it a revelation how these ‘beis din’ personalities are responsible for deeming things “kosher” vs. treif? I thought they only stuck to European wigs and filtered water-and not these personal items.
duce-never spoken a truer word my child 🙂
Potok went off the derech as he was ordained by JTS. That’s why he is assur. These “Rabbonim” are idiots. Rather be a frier yid than allow these meshuganas any sense of control over my life.
I simply can not, will not and do not believe this story to be true.
Worse than Chaim Potok…Milton Steinberg. My MO high school had us read “As a Driven Leaf” my freshman year. I still remember Rabbi Ferrell (who last I checked worked for the OU), himself a BT who was raised Reform, telling us to be very careful with Milton Steinberg because he was one of the founders of the Reconstructionist movement, and his views are contrary to what a frum Yeshiva should be teaching.
In the non-fiction section, we have Mordecai Kaplan, who last I checked was banned by the Aggudah. Much of it is the whole stigma of him being the founder of Reconstructionism. But I quote my good friend Stan, who’s currently going for his PhD in Jewish History: “No one has distorted the teachings of Mordecai Kaplan more than the Reconstructionist movement!”
And how about some of those other JTS scholars like AJ Heschel (a descendent of the Apter Rebbe of the same name), Gershom Scholem, and Solomon Shechter? I can say that I’ve seen my share of the former 2 in frum homes, but I’m sure that there are plenty of people out there who condemn them as well.
You had Ferrell as a rabbi in High School? He was the student rabbi at our synagogue on the Lower East Side. If I remember correctly he is a BT. He was not very gifted in synagogue skills and didn’t even know how to lain or read a hafotrah. He thought he was a big time Rav and acted like such. One time I had a catalogue from HUC with me that I brought to show my extended family. He freaked out and nearly stroked out. Not a very tolerant person. Last I checked he was railing against YCT as the latest heresy.
Yes, he is a BT and used to give us the “I went to public school” speech almost every day–especially when it came to our level of chutzpah (back in my day, if anyone spoke during lessons, they’d be suspended…)
Hate to say he’s the negative stereotype of the BT who’s left his old ways with a fervor. Yes, he became uber-frum, but unlike most FFBs actually had a relatively intimate understanding of the more liberal shittot. No surprises that he’d be against YCT.
Other than the fact that he was a bit frummer than the HS I went to, I had no problems with him. I thought he was very well meaning, and I definitely had a kesher with him. Hashkafot aside, he was a pretty genuine person. I would call him a credit to his ilk. Much as I may have ventured pretty far off the path, I could still see him being rather respectful even in the face of a former student who has venture off-the-proverbial-derech.
Very interesting. I am sure he would not be happy to hear that a cousin of mine became, thanks in part to him, a JTS musmach. He was so thrown off by the holier than thou attitude that he realized that there had to be more to Judaism than Orthodox Judaism and he decided to read. Worst thing a semi ticked off thing a Yeshiva student can do. He almost became Reform but he was kosher so he realized HUC was no place for him. Not sure what Eli Ferrell would deam worst, otd yidden like us or my cousin the JTS grad.
Yeah, haven’t seen him in something like 10 years. If there’s one thing I still remember, it’s his “drugs mussar”. This was in light of 8 people in my school being “expelled” for trying to bring weed on the junior class trip (actually suspended for a week pending expulsion–they were all smart enough to drop out). Now our principal’s epic speech was “drugs are BAD BAD BAD!” and “BE A SQUARE! When I was your age, I was a square, look how I turned out?” (all the more reason for many people I know to do drugs).
Rabbi Ferrell’s speech wasn’t all that different. His included the typical “when I went to public school” strain. Except guess what? Similar to the principal, back when he was in public school, he was a (you guessed it) SQUARE! But he had friends who were cool. This one friend of his, back in the day, was into punk rock. So he starts naming some of those early punk bands (this was the year 95, some of us had heard of The Ramones…most of us never heard of The Sex Pistols, Iggy Pop & the Stooges, et al.). But this friend listened to all of that, he was cool! So then this friend started smoking weed. Now before this friend started with the weed, he was a good friend. They used to discuss everything from life to Star Trek, you name it. But once that friend started smoking weed, he became a zombie! A husk of a man! Thus Rabbi Ferrell’s drug lecture: nice anecdote, but by then we’d heard the public school lecture one too many times.
As one who aspires to be a teacher, things would be different if/when I give the speech. I can actually talk about how weed f..ed up my life and the lives of plenty of people I know. Much as I can sympathize with people smoking weed at that age (hell, I got friends who still smoke!), my attitude is “I don’t want to hear ‘it’s only weed!’ I can tell you what ‘only weed’ has done to many people I know.
I have been involved in two conversion Beis Dins, and we just wanted to know that the applicants could learn (even in English), knew basic halachah, and had a commitment to the mitzvos. What you described is just Shtiot!
Hey all,
I happened upon this post looking for information about conversion Rabbis in Brooklyn. I myself am Jewish (Modern Orthodox), but am looking for some guidance re: finding an Orthodox (preferably Modern Orthodox) Rabbi to “sponser” my boyfriend as he converts. I know of a Rabbi or 2 in Manhattan who I think would be great, but I’ve been told that the my BF has to live in the same community as his “sponsering Rabbi.”
I find it frustrating, because there doesn’t seem to be any in his area – downtown Brooklyn – except one Chabad Rabbi, who apparently has had issues with the Beit Din, so I’m not too keen on using him.
Does anyone here have any suggestions or advice? It would be greatly appreciated… I’m kind of in the beginning stages here and am a little worried that my BF is going to have to move to Manhattan for this conversion to happen.
Thanks in advance!!
Also, would LOVE to hear feedback from those of you who converted, learn about the process a little bit more, etc.
http://www.judaismconversion.org/
This website is from the Rabbinical Council of America, which is a group of Modern Orthodox rabbis.
You should read this article to have an idea of the problems you’re going to encounter:
Conversion to Judaism: Halakha, Hashkafa, and Historic Challenge
http://www.jewishideas.org/min-hamuvhar/conversion-judaism-halakha-hashkafa-and-histori
Potok should be assur. He certainly helped me go OTD.
Letting your indoctrinites read someone who left the fold is no way to maintain indoctrination.
Next time buy up controversial books for Judaism and use condoms for bookmarks.
I thought ‘The Chosen’ was brilliant. Its sequel, ‘The Promise’, was a disappointment.
regarding the cholent pots being taken to the baker’s….
http://www.forward.com/articles/103368/
there’s even a picture.
As an aside to Chaim Potok being treyf (my Chabad rabbi, old school Chasidishe, will quote it sometimes), the thing with cholent is that the minchag was to distinguish the good Jews from the Tzadukees.
If you’ve got a warm food on Shabbos day, you’re not some punk who hangs his tefillin on the walls.
It was the Kairites, actually. Kairites (who at one point looked like they might become the dominant branch of Judaism) do not allow hot food on Shabbos.
Hence the requirement.
We had books by male and female authors on the same shelf. The rabbis made us put up a mechitza in our shrank. – That’s crazy, what meshugas will they think of next?
Oh dear. I have my signed, first edition copies of Gore Vidal books (when will the old get die????) next to the last few signed, first editions, of a book I wrote years ago.
Shall I set a time and place for the stoning or will I leave it up to the rabbi in charge of such things?
put the shmuck over a barrel…
Ironically enough for a book that’s “not so kosher,” My Name is Asher Lev heaps on praise onto the Lubavitcher Rebbe like a guy putting chulent on top of his coleslaw. Yes, I know it doesn’t call him the Lubavitcher Rebbe, but what other Rebbe lives on Eastern Parkway, sends emissaries around the world and has a somewhat open-minded view about the secular world. He doesn’t even excommunicate Asher Lev from the movement for painting his mom on a crucifix, but just tells him that he should live somewhere else. That’s not a spoiler since it’s on page 1 IIRC.
And this shows the insularity of much of the Orthodox world and why I left it better than anything else. The guilt that’s caused when someone thinks everything is treif is frankly just not healthy to live with.
Thank you. I’ve had arguments about this point with Chabad friends of mine who have read the book and can’t see the connection between the Ladovers and the Lubavitchers! I mean at all! Good to know I’m not alone here.
Notice that the owner of the art store Asher Lev used to go to was a Reb Yudel Krinsky. I’m sorry, isn’t that one a bit blatant? I’m no expert on Chabad, but even I know of the Reb Yudel Krinsky who was the shamash of the Rebbe for over 40 years. I would assume that Reb Krinsky was a well known enough name in Chabad circles that I can’t believe they missed that one!
Wasn’t the book written at a time when many different sects lived in Crown Heights? Presumably there were other rabbis there as well.
However, it does appear to be speaking about the Lubavitch sect.
Side note, imho Asher Lev is a lot better than The Chosen.
Thanks for the heads up. I’m converting, and I have Phillip Roth on my bookshelves.
Ah yes, “Portnoy’s Complaint”, quintessential for every self-hating Jew!
My favorite quote from the book has to be the one about how the most retarded thing about Christianity is that they actually believe that a JEW could be God. I mean what were they thinking? Who in their right mind could even think that a Jew could possibly be deified?
Best example of Jewish guilt I’ve ever read.
On the other hand, Heshy’s friend’s rabbi might be favorably disposed to “Eli, the Fanatic,” with its satire of assimilated Jews’ attitudes towards the Orthodox. (“If I want to live in Brownsville, Eli, I’ll live in Brownsville.”)
Why would anybody in their right mind want to live in Brownsville? Maybe back then, things were different, but currently, Brownsville is considered THE most dangerous neighborhood in Brooklyn (and that says something). I’m told there are some parts of Brownsville where being a cop and walking down the street is punishable by death.
Brownsville used to be a very large, thriving Jewish community, with over 70 shuls. It was predominantly Jewish until the 1950’s. By the early 1960’s, it had become a Black and Hispanic ghetto.
Hard to believe. I was walking through the streets of Canarsie last year on my way to a funeral. I passed by a shul; didn’t check if it was still functioning. But this was a neighborhood I wouldn’t feel safe walking through alone (luckily I was accompanied by many coworkers).
And Boro Park, my grandmother tells me, used to be farmland. When her late mother first moved there, it was much different. Hell, even when my parents grew up there, it was a much more moderate ortho community. The chassidim all lived in Villiamsboig. They only started to move into Boro Park during the early 70s, after the Bobover Rebbe first moved down there.
And speaking of dying Jewish kehilot, there’s Paterson and Newark, both in NJ. Both are extremely ghetto right now. The community I grew up in, Fair Lawn, is one of the places that the Paterson community diffused into (and Paterson is where the Fair Lawn kids go to buy drugs…). I’ve read so many stories about the good old days what Paterson used to be; nowadays, well, I used to have to take a bus home from work that ended me up in Paterson at 2am. I used to catch a cab to get back to Fair Lawn. I can’t tell you how many times cops would be eyeing me suspiciously, wondering what a guy like me is doing in that neck of the woods.
And oh, the shuls in the South Bronx. There’s another story for another time…
Last comments aside: it turns out I have a copy of Roth’s short stories. So I read “Eli the Fanatic.” You’re right, this Rabbi would just love that book. I would say it’s a good “What If Edgar Allen Poe Were Jewish,” and the suits would be similar to the telltale heart.
Now if you really want to get into self-hating Jewishness, some of Woody Allen’s Hassidic tales are very scathing. Here’s one:
A man traveled to Chelm in order to seek Rabbi Ben Kaddish, the holiest of all the 9th century Rabbis and perhaps the biggest noodge of the medieval era.
“Rabbi,” the man asked, “where can I find inner peace?”
The Rabbi surveyed him and said “quick, look behind you!”
The man turned around and Rabbi Ben Kaddish quickly smacked him in the head with a candlestick. “Is that peaceful enough for you?” he chuckled, adjusting his yarmulke.
In this tale, a meaningless question is asked. Not only is the question meaningless, but so is the man who journeyed to Chelm to ask it. Not that he was so far away from Chelm to begin with, but why shouldn’t he stay where he is? Why is he bothering Rabbi Ben Kaddish–doesn’t the Rabbi have enough trouble already? The truth is…this man has nothing better to do than to journey around and to get on peoples’ nerves. For this, the Rabbi bashes his head in, which according to the Torah is the most subtle methods of showing concern. In a similar version of the story, the Rabbi leaps on top of the man in a frenzy and carves the story of Ruth on his nose with a stylus.
Rabbi Raditz of Vitebsk was a very short man with a very long beard who is said to have inspired many pogroms with his sense of humor. One of his disciples asked “Who did God love better, Moses or Abraham?”
“Abraham,” the Zaddik said.
“But Moses led the Israellites to the Promised Land!” said the disciple.
“All right, so Moses!” said the Zaddik.
“I understand Rabbi, it was a stupid question” said the disciple.
“Not only that, but you’re stupid, you’re wife’s a meeskeit, and if you don’t get off my foot, you’re excommunicated!”
Here the Rabbi was asked to make a value judgement between Moses and Abraham. This is not an easy matter, particularly for a man who has never read the Bible and has been faking it. And what is meant by the relative term “better”? What is “better” to the rabbi is not necessarily “better” to his disciple. For instance, the rabbi likes to sleep on his stomach. The disciple also likes to sleep on the rabbi’s stomach. The problem here is obvious. It should also be noted that to step on the rabbi’s foot…is a sin, according to the Torah, comparable to the fondling of matzos with any intent other than to eat them.
My favorite of his is the retelling of Akeidat Yitzhak. It’s too long to post here, but do a nice google search, you can find it. It’s totally worth reading.
OK it has to be said…
I didn’t expect a kind of Spanish inquisition!
I mean really, rejecting people based on not liking a book they have? Its nuts
My conversion started a little interested. I converted with my mother and brother – my father was Jewish already. We walked in to meet with the beis din (my parents, brother, and myself) and one of the rabbis looks at the name on the paper and then back up at my father with a strange look. My father holds out his hand to introduce himself when the rabbi rudely states – we’ve met. I kicked you out of school ## years ago.
It was a little rocky after that but boruch HaShem it all went well!
Heshy should write about, ways Jews don’t drive each other crazy.
That would be a much shorter post
I’ve had hundreds of things instead of cholent that were hot and were also each 100s of times better.
While I do enjoy the occasional chollent, I feel poor when I eat it, and I find it hilarious that he would tell you that cooking pauper food is a requirement of judaism.
We were slaves in egypt, but NO MORE! The halacha is to eat HOT food at some point on shabbat day, preferably during the meal. The halacha does not specify cholent. Go to the right sephardic houses and you may quickly recant your ashkenazi ways!
In an interview Roden describes an Israeli Sephardic/Mizrahi vs. Ashkenazi cook-off she took part in. She said she didn’t want to say whose was better but “None of us were going to the Asheknazi side, but all of them came over to our side.
There are Jews who will tell you you have to cosplay a sixteenth century Jew-hating Pole to be Jewish. There’s no accounting for taste or “cutting the ends off the turkey leg” stupidity.
I’m lucky my conversion rabbi did not pull anything weird.
Having read Chaim Potok, I can only imagine how that rabbi would have reacted to my shelf full of Isaac Bashevis Singer (far better writer IMO)
I am a Catholic and I just love Chaim Potok’s books. I can understand why a more Orthodox rabbi would object to Potok, since Potok ended up in Conservative Judaism. It seems to me that the trajectory of most of his characters from Fundamentalist readings of Torah and Talmud to critical readings, or transcending orthodox strictures into things unthinkable while remaining faithful to the tradition, are autobiographical in nature. Potok’s books are apologias of the road he chose to travel, approached from different viewpoints.
Another reason I like Potok is that he recognized goodness in Christians and Christianity, as well as concern for them and their (our) beliefs. In _My Name is Asher Lev_, Asher chose to paint crucifixions because only its assemblage allowed him to express the pathos he felt expressing, despite the angry rejections and vituperation against “that man” (the unmentionable to orthodox Jews, that Jesus of Nazareth) Asher’s father throws at him. In _In the Beginning_, we see another child genius about to plunge into higher criticism of the Pentateuch who wonders how some people who “worship” something so sweet and full of love as a statue of the Blessed Mother can be, in turn, so evil. The young boy who is the main character of _In The Beginning_ suffers his first encounter with anti-Semitism from a neighborhood Polish Catholic boy, but is in turn protected by an Italian Catholic boy and his mother.
The thoughts behind these vignettes are challenging indeed, particularly to those who hold that “Jewish souls” are intrinsically different from Gentile ones. In Potok’s books, many goyim have Jewish souls and many Jews do not. That realization may shock some people, like the good visiting rabbi of Fried’s anecdote.