Monday, October 23, 2006
As you know, Anna and I decided to start keeping kosher. I was a little skeptical of the plan, but I believe anything worth trying is worth doing whole-heartedly. One week later, the results are more or less in: it's not that different. I expected it to be a muddle of confusion over which dishes we use, where we wash pots, and a general frustration of my eating habits. We did tackle a few strange issues, but it's been pretty easy. Heck, it's been more difficult making the transition to soy milk with my Cheerios. (No, that's not related to keeping kosher. Separate issue.)
Eating out is easy too, since most restaurants are kosher, and even the trayf ones have many milk-and-meat-separate dishes. The lounge on campus only makes vegetarian or tuna sandwiches, and most of my eating out occurs during school hours. Of course, what happens if we take this plan into America? Suddenly, it turns into a significant act of cultural rebellion. What happens when cheeseburgers are sold on every corner, and a pizza joint without pepperoni is non-existant?
As Anna wrote in the last post, the real issue here is in the meaning. What does it mean to keep kosher? How does that relate to a Jewish life, to feeling Jewish? I'm not expecting any insight on that issue for awhile, so I wait.
One of the more exciting projects we're apart of is the FSU Project. For the last five years, HUC has sent a contingent of students to Progressive congregations in the Former Soviet Union (FSU) to help lead Passover seders. Anna and I have signed up for the trip, and we're really excited. One of my professors works on issues relating to the FSU, and as part of that has a lot of resources on Jewish genealogy. I took the name of the town that Abraham Stoller (my mother's mother's father) lived in, Rafalowka, and searched the resources in my prof's office. We found it on the map, and discovered a little bit about the history of the place.
Most exciting, it's about an hour away from the town of Lutsk, where exists a Progressive congregation that participates in the FSU Project! I'm going back to look into the history on my father's side as well, but it looks possible that Anna and I could see the shtetl of my great-great grandparents' lives. How amazing is that?!
Eating out is easy too, since most restaurants are kosher, and even the trayf ones have many milk-and-meat-separate dishes. The lounge on campus only makes vegetarian or tuna sandwiches, and most of my eating out occurs during school hours. Of course, what happens if we take this plan into America? Suddenly, it turns into a significant act of cultural rebellion. What happens when cheeseburgers are sold on every corner, and a pizza joint without pepperoni is non-existant?
As Anna wrote in the last post, the real issue here is in the meaning. What does it mean to keep kosher? How does that relate to a Jewish life, to feeling Jewish? I'm not expecting any insight on that issue for awhile, so I wait.
One of the more exciting projects we're apart of is the FSU Project. For the last five years, HUC has sent a contingent of students to Progressive congregations in the Former Soviet Union (FSU) to help lead Passover seders. Anna and I have signed up for the trip, and we're really excited. One of my professors works on issues relating to the FSU, and as part of that has a lot of resources on Jewish genealogy. I took the name of the town that Abraham Stoller (my mother's mother's father) lived in, Rafalowka, and searched the resources in my prof's office. We found it on the map, and discovered a little bit about the history of the place.
Most exciting, it's about an hour away from the town of Lutsk, where exists a Progressive congregation that participates in the FSU Project! I'm going back to look into the history on my father's side as well, but it looks possible that Anna and I could see the shtetl of my great-great grandparents' lives. How amazing is that?!
