Wednesday, December 16, 2009

i have a classmate named Jamie who is a secular Jew, but knows more about Judaism than i would have expected from her. although her opinions and views of the Orthodox community are sometimes slightly skewed, it's always fun to hear what she knows

we were talking about FrumClassmate's chassan (FrumClassmate recently got engaged)
Jamie: what's his name?
FrumClassmate: (hesitates) Mordy
Brittany: Mordy? what kind of name is that?
Jamie: it's short for Mordechai
(turns to FrumClassmate) what's he doing? is he still in yeshiva?


On Jewish names:
Jamie: i have a Jewish name! it's Rochel Tzivia. my husband can't pronounce it, so he calls me Rokkel Sylvia-he's not Jewish so he's not so good at the "ch" sound-and i tell him 'honey, it's Tzivia, not Sylvia"
Brittany: cool, what's my Hebrew name?
Jamie: you don't have one because you're not Jewish
Brittany: so did you get your Hebrew name at your bar mitzvah?
Jamie: ha! boys have bar mitzvahs and girls have bat mitzvahs, but i got it when i was born

On the laws of modesty:
FrumClassmate: tomorrow Ora is coming to study with us
Brittany: is Ora Orthodox too?
FrumClassmate: sort of
Brittany: but she wears pants, are you allowed to wear pants too?
Jamie: no pants aren't modest. i wear pants because I'm Reform

On restaurants:
FrumClassmate: I'm starving
Me: if we finish early, you can go grab some food for lunch
FrumClassmate: yea, i wish, but i have a gown to fit into (i will be closely monitoring Frum Classmate for signs of morphing into a Brido-Sapien)
Jamie: hey yea, you can go to Purple Bear
Me: Purple Pear, and where did you hear about that?
Jamie: i heard the Orthodox girls in my Monday class talking about it

On kosher:
Jamie pulls out a hero sandwich and starts to eat
Lisa: oh man I'm starving, I'll trade you half of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich for half of your sub
(yes, at twenty and twenty six people are still trading lunch)
Jamie looks up at me: you want some? oh wait it's not kosher, I'm sorry
(people often feel the need to apologize for eating non-kosher food in front of me)
she rummages in her bag and comes out with a protein bar: see it's got the circle with the U in it, that means the rabbi blessed it so you're allowed to eat it right?

6 comments:

G6 said...

Cute post.
As an aside, Lisa really needs a wake-up call....
I mean half a PB & J sandwich for half a SUB?!?!?

Unknown said...

She doesnt know rabbis dont bless the food?

Tem said...

maybe you should introduce her to aish or partners and torah

MAK said...

very fun post. I always find it funny that they think the rabbis need to bless the food first.

Something Different said...

Hey, thanks for the link!
My sister had almost the exact same story as you did with the blessing the food. Maybe her classmate decided to go back to school. ;-)

Anonymous said...

She said she was reform...My mom is reform, and she goes to shul (well, Temple) every single Friday night. She has a rosh chodesh group, and they do Torah study. Although their observance level is different, many reform Jews DO have the knowledge. (And then, there are people like my sister in law...Jew by birth only. She thinks every black hatter is a rabbi).