Shabbat, Purim and Misconceptions

It's been a very JTS centric weekend: I was at the seminary for Shabbos davening and for all the assorted Purim festivities, and even had my Shabbos meals with classmates and such. Dinner was a very large event in honor of a classmate's birthday, which I then spent mostly with classmates and other folks from my building. Afterwards, smartphil and I dropped in on seligdavis's farbrengen where I had the interesting (both sort of fun and slightly embarassing) experience of surprising the host by actually drinking something with alcohol in it. But we didn't stay long, as the crowd was fairly young and mostly unknown, and I had layning to finish learning.

Shabbos morning I had the distressing realization that I'd left my tallit and tfillin in my classroom where we'd davened Friday morning, so I went to try and find it, but the door was locked and the lights were off. So I checked with lost and found, and it wasn't there. So I snabbed a shul tallis, but was generally a bit anxious about finding said items. By lunch I put it out of my mind to be dealt with after shabbos for the most part and had a nice lunch with some classmates, and some other folks, one or two of whom I neither knew nor met- surprising at a lunch of less than 10 people. Nevertheless, it was pleasant and it left me with time to nap before mincha.

After Shabbos I got one of the security guards to open the classroom and my tallis and tfillin were sitting right there, Exactly where I'd left them. I'm a little surprised my teacher or classmates didn't notice them sitting there, or the class after us, but hey- I'm glad I found them, and it's a good reminder to be more careful in the future- a hard lesson for a space cadet. And then I got ready for Purim, improvised a bit on top of the costume I'd sort of vaguely planned, and got down to shul to find it totally packed. The reading was done very well (I heard people kvetching beforehand that the guy reading wasn't even a student at JTS anymore and that that wasn't right, and then it turned out to be someone who yes, graduated, but is still quite involved with the community- it's hardly like he was some sort of stranger.), and the shpiel (and I'm not usually so much a fan of Purim Shpiels) was quite cute. There were a few moments where I really wished one or two certain folks could sing on key, but in general it was really cute, and not so cheesy that I got sick of it. I spent a good chunk of it genuinely laughing. Afterwards there were some munchies and time to chatter, and then I headed off to a party a friend of a friend was having- I was never actually invited, but the hostess seemed pleased that I showed up. It was pleasant but not hugely exciting- but I was glad I did something.

This the megilla reading went pretty well- I was a little thrown at the beginning of my chapter because the guy before me had different trope and I wasn't quite into my own trope for the first line. But overall I did decently, if not quite as well as I'd hoped. The rest of the reading went pretty well, even though poor Steve had mostly lost her voice and so her chapter was well, a little quiet and cough-interupted. After davenen ended, I was asked by my shul neighbors if I still had my mishloach manot box from the school, and if they could use it. After some confusion I got it and found them again, and it became part of a very blush-worthy costume based on a Saturday Night Live sketch that was discussed at the party I was at Saturday night. And his wife dressed up as a heavily pregnant nun (she's pregnant- it wasn't like that was added for the costume). There were 3 folks dressed up as nuns- go figure. In general, there were a lot of very eh costumes and a few folks who went all out and/or were very creative.

I actually went to the seudah this year, rather than my usual approach of the quiet meal with a few friends that might count as a festive meal if you stretched the definition. It was a good time- some of the skits were very funny, some of them less so, but enough were funny that I did quite a bit of laughing. And then I went home, napped and did some homework, and eventually talked to Mom and Dad for a while.

I eventually got to dancing, where we were encouraged to come in costume as they were having a Purim party of sorts- live music for a while, and then Moshiko was there. So, as neither costume I'd pulled together was great for dancing, I put on comfortable pants, and a usual top and a scarf rather than the kippah that they're used to, and went as "a small step to the right". Unfortunately, everyone saw the scarf and immediately presumed I was supposed to be going as someone from Me'ah She'arim or something chassidishe. Steve heard and was just as confused as I was, as I was wearing pants, and a shirt that showed my elbows and such. Ahh well, subtlety in a Purim costume isn't always so successful. And then Eskayo presumed once again that Steve and I were dating, even though I thought I'd successfully convinced him otherwise the last time he got confused when he inquired about the location of my boyfriend and I'd told him that he'd dumped me, and Moshe had then looked for Steve to try and "beat him up for me". So I said we weren't dating, and his response was "still not yet?" and I tried to clear things up, but it didn't work so well. Hopefully Steve will make things clearer in the future- I asked him to drop a few hints since mine weren't working so well.

Shabbat, Purim and Misconceptions

It's been a very JTS centric weekend: I was at the seminary for Shabbos davening and for all the assorted Purim festivities, and even had my Shabbos meals with classmates and such. Dinner was a very large event in honor of a classmate's birthday, which I then spent mostly with classmates and other folks from my building. Afterwards, smartphil and I dropped in on seligdavis's farbrengen where I had the interesting (both sort of fun and slightly embarassing) experience of surprising the host by actually drinking something with alcohol in it. But we didn't stay long, as the crowd was fairly young and mostly unknown, and I had layning to finish learning.

Shabbos morning I had the distressing realization that I'd left my tallit and tfillin in my classroom where we'd davened Friday morning, so I went to try and find it, but the door was locked and the lights were off. So I checked with lost and found, and it wasn't there. So I snabbed a shul tallis, but was generally a bit anxious about finding said items. By lunch I put it out of my mind to be dealt with after shabbos for the most part and had a nice lunch with some classmates, and some other folks, one or two of whom I neither knew nor met- surprising at a lunch of less than 10 people. Nevertheless, it was pleasant and it left me with time to nap before mincha.

After Shabbos I got one of the security guards to open the classroom and my tallis and tfillin were sitting right there, Exactly where I'd left them. I'm a little surprised my teacher or classmates didn't notice them sitting there, or the class after us, but hey- I'm glad I found them, and it's a good reminder to be more careful in the future- a hard lesson for a space cadet. And then I got ready for Purim, improvised a bit on top of the costume I'd sort of vaguely planned, and got down to shul to find it totally packed. The reading was done very well (I heard people kvetching beforehand that the guy reading wasn't even a student at JTS anymore and that that wasn't right, and then it turned out to be someone who yes, graduated, but is still quite involved with the community- it's hardly like he was some sort of stranger.), and the shpiel (and I'm not usually so much a fan of Purim Shpiels) was quite cute. There were a few moments where I really wished one or two certain folks could sing on key, but in general it was really cute, and not so cheesy that I got sick of it. I spent a good chunk of it genuinely laughing. Afterwards there were some munchies and time to chatter, and then I headed off to a party a friend of a friend was having- I was never actually invited, but the hostess seemed pleased that I showed up. It was pleasant but not hugely exciting- but I was glad I did something.

This the megilla reading went pretty well- I was a little thrown at the beginning of my chapter because the guy before me had different trope and I wasn't quite into my own trope for the first line. But overall I did decently, if not quite as well as I'd hoped. The rest of the reading went pretty well, even though poor Steve had mostly lost her voice and so her chapter was well, a little quiet and cough-interupted. After davenen ended, I was asked by my shul neighbors if I still had my mishloach manot box from the school, and if they could use it. After some confusion I got it and found them again, and it became part of a very blush-worthy costume based on a Saturday Night Live sketch that was discussed at the party I was at Saturday night. And his wife dressed up as a heavily pregnant nun (she's pregnant- it wasn't like that was added for the costume). There were 3 folks dressed up as nuns- go figure. In general, there were a lot of very eh costumes and a few folks who went all out and/or were very creative.

I actually went to the seudah this year, rather than my usual approach of the quiet meal with a few friends that might count as a festive meal if you stretched the definition. It was a good time- some of the skits were very funny, some of them less so, but enough were funny that I did quite a bit of laughing. And then I went home, napped and did some homework, and eventually talked to Mom and Dad for a while.

I eventually got to dancing, where we were encouraged to come in costume as they were having a Purim party of sorts- live music for a while, and then Moshiko was there. So, as neither costume I'd pulled together was great for dancing, I put on comfortable pants, and a usual top and a scarf rather than the kippah that they're used to, and went as "a small step to the right". Unfortunately, everyone saw the scarf and immediately presumed I was supposed to be going as someone from Me'ah She'arim or something chassidishe. Steve heard and was just as confused as I was, as I was wearing pants, and a shirt that showed my elbows and such. Ahh well, subtlety in a Purim costume isn't always so successful. And then Eskayo presumed once again that Steve and I were dating, even though I thought I'd successfully convinced him otherwise the last time he got confused when he inquired about the location of my boyfriend and I'd told him that he'd dumped me, and Moshe had then looked for Steve to try and "beat him up for me". So I said we weren't dating, and his response was "still not yet?" and I tried to clear things up, but it didn't work so well. Hopefully Steve will make things clearer in the future- I asked him to drop a few hints since mine weren't working so well.