Cultural Phenomena and Such

This morning I got up very early and trekked out to Brooklyn for the bris of sharonaf's son, which was quite interesting. I'd never been to a bris before, so there was that new experience factor (and the way the room was set up, it was pretty impossible to hear anything clearly besides hearing the actual brachot and the baby's actual name from the women's section of the shul anyways). And it was also just a different davening experience (only one other woman was there for the actual service, and the way timing went, I could almost have put on tallis and tfillin during psukei d'zimra and no one would have noticed. As it was, I felt very, very much like I was missing something without them- it made me very aware of the assorted places I would usually touch or kiss them in the service. I was very tempted to just put mine on, but I didn't want to make waves at that sort of event.

After the bris there was considerable confusion about where the baby should be, where guests should be, what was happening where. This all makes sense, considering that there isn't so much time to plan a bris, generally. Eventually it got figured out, and I found myself a seat and ate. I'd been chatting with one of sharonaf's neighbors while people were figuring out what was going on, so I went and sat with her at the meal as well, and upon hearing that I was 22 and not specifically planning on waiting until I finished school to get married, started playing shadchan. It was definitely an odd cultural experience for me- not quite the usual conversation I have with strangers, but it was well meaning certainly. And I've certainly had the "so, what are you looking for" conversation with folks at dancing, but not quite on this level of practical detail- this was "so, what age range are you looking in" "what character traits do you want" "more intellectual or less" "how religious should he be" and "have you asked Steve if he knows anyone".... It was a little foray into a different part of the Jewish world for me.

I got back to JTS just in time for Talmud, and then had a pretty normal day, except with some extra napping. And then in the evening I went to hear Rabbi Dorff speak, and bought a copy of his most recent book, figuring that it would be a very good thing to read and to have, and I got it autographed as well, which is sort of a nice perk or whatnot. And then I spent some time on the phone with my folks working on Pesakh planning. And I finished off a kippah that I may or may not keep for myself. And I met the rab school dean for next year face to face briefly- Steve called him and suggested that he join us at ma'ariv as we were short a person for minyan, and he knows him well from home, so then he walked back to JTS proper with us, and we had a conversation about JTS and environmentalism which was pretty nifty.

And now to bed to try and end this whole lack-of-sleep cycle.

Cultural Phenomena and Such

This morning I got up very early and trekked out to Brooklyn for the bris of sharonaf's son, which was quite interesting. I'd never been to a bris before, so there was that new experience factor (and the way the room was set up, it was pretty impossible to hear anything clearly besides hearing the actual brachot and the baby's actual name from the women's section of the shul anyways). And it was also just a different davening experience (only one other woman was there for the actual service, and the way timing went, I could almost have put on tallis and tfillin during psukei d'zimra and no one would have noticed. As it was, I felt very, very much like I was missing something without them- it made me very aware of the assorted places I would usually touch or kiss them in the service. I was very tempted to just put mine on, but I didn't want to make waves at that sort of event.

After the bris there was considerable confusion about where the baby should be, where guests should be, what was happening where. This all makes sense, considering that there isn't so much time to plan a bris, generally. Eventually it got figured out, and I found myself a seat and ate. I'd been chatting with one of sharonaf's neighbors while people were figuring out what was going on, so I went and sat with her at the meal as well, and upon hearing that I was 22 and not specifically planning on waiting until I finished school to get married, started playing shadchan. It was definitely an odd cultural experience for me- not quite the usual conversation I have with strangers, but it was well meaning certainly. And I've certainly had the "so, what are you looking for" conversation with folks at dancing, but not quite on this level of practical detail- this was "so, what age range are you looking in" "what character traits do you want" "more intellectual or less" "how religious should he be" and "have you asked Steve if he knows anyone".... It was a little foray into a different part of the Jewish world for me.

I got back to JTS just in time for Talmud, and then had a pretty normal day, except with some extra napping. And then in the evening I went to hear Rabbi Dorff speak, and bought a copy of his most recent book, figuring that it would be a very good thing to read and to have, and I got it autographed as well, which is sort of a nice perk or whatnot. And then I spent some time on the phone with my folks working on Pesakh planning. And I finished off a kippah that I may or may not keep for myself. And I met the rab school dean for next year face to face briefly- Steve called him and suggested that he join us at ma'ariv as we were short a person for minyan, and he knows him well from home, so then he walked back to JTS proper with us, and we had a conversation about JTS and environmentalism which was pretty nifty.

And now to bed to try and end this whole lack-of-sleep cycle.