Skip to main content

Once upon a time, in Bnei Brak …

image

Once upon a time, there were two brothers.

Except they weren't really brothers, were they?

No, they were half brothers.

And one hated Judaism.

Yes, he did. 

So much.  So, so much.

Well, okay, don't get me wrong.  He was proud to be a Jew.

But he hated... Judaism.

Kind of, yeah.

And the other brother?

Half-brother.

Yes, him.

He came to Israel.  He lived it.  It's a simple story, really.

Is it?

Yes.  He came to Israel after the war, he had three children here, they had children, and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, without end.  Ayn sof.

And the other brother?

Half.

Yup.  Where did he go?

Canada.

Did he have children?

Oh, yes.  Actually, he also had three.

Did they have children?

Yes, seven of them.  He had seven grandchildren.  Five great-grandchildren.

Are they Jewish?

Well, four are.

Four.  How many great-grandchildren did the first brother have again?

I can't count them.  I don't know if he can count them.  So many souls.

Why did the first one hate Judaism again?

I told you, he was a very proud Jew.

He just...

He couldn't do it.  He never told me why.  I was just a kid.

His kid?

His grandkid.

And are you a proud Jew?

Oh, yes, very.  Confused, conflicted sometimes, a Jew in progress.

What?

Proud.  Never mind.

And how are you related to the kallah again?

I have no idea.  My zeidy... and her great-grandfather... long ago, were brothers.

Half.

What?

Half brothers.

Oh, right.  That's what I said.

What's that black crumbly stuff on the floor?

Okay, you caught me.  I'm an imposter. 

What?

These are my only closed-toed shoes.  I normally wear sandals, no socks, no stockings, okay? And tonight, coming to this chasunah, I didn't want to wear sandals, all right?  But I do cover my hair.  Almost all of my adult life.  This tichel on my head?  It may not be a sheitel, but it’s the real me.  And yeah, I grabbed the wrong shell and you can kind of see my elbows peeking out down there.  Sorry; just try not to look.

So the black crumbly stuff all over the floor…

They’re old shoes, and they fell apart.  I pulled them out of the back of the closet and I didn’t look closely, and by the time I shoved them onto my feet in the car coming here, the soles had already begun to crumble into sticky black tar crumbs.  I plan to throw them away the minute I get home.  I am so mortified.  I don’t belong here.

I thought you said this was a simple story.

Is anything ever simple, in our modern Jewish families?

Sometimes it is, here in Bnei Brak.

Really?

Well, no.  Not really.

Thought so.

But I am so very glad you’re here, after eighty years of our families being apart.

Thanks.

Tzivia / צִיבְיָה

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

לימודי קודש/Limudei Kodesh Copywork & Activity Printables

Welcome to my Limudei Kodesh / Jewish Studies copywork and activity printables page.  As of June 2013, I am slowly but surely moving all my printables over to 4shared because Google Docs / Drive is just too flaky for me. What you’ll find here: Weekly Parsha Copywork More Parsha Activities More Chumash / Tanach Activities Yom Tov Copywork & Activities Tefillah Copywork Pirkei Avos / Pirkei Avot Jewish Preschool Resources Other printables! For General Studies printables and activities, including Hebrew-English science resources and more, click here . For Miscellaneous homeschool helps and printables, click here . If you use any of my worksheets, activities or printables, please leave a comment or email me at Jay3fer “at” gmail “dot” com, to link to your blog, to tell me what you’re doing with it, or just to say hi!  If you want to use them in a school, camp or co-op setting, please email me (remove the X’s) for rates. If you just want to say Thank You, here’s a

Hebrew/ עברית & English General Studies Printables

For Jewish Studies, including weekly parsha resources and copywork, click here . If you use any of my worksheets, activities or printables, please leave a comment or email me at Jay3fer “at” gmail “dot” com, to link to your blog, to tell me what you’re doing with it, or just to say hi!  If you want to use them in a school, camp or co-op setting, please email me (remove the X’s) for rates. If you enjoy these resources, please consider buying my weekly parsha book, The Family Torah :  the story of the Torah, written to be read aloud – or any of my other wonderful Jewish books for kids and families . English Worksheets & Printables: (For Hebrew, click here ) Science :  Plants, Animals, Human Body Math   Ambleside :  Composers, Artists History Geography Language & Literature     Science General Poems for Elemental Science .  Original Poems written by ME, because the ones that came with Elemental Science were so awful.  Three pages are included:  one page with two po

It's Heart Month: 3 days left to save lives!

Dear Friends & Family: Hi, everybody! Sorry I can’t stop by in person... you're a bit out of my area.  :-) We’re out walking up and down on our street on this beautiful afternoon to raise money for Heart & Stroke.  This cause is important to me (I won't say it's close to my heart , because that would be tacky!).  I hope you'll join me by donating online. Growing up, I watched as every single one of my grandparents' lives were shortened by heart disease and strokes, and my father had a defibrillator that saved his life on more than one occasion.  Heart disease and stroke kill 1 in 3 Canadians and are the #1 killer of women. Please click this link to be redirected to my main page at the Heart & Stroke website: http://tinyurl.com/AtlasHeart Thus ends my personal appeal.  Official information follows.  :-))) ----- Heart disease and stroke is the #1 killer of women - taking more women's lives than all forms of cancer combined. But no one is immune. Th