Beginning with the Basics

[gnomi]

This is the first in what I'm planning to be a series of posts about my religious beliefs and practices. I'm calling the series "Flying my Frumkeit." So, I'll start with some basics.

Things that are true about me:

-- I have always kept both kosher and Shabbat to some degree.

-- I've covered my hair since 1996 and haven't worn pants (in other words, worn only skirts) since 1995 or so, but I wear short sleeves (well, to my elbow) and sandals in the appropriate season (short as that season may be in the Boston area).

-- I prefer to daven where there's a mechitzah (a physical separation between men and women), and have since I was a teenager, but I can lein (recite with cantillation in front of the congregation) Torah and Haftarah, and I've taught others how to lein Haftarah.

-- I went to Orthodox day schools from Kindergarten through 12th grade, but I made a conscious decision to go to Israel with an unaffiliated Zionist organization instead of going to one of the girls' yeshivot that many of my classmates attended.

-- I often feel like I fall in between categories. I'm not really "frum from birth" ("FFB"), but neither am I a ba'alat teshuvah. I've been observant to some level my whole life; it's the exact level that's changed over time.

-- People frequently make mistaken assumptions about me/my life based on how I dress; sometimes I shock them by proving them wrong.

Comments

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

L&O: SVU did an ep recently-ish (so, within the past couple of weeks?) in which they were in a Kiryas Joel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiryas_Joel,_New_York)-esque community. The accents were *horrible* and the Yiddish was *abysmal*. I have to wonder how/why Orthodox Jews became so popular recently in pop culture.

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

Well, you *do* control the entertainment industry!

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Hey! If *I* controlled the entertainment industry, there would be more smooching. ;-)

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

So what you're saying is that you had a direct hand in this season's opening episode of Torchwood?

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

::snerk::

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

Oh, so I just followed that Wiki link, and I have to say, part of it really pissed me off. Specifically, the part where they have massive families that they can't afford, so they go on welfare rather than on birth control, because birth control is wrong, unlike public assistance, which is their right.

*headdesk*

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I don't like KJ at all, for many reasons. They're more than happy to live on welfare, but they don't want to pay taxes.

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

I don't understand that level of entitlement. I really don't.