Sunday, June 11, 2006

Ambivalence (on more subjects than one), part 2

After all that kvetching (complaining), I had a wonderful time at the Bat Mitzvah celebration. My girlfiend S.K.’s daughter, whom I still can’t believe is actually that old, acquitted herself very nicely, leining (serving as baalot korah for/chanting from the Torah scroll) her own maftir portion and chanting the haftarah/“Prophetic portion,” with the brachot/blessings for both the maftir and the haftarah recited by her (not her father or brother, which is what they’d do in my local synagogue), then giving a d’var Torah (a “word of Torah/Bible discussion). I’m very glad we went.

The party afterward was great fun. We saw old friends and danced our feet off. Yes, the music was electrically amplified. Yes, a photographer was making the rounds, and we ended up in at least one photo. No, the food wasn’t kosher. (Considering the fact that my girlfriend and her husband keep a kosher home, I was particularly taken aback that one of the choices was chicken. We both had fish.) And I was just flat-out annoyed that they just had to have one of those stupid candle-lighting ceremonies, even though it was Shabbat. (One lights Sabbath candles before Shabbat—it’s forbidden to kindle a flame on Shabbat.)

On the way home, I commented to the Punster that it’s times like this that remind me of just how much we would have to give up to become Orthodox. Intelligent soul that he has, he replied that, if we became Orthodox, we’d have to find a whole new circle of friends. Oy. Making friends is not a strong suit for either one of us.

As for S.K, well, granted that everything hasn’t also been peachy-keen between us, but still, I guess there’s still something there (see the first two paragraphs here).



Word Verification, for your amusement: dzknynik. Well, considering how easily I get light-headed, I've been telling my husband for years that he married a dizzy dame. :) But how did Blogger know that? As for (most of) the rest, I suppose it's just as well that I've already "outed" myself as a "NYnik." :)

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