Thursday, February 20, 2014

My Jewish evening

After a painful morning for various reasons, i decided to go to the place to the Jewish baby who has a crush on me. His girlfriend was in Vermont.
He is persistent since she is away, to hang out with me or to come in his place to show me his creations.
He is a mensch and he can keep his libido on a leash.
He told me that another guest is attending. She lives in his building and i know her. She is from ex-Yougoslavia but she has been raised in Italy. I enjoyed listening to her Italian singing accent, when she told me she enjoys listening to the accent of Gérard Depardieu when he speaks English. I like this woman for her European soul and her dream: she wants to immigrate in South Africa where she has never been. She wants to buy a house along the beach. I don't even know if she has friends there.
She is tired of the NY dating scene, the inhumanity, food, quality of life… I totally agree, because i am in the same state of mind.
Things are clearer and clearer in my mind day by day: i have to move out soon.
And first and foremost, i need organization in my professional and personal life. That sounds like a plan, but i need if i do another big jump.

G. and I knocked at her door, she was not there. I know that she has a bunch of cats, but we just heard the dogs barking. So, back to his place.
As i already told you he is a hoarder. I expected more mess, but it was fine, we could move in the corridor and other rooms. I don't like sanitized apartment, it stresses me. You don't know what to do with your body, i can't breath. I enjoy collectors like i am. He has lots of books and i like readers…
He showed me his mezuza that i kissed. :-)
In the living-room, he showed me his creative space. How can i say? It was a mountain of packs and other stuffs accumulated in a large corner of the room. :-)
I was laughing!

He showed me his bedroom and told: "This is where the magic happens!". The room was not too messy. If you are not a collector or messy, you have to know that people like G. and me we have our own organization of our mess. If you touch it, you disturb us a lot! :-)
I asked him for seeing his tefillin, promising not to touch it except if he allows me to do it.
He said he is able to show it to me during daytime. Tefillins don't live a vampire life like Hasidim? Pffff!

Then, G. decided to transform the living-room in a G-araoke show!
He sings pretty well, and didn't ask me if i wanted to sing. He is very egocentric but he actually likes helping people. He sings soft songs like this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgsdblVq8wo
I enjoy watching people singing, music drives me crazy, and it helps me a lot when i am down. Music comes from the heart.
After Dylan, Van Morrison, and the Boss…
I asked personal questions.
He is cultured, and intellectual, and despite his egocentrism, i know i can have intellectual conversation with him.
He looks like someone who traveled. 'I travelled in my mind.' I was surprised a little. He asks questions about countries where i used to live or travel, instead of uttering a stream of clichés like 'The french don't shave'… :-)
We shave!
He doesn't have kids and doesn't want. He is a kid, so he can enjoy his own childlike company.

Last time, G. came to my work place, he came with a friend, a rabbi.
He looked like a rabbi but i wasn't sure if it was a joke. He already introduced me friends as rabbis, and they were not finally.
So i asked the man if he was one of them, he was.
Now, i am teasing G. with this rabbi because he is very cute, but married! :-)
G. replied all the time: 'I am cute too.' or 'I think i am cuter than him.' I shut my mouth because yes he is a good-looking man, Jewish but such a baby and he has a girlfriend. No way!
I don't make comparison between men and their sexual attributes. Guys, Hasidic or not, stop asking me if your penis is cute, small, big… I never reply to this question. In French, we say that it's better to have a small one hard-worker than a lazy big one. Capito? :-)

He knows that i want to move in Israel soon. It's probably better for me to get converted than to ask my father for filling papers to prove my Jewishness. I feel a new drama whose i don't need right now.
But it also means to lie to the rabbi because of my non-belief in D-g. G. warned me that the rabbi will turn me down and away many times, and he will challenge me. I am fine with challenge and before he turns me down, i need to talk to the rabbi. Rabbi, you have to know one thing: i don't give up easily, i am very determined in my choices. :-)
And i have to think of what kind of conversion i want. G. thinks that a conservative is better than a Reform or Orthodox… In my country, the conversion lasts 7 years, here the simplest one is 2 years if i am a good student… :-)
Is the main reason to be Jewish is a belief in D-g? I don't think so, Jewishness is more than a religion…
I was born half-Jewish, felt deeply Jewish since i am toddler… So let's see what the rabbi will tell me…
I met 2 people here who feel Jewish, speak Hebrew, study Hebrew without getting converted… And they believe in D-g.
The introduction of my non belief in D-g to the rabbi might be different: instead of saying i don't believe in D-g, i can say i don't know if i believe in D-g because what i feel, i can't express it with words and in English. "Do you speak French?" :-)
I don't feel that it's the act to get converted will be for bad reasons, i believe in Judaism, Jewishness, my Jewish roots and blood…
G. told me that there is a ceremony of graduation of the conversion… Oh la la, i hate to be on a stage like in an aquarium. I am very shy and i will have a loss of voice.
G. insisted that i actually think about my choice of conversion, depending on what i want to do in Israel. If i want to open a Kosher restaurant, the level is higher: no way to open a restaurant!

Before i left, he showed me his tefillins finally! He has 4. One is from his father who passed away a long time: "I might bury it now, it's Kosher". I wanted to see them better but he refuses to wake the tefillins up at night like vampires during the day. He will bring it to my work place.

He walked with me during 2 blocks on my way home. I enjoy walking at night when everything is quiet. He was a real gentleman, offering his hand to cross the streets on the ice. Voilà, funny Jewish evening, i slept like a baby!
last snow in Crown Heights ©emmarubinstein

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