Monday, November 16, 2015

A sunny and peaceful Sunday after the Paris attacks

November, 15th 2015 ©emmarubinstein
I got the news after midnight when i got back home from a Shabbos dinner in a family that i met at my shul.
They thanked me to make them travel with my Hasidic stories.
My friends were worried about me and were looking for me.
I used to live in this area that i enjoyed a lot.

Saturday was very quiet, but i was stressed : they are not military men since 2 Shabbos, and the shul has only very large unshielded windows. The government offered to pay 80% of the price for shielded windows. I wish they will change them.

On Sunday, after the cabin fever, i went to Ulpan classes.
With some of my friends we had planned to go to our favorite Kosher restaurant in Le Marais.
Many stores were closed during the weekend but the Jews decided not to be afraid, l'chaim!

November, 15th 2015 ©emmarubinstein

Saturday, November 7, 2015

My first challot

Heard about the Shabbos Project ?
The idea comes from South Africa and now, the project is growing.
Last year, i heard a little about it in France.
This year, that was bigger.
My red pot and those of my girlfriends, October 2015, ©emmarubinstein
My red pot, gloves, flour, eggs, sugar, etc, October 2015, ©emmarubinstein

The week of the Shabbos Project, some evenings are organized to learn how to bake a challah.
The women have 3 responsibilities: to light the candles, the bake the challah, to make food kosher (kashrut).
I never baked a challah, i bought it.

I was not available for the evenings, but an impromptu event happened: i abandoned one of my job at the break time. I gave my badge saying that i will never come back. I felt free! For Americans, it might be seen like something obvious, not in my country!

The other good news was that i was available finally for learning how to bake a challah.
Challah or a boring job?
My choice was made!
Teenagers having fun, October 2015, ©emmarubinstein
Teenagers having fun, October 2015, ©emmarubinstein

My girlfriends from my Torah, Hebrew, etc classes are back with me that year. I met some of them during all the summer, sharing meals and lots of laughs. We have our HQ restaurant, and we are making friend with the owner and some servers who know pretty well when we are there.
In that restaurant, you can share a table with other people. There are many tourists, thus a good occasion to practice my English.
Teenagers having fun, October 2015, ©emmarubinstein

Teenagers having fun, October 2015, ©emmarubinstein

It happened that my girlfriends were all there at the evening.
We were all at the same table.
There were 300 women. We have been welcomed so well.
A friend of mine has been at another challah evening the day before. I saw a photo of her and asked her why she was wearing a scarf on her head: "To avoid questions". Man! That's not a shame to have never been married.
I replied to her: "I want questions."

The ambiance was very funny. Everyone has her way to bake it.
When the paste is ready, women teach you how to braid the challah.
I didn't braid them but i looked at my friends.

To roll the paste is quite sensual. Look at your wife when she is making it, and let me know! :-)
My challah paste ready to go home, October 2015, ©emmarubinstein 
First challot round, October 2015, ©emmarubinstein 
Second challot round, October 2015, ©emmarubinstein

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Talmud study

I am back to Torah and Hebrew courses since two weeks now.
I made more time available to study the Mishnah and the Talmud.

I learnt, and you can laugh at me, that Moshe Rabbenu is Moses. I never thought that Moses could have a last name and he could have a biography. My mistake! :-)
I already heard that name but i thought that he was a great sage.
He was a former Egyptian prince and known as the authorship of the Torah. That made me intrigued totally because Egyptians and Jews are not a good match so far.
Before Sukkot, Paris 19ème, 2015, ©emmarubinstein
Before Sukkot, Paris 19ème, 2015, ©emmarubinstein

I enjoy the idea waking up every morning and to go to bed less stupid than in the morning.

I am not going to elaborate the Mishnah class. The teacher is nice and funny. He is a Lubaba. But it's more like a literal translation of the Mishnah we are studying. We can ask questions. I need more time to make a better opinion of this class.

I would like to talk about the Talmud class.
There are two teachers who teach that class.
I have been to a class about messianism taught by one of them. I stopped going because he has a big ego and he always talked about his wife. It bothered me a lot. I made some attempts to ask questions. Each time, he said that he will reply to me. He never did.
You can be a real fan of this teacher or not. There is no grey!
Father and daughter, before Sukkot, Paris 19ème, 2015, ©emmarubinstein

I chose the other one.
Last week, i was so excited by this class and also by the teacher.
He is a rabbi and a teacher, not surprising!
From a point of view of a woman or female, he is very attractive for me: tall and hair. He has something  very elegant in the way he teaches. He is manly. I can't give him an age but maybe between 45 and 55.
And ashkenazi. :-)

Beyond the attraction i could have, the interaction he gives us during the class is awesome.
First thing, he said to us: "I want to be honest with you. I don't think that you will be able to study the Talmud at the end of the year."
The complexity of the Talmud and a lack of knowledge are the main reasons, but he is here to give us some clues and a way of understanding things.

I should say that he is a modern rabbi. He is often joking.
We are studying the Chapter 7 about Shabbos and the sacrifices.
I was not really enthusiastic to the idea of studying sacrifices of animals as you know.

I feel useful when i am following this class.

He talked about the intimacy of the Talmud study. The transmission is the main thing.
The difference between the study of the Torah and the study in secular school is that there is no beginning in the study of the Torah. Everything has the same value. That's disturbing.

There is a distinction between obligations and interdictions. For Kippur, there is no interdictions of not eating, but it said: "You will mortify yourself".
365 interdictions, and 2 obligations : circumcision and Pessah sacrifice.

Now, imagine the classroom. All the women around the rabbi.
You can talk at anytime, that's an open discussion.
But if you reply "Yes" or "No", you have to argue. He is a great listener. You can ask him lots of questions. he will take the time to reply to you. If he doesn't know nothing, he will tell us.
He makes us think and he makes himself think with our questions.
That's how i see useful education.
Before Sukkot, rue des Rosiers, Paris 4ème, 2015, ©emmarubinstein