The Days of Awe

Happy new year! What? Too early for you? Not if you're Jewish. Tonight is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, and the beginning of the High Holy Days. From what I understand, now until Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), there are ten days of repentance. Our Jewish friends are encouraged to take some time to be introspective, forgiving, and to think about the last year. One Jewish writer talks about the Holy Days at her blog.


So this week is a short work week here as well, though not for Labor Day. Then, in two weeks we'll have Sukkot (a harvest festival, aka the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles). The first and last day are non-work days. Sukkot is the holiday where they build temporary dwellings (sukkahs) outside or on a balcony. You may have seen the movie Ushpizin. In Ushpizin, they are celebrating Sukkot. If you haven't seen the movie, you should! Sukkot is actually exciting for us this year because we have our own visitors coming. We are very excited to have Shawn's sister and mom come just after the holiday starts.


We are also about to wrap up the Muslim holiday of Ramadan. A month of fasting during daylight hours. My muslim friend who also gave birth this year said its a little crazy for them during the fast. Many of them have slightly different schedules during the holiday (though she, as a nursing mom, is not fasting) and then the last fews days of the holiday are busy and the last day of the fast is quite a feast (every year it lands on different days and this year it lands on Sept. 10 and 11th). 


Well, happy holidays to my Muslim and Jewish friends.

Women covering the head, shoulders, knees and...toes?

With Jews, Muslims and Christians all in one crazy city, when we first came here I used to wonder, "should I be wearing a head covering?" But there is no law (as there might be in a Muslim city/country) saying what I have to wear, and what I do wear may actually speak volumes on what I believe.

For the woman wearing a hijab, obviously Muslim. I am no expert, but a nice head covering but showing the neck (and wearing sleeves past her elbows and a skirt), is probably a kind of orthodox Jew. Another orthodox covering is a wig. I have become pretty good at recognizing these wigs by the similar hair cut (neck to just touching shoulder length, slightly layered at the face, probably no bangs, and usually a dark brown color - this is the style right now). These orthodox women shave their heads and the wigs are their head coverings (and are probably wearing long sleeves, dark skirts, and maybe stockings to cover their ankles). For Jewish women, covering their head is something they do when they get married.

A kippah for Jewish women seems to be a whole different story. I've only seen one woman wear a kippah. She's an unmarried student here at the university (from the States), and I think she is either Reformed Jewish or Conservative Jewish (keep in mind that the words "Reformed" and "Conservative" have very different meanings in Judaism). Here in Israel she gets asked often if she's a boy. I've also heard that some feminist Jews encourage female Jews to wear kippahs.

But what about me? When I cover my head its with a hat to keep out the sun (which usually identifies me as a tourist!), otherwise an uncovered woman here will probably be seen as a secular Jew, an unmarried religious Jew if dressing very modestly,  or a Christian. It also depends on where I am at the moment. In the West Bank its pretty easy to see who is a Christian woman as the hijab is very popular for Muslims right now.

I do try make sure I am respectful and modestly dressed according to specific areas of the city. In the old city, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Western Wall (Kotel), and the Temple Mount all have dress requirements and I can satisfy them all by covering my shoulders and wearing a skirt that covers the knees. Although I tend to cover the elbows and wear a skirt that goes down to the ankles if I am visiting these sites. In East Jerusalem and Arab neighborhoods I make sure I cover my shoulders, and if I ever go to Mea Shearim (I haven't been inside this neighborhood except on a bus), I'll be wearing long sleeves, a long skirt, and covering my collar bone because of their specific dress code.

By the way, different religious folks may have requirements for the feet, but I've yet to hear of anyone being offended of my showing off of the toes.

Nails and pedi by sister-in-law Crystal