A visit from "The Rabbi" ...

February 1st, 2012

I was so fascinated by Rabbi Porter's hands. As he deconstructed our dishwasher to show us the accumulated gook (lovely), I kept looking at his hands. Surgeon's hands, or maybe a pianist.  He had no issues with lightening striking him as he ran his hands over our years of trief (unkosher) burnt-on, glommed on grime. And then he washed his hands (quickly too, not like he was removing toxic waste) and that was that.

So, I realized that trief is where we are and Kosher is where we want to be and not to be so dramatic about the whole thing. If you make a mistake you put the dish in the "Box 'O Mistakes" and move on. Dishes to be rekashured later.

Good news! We can keep mostly everything we have and can have it Kashured. There are laws about this sort of thing. So when I hear "law" I think in terms of black and white. You are in or out. Right or wrong. My epiphany last night was this: These laws are about awareness. To elevate our thinking and hearts. So if I am aware and eating purposefully, thanking G-d for this food (which many people in this Country and world do not have), is it reasonable to be less stringent with me than it is for someone who was born and bred into generations of Kashrus ? I suspect they take that for granted...What elevates their thinking ?  Lest you think that this was my first epiphany about this sort of thing, let me tell you this:  I always come back to this conclusion. I rethink it...I struggle with it. I think it is really mumbo-jumbo dancing around a fire waving magic into my kitchen. <sigh> But, my heart says, try this on for size...see if this fits.

I am quite the human being. Given a choice between sugar and broccoli, I'm going for the chocolate. Given the choice between standing on the street and eating a hotdog from the vendor as I wait for the game to start or purposely preparing and thinking about nourishing my body? Guess what... I'm opting for ease of use and satiating my immediate hunger. This Kosher business (and more about my thoughts on the "business" end of things later) requires me, nudges me, nags me, pulls me along to a thinking process.
Oh us crazy Jews!  Always opting  for the long drawn out thinking process. Not for the lazy.

So we are starting to take the new things we have bought already and not used to the Mikveh.  A sort of dunking process that instills the Holy intent of keeping Kosher. It's kind of cool, except for the part that Dave, being that non-Jew that he is right now, can't do the dunking. But I bet he can do the carrying and schlepping!!  So, I will contact my favorite store-keeper and just-so-happens-to-have-a-mikve-in-his-store-for the-dishes-he-sells guy, Joseph, and figure this thing out. BTW, Joe is of Iranian decent and he is a whole story in himself. Lovely man, and I am looking forward to his insight and  demeanor as we make our dishes fit for use.