Walking In Two Worlds

Now I have noticed that dignity is something  we strive for, especially if you are a women in the Jewish Community. "The Jewish Community" I am speaking about is the relatively observant community. The word I am grasping for and want to share with you is powerful...  "Tzinius". It means modesty. 


Modesty brings to mind women who are 30 and look 40...who dress traditionally and, it seems, blend into the walls and floors. To become the very fabric of the household...but not in a glorious singing voice. No. In a way that creaks the floor boards. They are the  worn spots of carpeting on the stairs, they are the grout peeling from the tub.


My dear friends,  this is not true!!! The above picture I have painted is an easy easy, way to say that you are being lazy and not hearing looking and feeling what is going on around you.  These women may indeed look different from you and me but they are a frisson of energy and passion. Extremely bright pulsating lights. I have seen more entrepreneurship in this community than I have seen in 'the real world". Funny, college teaches you the "get up and go" spirit is the American way. I think in this religious community I associate with, that spirit is taught from the cradle. 


There seems to be an inherent desire to find your life's passion and somehow, someway, pursue this in step with your relationship with G-d.  I get that! Thus far, I have met some very cool  women... accountants (mutants!),  a gazillion teachers, printers, Doctors, dolphin trainers , make up artists, another gazillion store owners, bakers,  landscapers and about 3 gazillion professional mothers.  As in any great cultural icon, the children is where the heart lies. 

Johnny Cash "gets me"...

Remember the Johnny Cash song "I Walk The Line" ? So I am really thinking of pouring a Jack Daniels and kicking back to Country. So American, so apple pie, so white picket fence. Walking the line between Norman Rockwell and the Torah. Sometimes I see myself disappearing into the black skirts and though I really dig the black skirts swishing around my legs, I do not dig the box from which they emerge.  And I don't care that it is a multi colored skirt...better, but it still is from a closet in which I can find it hard to get fresh air.


What happens when you are with people that are all alike? That carry the same values? That read the same sort of books and follow the same authority figure? Of course, they tend to merge into a monolithic group.  The challenge to thought diminishes. BUT, BUT, BUT, all of the sudden you see the POP of color and spirituality and dynamism. That, my dear friends, is what I am going to capture. 


Ok, back to Norm and white picket fences: Did you know that my "black hatted" friends don't celebrate Thanksgiving? What's with that?! That offended me. I see taking a pass on Saint Valentine's Day and Halloween.... but Thanksgiving??  I am so incredibly proud  to be able to assimilate into Americanism. (I am not even venturing into the world of political correctness and Native Americans. Please, there is just so many banners I can carry) This does not mean I give up being a Jew. But I am making mashed potatoes, turkey and dressing and pumpkin pie. I will used that crazy chemical faux dairy stuff for my pie, but I am eating Thanksgiving dinner, sipping my Jack and watching football.