I was born to two people who identified as Jewish Americans. I went to Orthodox Jewish Yeshiva twice. Once when I was 4, and then again from third to eighth grade. While my immediate family ( my father and me) considered ourselves to be Conservative Jews, our practice did not reflect those traditions. My father kept kosher by keeping three sets of dishes. One was for milk, one was for meat, and the third was for trafe, or unkosher food. He didn't buy kosher meat or look for a kosher symbol on our food. We often had BLT's, shrimp and lobster. None of these foods are kosher.
When my 4-year-old self attended Orthodox Yeshiva Pre-school, I was challenged and loved the experience. I came home from school and announced that we should keep a kosher home, since I was going to a school where they taught that it was a mitzvah to keep kosher. Ever the rule follower, I informed my father that we should change our ways. He agreed and took me out to dinner to our local Chinese Food restaurant to celebrate. He allowed me to order my usual dish, shrimp chow mein. When it arrived, he announced that if we were going to keep kosher, I could eat the vegetables, but not the shrimp. I changed my mind on keeping kosher that minute and gobbled up my shrimp with gusto. I figured that there were other mitzvot that I could do.
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AuthorI make stuff. Sometimes the stuff is pretty, sometimes not. My wife, 2 dogs, 3 kids and 3 cats keep me busy and on my toes. Archives
January 2022
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