Dunking Rachael: World Record Shattered!

Sunday, August 24, 2008

World Record Shattered!

Well maybe not a world record, but at least a personal best...This week it only took me 2 hours and 10 minutes to complete my grocery shopping!

As I slowly, and timidly continue to climb the ladder of observance,it is clear that the observance of the Laws of Kashrut continue to be the most confusing for me.

I often contemplate the long line of history, and the women who shopped there! While I am standing examining a box for one of the many elusive symbols indicting kosher, I long for simpler times when a chicken was a chicken and pre-packaged food was a novelty!

Not to turn this into a diatribe on consumerism and the gluttony of the western world, but when you actually have to review every single item that goes into the cart...it does cause one to pause.

This all has heightened my awareness that in many places in the world one is lucky to have something clean and fresh to eat, and on the kosher front there are many that have very limited if any options. I can not imagine what it must be like to try and keep kosher in Alaska or Mississippi.

I know I am lucky to live in an area where kosher options are abundant, from full size markets and stores which only carry kosher items to butcher shops and bakeries. Yet this abundance does carry a price, and a responsibility. I believe that Kosher is more than just the symbol on the package (see my post on the meat packing plant controversy.)

I also believe that being mindful of the totality of Kashrut is a responsibility and a privilege that we perform for ourselves, our community/planet and our relationship to the divine. I am still climbing that ladder, and I am clearly not totally observant at this point, but I do see this practice as a very deep meditation that transcends food labels.

But hey, if they could just make those labels and symbols just a little simpler that wouldn't be so bad either!

Web sites with lists of kosher symbols

http://www.hanefesh.com/edu/kosher_Food_Symbols.htm#USA

http://www.jewishrecipes.org/reliable-kosher-symbols.html

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: Hello Rachel! Interesting post! For me, at the beginnign of my journey, I am thankful that our meat consumption is so limited that at least the mixing meat and milk part of things is not an issue. Of course, we do have to bear in mind how things are produced when looking at kashrut, but we try to do that with regards to organic/non-GM foods anyway. I am being sensible (I think) and not trying to do everything at once - it would be just too hard! Good luck to you in your kosher journey.; August 26, 2008 at 7:47 AM

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Beit Din test Question #22 "If you were to join the Jewish people......."

22) If you were to join the Jewish people, what considerations would guide you to that decision? How did your course help you to recognize some meaningful ideas to Judaism? Are there some things you have learned in the course that you find difficult to accept into your life?

I have been a thinker and a seeker for most of my life. I have explored many faiths, been involved in and have a keen interest in philosophy and psychology. I was raised in an Irish/Italian Catholic home. I lived as a Buddhist/Unitarian Universalist for most of my adult life and previously was married for 20 years to a Jewish man who did not practice his faith of origin. At the birth of my child, now 19, I sought to learn as much as I could about Judaism in order to expose this child to the faith of part of her ancestors. So I come to this new point in my life with all my experiences, knowledge and aspirations.

But the question remains how did I come to consider conversion? It is though love that the door of conversion was opened. I fell in love with a Jewish man who participates in his religion, yet he did not require me to convert, pressure me, or in any way attempt to persuade or force me. This exploration of faith was of my choosing, my volition, nurtured by love.

Clearly I am not dogmatically tied to my faith of origin, seeing that the religious expressions which dominated my adult life have been mostly non-theistic. The major change/challenge for me is in the consideration/acceptance of a theistic understanding of existence. Through explorations with my sponsoring Rabbi, reading, (lots of reading!) and the Hillel class I have come to an understanding of the divine, a place of relationship with a theistic point of view that resonates within me.

To help to articulate this I refer to the work of existentialist thinker and Jewish educator Franz Rosenzweig.

“The function of religion, according to Rosenzweig, is not to erect theological systems or establish universal truths, but to lead to experience of God, starting from one's own personal existence. He "commends 'the Pharisees of the Talmud and the saints of the Church' for knowing that 'man's understanding extends only so far as his doing.' Religious observance is, in effect, the doing of one's religious convictions; the two cannot be separated."
“(Time Magizine Monday, Jan. 01, 1951 , http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814185,00.html)

For Rosenzweig the written word was to be less important than the living exchange, for it is in the doing that the relationship to God will manifest. This idea blends well with my own mindfulness practices. These practices express that it is in the awareness of the moment, the only moment we truly have, where peace and divinity can be experienced.
Through my answers on this exam, my participation in the class and my meetings with my sponsoring Rabbi, I believe I clearly present that I am coming to know, and hopefully I am beginning to understand the meaningful ideas in relationship to Judaism. Clearly there is so much to learn, and experience.

I am most taken by the direct experience of the divine associated with taking on the laws and practices of this ancient faith. I have aspirations to practice in this tradition, but once again they can be best articulated through Rosenzweig:
“Rosenzweig’s approach was subjective also in connection with the mitzvot, Jewish observances. He did think that he would one day become a fully observant Jew, but believed in the gradual approach in which the observances slowly made their impact by “ringing a bell” for him. Typical of this approach is Rosenzweig’s answer to someone who asked him whether he wore tefillin [phylacteries]: “Not yet,” he replied.”
(My Jewish Learning.com http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history_community/Modern/IntellectualTO/Rosenzweig.htm)

Like the bell of mindfulness practice, the mitzvot, the mindfulness practice of Judaism, will take time to incorporated and to resonate within. Like the ringing of the mindfulness bell, or the sounding of the Shofar, the act of doing Judaic practices pierces the daily, the mundane and hopefully will help to awaken me to an even richer and more connective relationship with the Jewish people and the divine.