I am Jewish AMA

[Bells3032]

Following answering some Q&As on a thread about the programme Unorthodox thought i'd do an AMA here. I have looked and don't think there's been one since like 2018.

I am a traditional/modern orthodox Jew so not Hasidic like the show but I actually do talks on Judaism as part of my job and I so my knowledge is fairly good and I am rarely embarrassed or offended by questions.

So go ahead AMA

an an ex Catholic, I wanted a religion with female clergy.

Me too. The priest who received me in the Episcopal Church was a woman and another baptized both of my kids. DH and I both think it's important that they grew up in a church with women in leadership roles. I've served on the vestry in two Episcopal churches. I love having a real voice in the church.

This has to be the most interesting thread on mumsnet, so thank you for starting it @Bells3032.

How do you get around the requirement for electricity for medical equipment in the home during Sabbath, especially if you can't pre-plan it with a timer?

For example, my mum had COPD and regularly required the use of a nebuliser. DH has sleep apnoea and uses a CPAP machine. Would these be exempt from the rules?

What about people with trachostomies who require regular suction, other health issues that require electrical medical equipment?

@painauchoc04 Health is #1, no one would expect a jew to keep the laws of shabbat and risk their health.

I am fascinated by Ashkenazi surnames. Why for example. .would we assume that a name like say...I don't know..Rajzman/Raisman or Bauerman was Jewish and not just German?
Also names like Gold..Silver..Diamond..seem to be invariably Jewish names.. translated I suppose..why is that?

....also the only person I have met whose surname was essentially a variant spelling od 'ashkenazi' had his family heritage in the middle east and didn't look remotely germanic...

Sorry haven't been active - my husband is using our personal laptop for work at the moment and been working long hours. it's too hard to keep typing on my phone.

@MollyBloomYes I don't think it was me that mentioned it. I honestly have no idea! Maybe trying ancestry or Geni to track down other relatives.

@Ginfordinner someone's health will ALWAYS come first (with the exception of denying G-d, murder and sexual immorality). Therefore if they need it they can turn electricity on and off. They may also decide to leave the electricity on - you can leave it on, you're just not meant to turn it on and off. You can also use timers. But if neither of those are options you can turn it on and off.

@destroyedpeople a lot of the Ashki surnames are just completely made up (as my married name) when they came to the UK/USA or in Germany/Poland and then angelized (as my maiden name). It's hard to tell between German/Polish/Jewish names.

@cleanseTone the Jewish belief in the afterlife is not so set in stone as other religions. There's not a concept in heaven and hell in the same sense. The most accepted one is that when you die you go to a limbo type place for up to 11 months where you are cleansed to then be received by G-d and then you will be resurrected at the time the messiah comes. Liberal and some reform Judaism don't believe the messiah will come so can be very different.

But overall Jew's views of the afterlife can be very very varied and some can believe in reincarnation and others just nothing etc

@Bells3032 I visited a Muslim friend in Jerusalem a few years ago. Fantastic place. We visited Mount of Olives and I was struck by the thousands of Jewish graves lining the hillside. My friend said to me that Jewish people wished to be buried in this location as it was closest to the gate which opens up into the old city and that this was the first step to 'heaven'.

Can you explain this in a bit more detail as I feel it doesn't tie in with what you just said about the concept of heaven not existing in the same way it does in Christianity.

English is not my friend's first language and also I don't know how much detail he knows about Judaism so he might have explained it incorrectly or I may have got the wrong end of the stick.

@smellybeard Sorry I explained that badly. The concept of heaven isn't in the same vein as Christianity or Islam with fluffy clouds and joy and happiness forever more. heaven is where G-d resides. that's what it means. That it is the closest place on earth to G-d

@Bells3032 sorry my mistake! Must have been someone else, long and fascinating thread and I got confused! Thanks for starting it!

I live in Surrey. My father was Jewish. I make lokshen according to his recipe. A 3lb roasting chicken doesn't do it. Where can I get a kosher boiling fowl please. Can get to London. My father used to bring one home from "the Lane" 50+ years ago. Sometimes they had egg yolks still and they just went into the soup.

I'd also like a mazuzza (sp) can I have one as someone who doesn't practice.

@ohtheroses Kosher butchers can be found in the Jewish areas in NW London - mainly Golders Green, Hendon, Edgware and Borehamwood and there's probably a few in Stamford Hill too but I think you'd be better off in the ones not in Haradi areas. What do you mean you made lokshen? Lokshen is basically noodles?? What were you trying to make?

A Mezzuzah can also be found in Judica Stores - I'd try Golders Green has a few or Divrei Kodesh in Edgware for those as there's more dotted around. I don't see why you can't have one as long as you treat it respectfully and put it up properly - you can easily find instructions online. Bear in mind they can be quite expensive (the scrolls really cost a min of about £30 for a small plus the cases) and you're supposed to have them for every doorway except for a room with a toilet in it.

@Destroyedpeople my grandads family surname is Gold

Ah, what we called Lokshen was: a boiling fowl, covered in cold water, carrots, celery, onion - all chopped. Add to that vermicelli.

It was eaten as soup with chicken, potatoes and extra vegetables and also as a soup with noodles. It was delicious but I've never been able to properly recreate it.

Perhaps we did it wrong.

@ohtheroses the vermicelli you mentioned is the lokshen. The soup you mentioned is just chicken soup. Jewish Chicken soup which is actually just broth. Although never heard of it adding potatoes to it. girlandthekitchen.com/jewish-chicken-soup-with-matzo-balls-the-real-jewish-penicillin/

Here's a good recipe with Matzo balls :)

Thank you very much Bells3032.

@ohtheroses everyones seems to taste different and you'll find couples spending their lives arguing over whose mother made the best. The secret ingredient I love.

PS I realised after I typed you didn't mean you put the potatoes in the soup you just had a tradition Friday night dinner - chicken and potatoes and veg - after/with

@ohtheroses you need chicken giblets not a whole chicken

My twin works as a nanny for a Jewish family in NW London, when I was recovering from an operation and could only have liquids her employer made me some Jewish penicillin and said it would basically cure anything wrong with me. It was delicious!

That was it Bells. So if I go to a kosher butcher in N London, it will come with giblets? That's it, that's why it doesn't taste the same.

I don't know what Haradi areas are. Father's father was Ashkenazi (German/Russian/Polish) but his mother was Sephardic and her family were from Oporto and she was Spanish/Portugese. Father came in 1939 - I need say no more. He didn't like to speak of it. He was 10. I never properly understood until I kissed ds goodnight on his 10th birthday. So vulnerable, so loved. I wasn't able to say I understood, father died when ds was 5.

No they sell them seperarely these days. Although think uiu can buy them all as one too

Haradi areas are more orthodox like
Stamford Hill...somewhere like Edgeware or Borehamwood (yayy home towns)s probably better for kosher shopping for a non Jewish person. I think that is what bells meant.

Mmm chicken soup

Dm flavours the soup with cloves (4-5 studded into a whole peeled onion), a pinch of whole peppercorns, a pinch of cinnamon, a bay leaf and a strip of lemon peel. But the real secret is to make the soup at least a day before you want it. You can eat it immediately, and it is delicious. But the flavour definitely improves after sitting with the bones and meat in it overnight. It sets to a soft jelly in the fridge, and you can lift the fat off if you don't want it.

I remember asking dm what crackling was when I was a child, and she explained by making me grivalach out of chicken skin and chicken fat. Just that once, and never again. Soooo good!

I've always wanted to visit Stamford Hill but feel really wary to as I'm not a jew. This is probably a really stupid question, but do non jews live there? Would a non jew walking down the street look really out of place?