Jewish Orthodox mum AMA

[jewishorthomum]

I'm a 29 yr old Jewish Orthodox religious mum of 2 little boys. Is there anything you'd like to ask about Orthodox Jewish life?
Kill my time whilst I'm waiting to be called in for an appointment.
(When I get called in for my app I'll have to run but will try respond later if there are questions.)

Have any of your childhood friends or family members left the community, and if so, why?

Thanks for answering.
so if there was a need for an autopsy, how would that affect shiva etc?

I'm back. And wow so many questions! I'll do my best to answer them.
@EllaDisenchanted Hi! Sure please help me out with answering.

A story emerged years ago that my great grandad was an Orthodox Jew, who had met my great grandmother (Irish) and they lived together and had children. The story said his family cut him off, and had a funeral -type service for him, and turned every picture of him round to face the wall! Does that sound likely? One of my aunties insisted it wasn't true, the other said she'd heard that story for years. It was about a hundred years ago! What do you think?

No questions but just wanted to say I have loved this thread. Thank you for sharing OP!

Orthodox Judaism views anyone with a jewish mother as Jewish, so as long as your husbands mum was Jewish we would say he is 100% Jewish. However as he married a someone who is not Jewish your kids would not be Jewish.

I've only read the OP's comments so apologies if somebody has already addressed these but here are my questions. Apologies for any clumsy wording, I mean no offence.

1. Does your community really enjoy theme parks? There often seems to be a high number of Orthodox Jews whenever I visit a theme park. 2. Orthodox Jewish children seem very insular and not at all interested in kids from other cultures. Why is this? They also seem to have different boundaries for personal space and often brush against strangers when moving past them.

1. What language do you speak at home?

1. Do you integrate with others outside your own community at all?

A fascinating topic, thank you in advance!

You hear of people lying in agony for hours waiting for an ambulance. Doesn't happen in our community. We have fully trained paramedics and kitted ambulances that'll arrive at a scene withing minutes and give the best care possible. Did I mention they're 100% volunteers and everything is funded by community charity donations?

What about people struggling with health issues? Lonely people? Needing support after giving birth? Bedridden for months?

There are organisations for all the above and more. Again, free, run by volunteers and funded by donations.

Wow. That is amazing — and wonderful.

My question is do you vegetarian Jews and are there dietary rules around vegetarian diet?
( and I’ve learnt more in the last half hour than I have in a long time. Thank you)

I assume this doesn't apply to parents and children?

I'm truly sorry you were treated this way. I don't leave near Stamford Hill. Stamford hill has a large community of orthodox Jews from the chassidic Jewish sect. This is one of the most intensely (extreme) religious Jewish groups in the UK. The reason that the men cross over the road from you is that I'm assuming you're a female and they believe in making as much separation between the genders as possible. They won't look at or interact with women other than their wives. Also if you were dressed less modestly than is appropriate in their circles they would cross the road to avoid looking.
Once again there are many different levels in religious observance and most Jewish men will have no issue interacting with women.

Is there anything in your religion you disagree with?

Intergender physical contact is allowed with (grand)parents, siblings and spouses (except when niddah).

Passionate hatred?!

You do realise the Israel/Palestine question comes up on AMAs to British Muslims, Christians and Arabs too right?

Do you also think it comes from a place of passionate hatred for them, rather than curiosity on their views?

Hi, honestly I don't know offhand of a cookbook with traditional Jewish recipies because I'd just ask my mum how to make Challos (braided bread), gefitla fish or matzah balls. I'm sure they do exist but I just don't know of them. There is a great website called kosher.com with fabulous Jewish related recipes.

At what age do you have to stop hugging your sons during niddah? Mine are teens and still like a hug. Surely that's still allowed when they're little?

Many Jewish people I know are vegetarian. I know that a lot of 'traditional' orthodox jewish people love their meat and see it as a religious duty to consume it on shabbat. At the same time, there are orthodox jewish women like my MIL who don't eat meat out of convenience. Her kitchen is small and she can't afford kosher meat. She eats fish but very rarely (passover mainly) so she is practically vegetarian 90% of the time.

I often get invited for events with the Jewish vegetarian Society and one of the patrons is a masorti rabbi. there are also orthodox jewish people involved.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_vegetarianism

@CanOfGerms I'm no scientist but my understanding is that since orthodox Jews usually marry other ortho Jews and there aren't that many of us there is a higher chance of genetic illnesses.

Oh yes, My great granddad was on the Kindertransport from Europe to England. Both my great grandparents were from Europe Poland and Germany.

1. Not necessarily theme parks, but we don't go to cinema or shows, so it's more or less either rides, animals or boating. With thousands of kids (ke"h) on 'outing days', you're bound to see a few at theme parks.

2 & 4. The short answer is that we've kept our identity and religion by not assimilating with others. There are always exceptions, but by and large we'll just have close friendships with our own.

This leads to us having our own culture, which will at times be at odds with the outside culture. Hence the difference in personal space boundaries (though old fashioned rudeness does play its part too).

1. Yiddish and English. Some families will be more exclusively Yiddish and some English.

@cowcat yes I would wear a crossbody bag. I think I referenced it earlier, but I personally would see that crossbody thing as an example of a non mainstream, extreme practice creeping in, and some people are pushing it to become mainstream. It's one thing for someone to personally choose to do that because they want to, it's another thing to push it as a norm for everyone. Judaism is usually about a balanced approach, and in my opinion this sort of thing reflects misogynistic/extremist ideas, rather than Tznius (roughly, modesty). There is a lot of pushback from Jewish feminists (including Orthodox jews) against extremist practices and a growing feminist activist movement, particularly through social media.

The seatbelt thing - I've not heard of it, but I would call that extremism, not Judaism.

Ortodox jews are not supposed to use the internet, how come are you posting here?

Hello! Thank you for doing an AMA. I love them. I have a few questions here:

1. I understand that wigs can look lovely and look natural, so how do people know you are wearing a wig? That might sound really silly. I guess people assume it’s a wig if they know you are married?
2. are you planning on having any more children? (Just me being nosy!)
3. Are there any practices you sometimes question even if you still overall feel a certain way?
4. what is your take on current lgbtq+ movement and issues presented.

Niddah restrictions are only for spouses.

As siblings grow older (teens) there'll be little to no physical contact of intimate nature, ie hugging & kissing.

@jewishorthomum ahem i jumped the gun 😬😄(no patience)

Who told you that?