Category Archives: identity

Sylvanian Families

October 18, 2011 – 19:51

Following a visit home, during which old toyboxes were opened and photographs taken, here’s a window into my childhood. I spent uncountable hours making this kind of stuff–not only accessories, but a whole village of wonderful houses, none of which have survived the years. When you’ve seen all this, you should realise that the question [...]

By jen | Also posted in crafts, Tefillin Barbie | Comments (3)

la vie soferet: yiddish

February 2, 2011 – 22:56

Tuesday night, I was teaching at my scribe school, as is my wont on Tuesday nights. Three-quarters of the room was speaking Yiddish. Now, I posted recently about the surreal experience of being at a party of young, egal-type Jews where three-quarters of the room was speaking Yiddish. That was strange, yes. But having three-quarters [...]

By jen | Also posted in La vie soferet, safrut | Tagged | Comments (3)

Messianic sofrot…

November 24, 2010 – 12:57

http://soferet.webs.com/aboutme.htm Oy… A messianic soferet (who thinks the plural of “soferet” is “soferetim”). Okay, people. This is a good example of why you need to know who your scribe was. This person’s work will probably look exactly the same as a Jew’s work. Looking at the site, you might think it was completely okay – [...]

By jen | Also posted in safrut | Comments (0)

הגויה של תשעה באב

July 14, 2010 – 13:35

MarGavriel points us to a little Agnon story. A story appropriate for the season: סיפר לי ר’ אהרן פריימן ז”ל משמו של ר’ אליהו פלנסר ז”ל. ר’ איציק אייכל וחבריו מצאו להם נכרית אחת שבישלה להם לתשעה באב. שבאותו הדור קשה היה ליהודי בברלין למצוא תבשיל בתשעה באב. היו קוראים לאותה נוכרית הגויה של תשעה [...]

By jen | Also posted in israel | Tagged | Comments (4)