The Ephemerist's Notebook: Days of Awe

Corner of Houston and Bowery 9/15

Dancer at a street fair

The days between Rosh Hashonah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are called the Days of Awe. Days of personal reflection and a time to look at the year past and to move into the new year with a sense of purpose. I like that phrase- days of awe. The world is too wide and wonderful and diverse to move through it with anything less- yet if you do- or at least if *I* do there's a pretty good chance I'm going to trip on my shoelaces.

On Friday nights- on every Friday night, I light sabbath candles. I do not always do so at sunset. Sometimes I sing the prayer out loud- and sometimes I whisper it to myself. But every week I look back and think of one thing from each day of the week that has just passed- there is a psalm that asks g-d to teach us to number our days so that we may get us a heart of wisdom. And it is important to look at each day, for me. So I do. And I light candles because this world needs all the light it can get.

I looked at this particular batch of photos- ending with today when I did a smoked fish run to Russ and Daughters on the lower east side of Manhattan. I will be in Detroit with my friend Kiwi for Yom Kippur. I did not want to try and find the traditional break the fast foods in Detroit- they have some mighty fine chicken wings but I do not trust their smoked fish. Michigan... and deli- I don't think so. My friend Dan lives in Seattle and says New York has better deli in a Korean grocery than the rest of the country has in their so-called "Jewish Delis". I believe him- Dan's religion is pastrami- based.

To explain a little about why I would spend Yom Kippur in the middle of the country ( weren't you just THERE?- Yes, yes I was. Thanks for paying attention.) Yom Kippur is a really important day in the Jewish Calendar- arguably the MOST important. You fast for 26 hours- No water. No Food. And no coffee. Important for me to be with someone who understands how sacred this day is- as Kiwi says-no sex, no leather, no food- what are we going to do watch reruns of the Waltons? Also important to have someone who can put up with me when about 14 hours into it I would kill my own mother for a cup of coffee. And the Kiwi wants very much to be Jewish. He has the humor covered. He knows more about the holiday observances than many Jews I know- (as kinky as it sounds- the no leather thing is actually a prohibition on wearing leather shoes on the high holy days- a bit of minutiae known only by the faithful) So how, you may ask- does a nice-ish Episcopalian or Lutheran or whatever he is boy from New Jersey by way of New Zealand, know the intricate details of an observant Jewish life?

The answer is simply- imprinting. From a scientific website www.bookrags.com "Imprinting describes a process in which newborn animals rapidly develop a strong attachment to a particular individual, often the mother. It is associated particularly with precocious bird species (species that mature early) such as chickens, ducks, and geese, in which the young hatch fairly well-developed." Kiwi is - in this instance, the way he is because instead of imprinting on his OWN mother at birth- he waited and imprinted on Trudy Schloss. I learned about Trudy before I even knew the names of his 3 beloved children. Next door neighbor, holocaust survivor and a mean strudel maker. As I recall the Schlosses had children around Kiwi's age and that was the point of entry but that was incidental. I know the first time a young and impressionable Kiwi walked into the Schloss kitchen and smelled tsimmes cooking, onions frying and strudel baking and was greeted by Trudy with the traditional Jewish greeting- not hello, or nice to meet you- (we have never spoken of this, Kiwi and I, but I can guarantee) the first words were: "Come." "Sit." "Eat." Imprinting took place at that moment- Kiwi's true Jewish heart opened, took a snapshot with the caption underneath that read "Hey mom, I'm HOME". A bit more about imprinting:

Imprinting is advantageous because once offspring imprint on their mother, they will try to remain close to her and follow her around, behaviors that are beneficial in terms of the offspring's survival. Imprinting on Trudy means that the Kiwi not only has what is known as a "Yiddishe Kopf" a Jewish head- high praise indeed. But he also has a Yiddishe heart, and it is one of the reasons we get on so well. Sadly he has a white guy's tuchas...

The point being: Kiwi- your job- find bagels that don't suck. I've got the rest covered.