[lbo-talk] umbrellas and hasidism

[Chuck Grimes]

It occurs to me, that when I was curious about Judaism it was a simple
matter of picking up a casual friendship with my neighbor
downstairs. We had some common ground to start, photography, and lots
of books. It turned out Mat was an ancient history nut. So that's how
it started, naturally, easily, without any business over oppression,
bigotry, or prejudice. I learned a lot from him. We used to argue
continuously, with our roles reversed. He was always playing devil's
advocate. So, that meant I had to defend various things like God's
punishment of Moses, i.e no promised land for you. My justification
was the punishment follows the law of reciprocity as justice. The
grestest gift incured the greatest sacrifice.

After Matty moved, I got to know Mike the guy who moved in next. Mike
belongs to an Orthodox congregation. It is Hasidic, but I don't know
its name. He follows the laws on various things like food. But he
interprets the dress codes without actually dressing in any of the
traditional dress. We occasionally share a drink together in the
evenings. It was during one of these evening conversations, that I got
a really fine insight into religious belief, in a good sense. That was
always lacking in me.

So, our friendship has to be based on my respect for that, for the
centrality of belief. The one subject we have agreed not to talk
about was Israel. If he wants to talk about Israel, he brings it up,
and I listen. When Israel pulled its winter offensive on Gaza, and I
had been following the Gaza websites ... I was going down the back
stairs and Mike happened to be coming out his back door. He must have
been following the news about Gaza. I know he was just as horrified as
I was. He didn't say anything. He just rolled his eyes and shook his
head. His reaction was deep sadness. Mine of course was outrage. But
the more I thought about it, the more I also found sadness. It's the
kind of sadness that comes from watching hypocritical fools.

What's the point of sharing all this? If you see any common ground to
get to know your neighbors, use it to start up an aquaintance. Then
your curiousity will be satisfied without intrusion, intended or
otherwise. Questions and anwers will follow, organically on their
own. This is very easy to do here in this particular building and this
community. What makes it easy is the extreme diversity of people
incountered in everyday life.

So, I tend to separate out theory here and skip it as a practice and
practical matter. Instead, I get to know people and find out what they
are like.  

These experiences have lead me to a completely different
interpretation of multiculturalism---that I don't see it as somekind
of liberal guilt tripping sop, or bad idea or some counter revolution
practice.

I found in practice it's quite the reverse for me. I have gotten to
know about other worlds, other cultural systems, other ways of thought
and living. If there is some down side to all this multiculturalism, I
sure haven't found any.

CG