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From: <span class="gI"><span class="gD">Hellinckx Luc</span> <span class="go"><a href="mailto:luc.hellinckx@gmail.com">luc.hellinckx@gmail.com</a></span></span><p class="MsoNormal">
Subject: <span class="gI">LL-L "Traditions"</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br><span class="gI"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">Dear Gael,</p><div><br><div><div>You wrote:</div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div>
<p class="MsoNormal"> To be optimistic though, I do think the way
back to a real past is easy enough to discover. I’m grateful for all
your emails, especially those that carry ideas forward in languages
besides English. Gradually I’m learning to read them.
So yes, learning new languages is fun, Hanne. Thanks for helping me to
do the same. I hope you all know that I’m more than happy to engage in
the real past and not just propagate these fake ones. But locally here
in rural Minnesota, I’ve started to think
more about strategies for recovering painful memories—like those that
wounded Civil War veterans brought back to this area over 100 years ago
after fighting fellow Americans from the southern part of the country.
There are also intentionally obstructed memories
of a bloody war with the native Dakota tribe that resulted in their
banishment to the neighboring state. It is probably not coincidental
that these superficial invented traditions started to emerge about that
time. How does one move forward after so many
years???? I think you all in Europe and other places with intact,
realistic memories of the past can help us in the US. The question
remains how, though. Let’s keep talking.</p></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>You
hit the nail right on the head. Many people (all over the world) are
indeed scared to bring up the real past. It could be a period in time
they are not proud of and it sure helps to "invent" something
superficial and festive to wash it all away. For me, there should be
balance, indulging in the past is not the way to go but this party-like
atmosphere is all too easy as well. "Créer, c'est se souvenir", Victor
Hugo once said. We need both.</div><div><br></div><div>Ed's link to the Jiingtamok site contained at least one good phrase in this respect:</div><div><br></div><div>"<span style="line-height:14px">We have faith in our children that they will never allow what has happened in the past to happen again."</span></div>
<div><span style="line-height:14px"><br></span></div><div><span style="line-height:14px">Kind greetings,</span></div><div><span style="line-height:14px"><br></span></div><div><span style="line-height:14px">Luc Hellinckx, Halle, Belgium<br>
<br>----------<br></span></div></div></div><br><div>From: R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">sassisch@yahoo.com</a>><br>
Subject: Traditions<br><br>Thanks for the reports about your sojourn in the USA, Roger. <br><br>Many national chain stores (like Target) tend to vary their offerings to accommodate local requirements. <br><br><div style="margin-left:40px;font-family:courier new,monospace">
<font style="color:rgb(0,0,153)">Some food at the Target is also marked "Kosher", other as "100% Kosher".</font><font style="color:rgb(0,0,153)">I don't know what is the difference between the two.</font><br>
</div></div><div><br>The label "kosher" is often used to mean simply "kosher-style," but these foodstuffs have not (necessarily) been certified kosher by rabbinic overseers. For instance, Hebrew National sausages are often referred to as "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashrut">kosher</a>" but are not "100% kosher" (or <i>glat kosher</i> גלאַט כשר as it is called in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiddish">Yiddish</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yinglish">Yinglish</a>). And then there is "kosher for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passover">Passover</a>" (which has had no contact with leavening). These days, most American Jews do not actually "keep kosher," though many of them will observe the basic rules, such as avoiding port and shellfish, and not consuming dairy and meat at the same meal. It is especially Orthodox Jews that follow <b>all </b>the rules and buy only certified kosher foods. (BTW, "kosher" does not only refer to food; it refers to clothing, lifestyle and interpersonal dealings as well.)<br>
<br></div>
<div><div style="margin-left:40px;font-family:courier new,monospace"><font style="color:rgb(0,0,153)">I
do not see people over here (Brentwood-Clayton area) in traditional
Ashkenasi dress, just incidentally (but exceptionally) though young
girls with long dresses (the boys do not have the hair strings at the
ears as one sees in Antwerp).</font><br></div><br>The Antwerp people you are talking about, Roger, are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haredim">Ultra-Orthodox Jews (a.k.a. Haredim)</a>. There are several streams or movements among them. The trained eye can distinguish them by their clothing and hairstyles. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peyoth">Long side locks</a> (Hebrew <i>pe'ot</i> <span dir="rtl" lang="he">פֵּאוֹת</span>, Yiddish <i>peyes</i>) are sported by boys and men in some of these streams or movements. In some movements they hang loose, in others they are curled and in yet others they are tucked behind the ears. You will see many of these versions in communities in Israel and in the northeastern United States (mostly in Borough Park and Williamsburg, New York). Here on the western side of the country you will see such things quite rarely, and this includes the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzitzit"><i>tzitzit</i> (צִיצִית)</a>, strings or tassels that hang out from boy's and men's clothing. These days, the majority of practicing American Jews belong to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_Judaism">Reform Movement</a> (which began in Hamburg, Germany), somewhat fewer to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Judaism">Conservative Movement</a> (called Masorti outside North America, a movement that began in Seeßen, Germany), and a dwindling number to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthodox_Judaism">Orthodox Movements</a>, though Ultra-Orthodox Jews tend to procreate rapidly (so much so that right now one of four Israeli schoolchildren comes from an Ultra-Orthodox household -- and many Ultra-Orthodox Jews don't even recognize Israel's existence as legitimate). Also, there are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanist_Judaism">Humanistic (or Secular)</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstructionist_Judaism">Reconstructionist</a> Jewish movements. All movements except the Orthodox ones are bundled together under the label "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Judaism">Progressive Judaism</a>."<br>
<br>Sorry I have rambled on about this. I did so because most people outside North America have no knowledge or appreciation of Jewish diversity. (And this was only the tip of the iceberg.) There are currently barely thirteen million Jews on this planet -- a tiny minority. But a bit more than half of them live in North America and have strongly influenced almost all facets of European-derived North American culture and history. This is why it is important to learn about them, even within a Lowlands context.<br>
<br>Regards,<br>Reinhard/Ron<br>Seattle, USA<br></div><span style="font-size:10pt"><span></span></span><p class="MsoNormal">
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