Family Traditions that are more widespread than you think

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  • #617537
    CTLAWYER
    Participant

    This morning I was greeted with a post from The Queen, who after reading on of my posts that she thought ‘knippel’ was just a tradition in her family passed from mother to daughter.

    I explained that it was in my family on both the Litvak and Yekkah sides and in my wife’s family as well.

    What family traditions did you grow up with that you thought were just yours and later found out were not so uncommon?

    #1151395
    ubiquitin
    Participant

    Not wearing a kittel.

    Growing up I thought it was made up or a mistake.

    However it is in fact a common minhag among Polish Jewry (Ger chasidim for example)

    #1151396
    147
    Participant

    ubiquitin:- Do you mean you never wear a Kittel? or are you talking about Seder nite that you don’t wear a Kittel.

    #1151397
    ubiquitin
    Participant

    147

    Never. I borrowed one for my wedding and thats it.

    The polish minhag is that a kittel is only worn by the elderly

    #1151398
    ☕ DaasYochid ☕
    Participant

    Originally, I thought we were the only ones to eat wonton soup on erev Yom Kippur.

    #1151399
    ubiquitin
    Participant

    DY

    Just Erev Yom kippur? I’m surprised True heimishe eat them on Hoshana Rabba and Purim too

    #1151400
    ☕ DaasYochid ☕
    Participant

    Well, yes, those too.

    #1151401
    golfer
    Participant

    True heimishe know exactly how to shape them so you’d never mistake them for wontons.

    #1151402
    The Queen
    Participant

    … and call them kreplach. Wonton you eat at a Chinese restaurant.

    #1151403
    ☕ DaasYochid ☕
    Participant

    No, no, wontons. We didn’t have time to make kreplach, so we ran to to the local Chinese kosher restaurant (the one with the name which is a play on words between a Hebrew word and a Chinese word) to buy wontons, and there was a line of people doing the same.

    #1151404
    Geordie613
    Participant

    A Yekkishe family I know, whose children don’t wear a tallis before their barmitzvas. Apparently some areas of Germany didn’t have the minhag.

    DY,

    I think every Chinese kosher restaurant’s name is a play on words between a Hebrew word and a Chinese word.

    #1151405
    ☕ DaasYochid ☕
    Participant

    I think I once heard of one that wasn’t.

    #1151406
    Sam2
    Participant

    I think the major one in New York City isn’t, unless I’m just missing the play.

    It’s also a pretty common Minhag to eat wonton soup on Nittel.

    #1151407
    ☕ DaasYochid ☕
    Participant

    That’s probably the one I heard of.

    #1151408
    SayIDidIt™
    Participant

    What is knippel?

    SiDi™

    #1151409
    The Queen
    Participant

    Lawyer explains it in the geography club thread.

    #1151410
    CTLAWYER
    Participant

    Another family tradition (on my father’s side)………..

    We break the Yom Kippur Fast with a shot of whiskey and then fleishiges.

    I’ve learned not to invite others home for a break the fast meal.

    #1151411
    dovrosenbaum
    Participant

    Breaking a fast on hard liquor and meat sounds very difficult on the digestive system and the body.

    Tisha b’Av, we have lots of cake and juice. After yom kippur, honey cake, followed by appetizing, as the salt in the fish helps the body reabsorb the salt lost during fasting.

    #1151412
    screwdriverdelight
    Participant

    My family tradition was to not wear a tallis before marriage and I always thought it was strange, but I heard of other people who have the same tradition.

    #1353360
    Lightbrite
    Participant

    Growing up, my mom taught me to always break an egg in a small glass Pyrex to check all over for blood spots, including peaking underneath the little dish. In the rare occasions when an egg had blood, the egg would be tossed out and I’d get a new one.

    For anyone who is new here, fyi, I grew up in a less observant household. Later on in life, I noticed that many people [read less observant and non-Jewish] just break their eggs into the pan, bowl, or whatever dish they need to use it for, in cases where they don’t need to break one egg at a time exclusively to beat or whatever [gosh doesn’t it sound violent in this context?].

    It turned out that my mom taught me halacha, something her mother taught her, and I found that out many many years later when I learned more about kashrut. I love my mom. Pretty cool 🙂

    Thanks!

    #1353363

    Knippel=wife squirreling away money to save for a rainy day.

    #1353369

    1. Not wearing a kittel in shana rishono on Yom Kippur and Pesach.
    2. Round kreplach on erev Yom Kippur and triangular ones on Purim.
    3. Making Brocha on lulav and Esrog in the sukkah.
    4. Saying Nishmas on the day of your child’s chasunah
    5. Eating a hard boiled egg at the Pesach Seder

    #1353371
    Lilmod Ulelamaid
    Participant

    “We break the Yom Kippur Fast with a shot of whiskey and then fleishiges.”

    I think that eating a fleishiks meal on Motzei Shabbos may be more than a “family tradition”. I’m not sure about this, since I never looked it up, but it may be something that really everyone one is supposed to do l’chatchila, since it’s supposed to be a real seudah. However, many people are not aware of this (if it is correct),

    As for the whiskey – I think have a vague memory of my mother doing that one year and saying it was her family’s minhag, although I have never heard of anyone else doing that.

    And it was the first and last time, I ever tried “shnapps”. I have a pretty bad memory of the taste.

    #1353478
    golfer
    Participant

    Lightbrite, I so enjoyed reading your post.
    It reminded me of a saying about even the most “empty” (- not learned) Jews being as full of Mitzvos as a pomegranate is full of seeds. Unfortunately I can’t source it or even quote the words in Lashon Kodesh properly. (I’m sure there are a few CR members who can, if they read this. I think this might also be the source for the mistaken thought that a pomegranate has 613 seeds.)
    Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to say anything less than nice about your mother. You mentioned in your post that you were raised in a not so observant home, and I thought it noteworthy that you still managed to absorb a lot of good things there. From the way you come across, I’m sure you gained a lot besides checking eggs for a blood spot.
    You’re so lucky to remember and appreciate all the good things your mother taught you!

    #1353677
    iacisrmma
    Participant

    LU: CTL is talking about Motzai Yom Kippur. What is the connection to Motzai Shabbos that you mention? Unless you are saying that your family has a fleshigeh melava malka every week.

    #1353694
    Lilmod Ulelamaid
    Participant

    Iacisrmma – sorry, that was a typo – I meant to wrote Motzei Yom Kippur. Thanks for the correction.

    #1353709
    Lightbrite
    Participant

    Thank you golfer! I really appreciate your kind words, and your message came across thoughtfully 🙂 🙂 🙂

    #1353820
    Lilmod Ulelamaid
    Participant

    Golfer – maskim. +1. i was thinking along the same lines but don’t know if I would have been able to express it as well.

    #1353859
    ubiquitin
    Participant

    “I think that eating a fleishiks meal on Motzei Shabbos may be more than a “family tradition”. I’m not sure about this, since I never looked it up, but it may be something that really everyone one is supposed to do l’chatchila”

    I think that is stretch. The Remah says Ochlim vesemachim dehavi ketzay Yom Tov” which is easy to make the case that fleishigs is preferred but it is a strecth to say “really everyone is supposed to do” soemthing that isnt brought in shulchan Aruch/Remah or Achronim.
    That said Like CTL My family too has fleishigs
    We also light candles motzei Yom Kippur and Every Motzei Shabbos which apparently is not a common minhag

    Loweryour tuition
    I liked your examples
    1. Not wearing a kittel in shana rishono on Yom Kippur and Pesach.”

    this isnt rare, and is quite viisble on yom kippur as many newy marrieds dont wear a kittel

    3. Making Brocha on lulav and Esrog in the sukkah.
    5. Eating a hard boiled egg at the Pesach Seder
    These two examples are personally the opposite of the OP. They are minhagim I thought were universal as everybody I knew growing up did them. It was only later that I encountered People with different minhagim

    #1353920
    iacisrmma
    Participant

    ubiquitin: Here was the initial question: “What family traditions did you grow up with that you thought were just yours and later found out were not so uncommon?”

    In the shul where I grew up (1960’s and 1970’s), most people made the brocha on lulav and esrog in shul right before Hallel. They did not go down to the shul’s sukkah. So in my neighborhood it was not “common” and only later did I find out how common it was.

    Eating an egg at the seder is not universal. Again, in my neighborhood it was not common.

    #1353924
    ubiquitin
    Participant

    iacrissma

    I wasnt arguing with Loweryourtuition

    I was just saying that personally those examples are Minhagim I htought everybody has but only later realized were not universal.

    When I grew up all the Shuls I davened in had a mass exodus towards the end of chazaras hashatz when everybody would “bench esrog”
    T was torah misinai that at the start of shulchan orech an egg was dipped in salt water.
    Personally those are “family traditions that I grew up with that I thought were everybodies and later found out were not universal (the opposite of the OP)
    I wasnt saying this is the case for everybody. Im sorry if that wasnt clear

    #1353955
    MRS PLONY
    Participant

    Not exactly minhagim, but for sure familial:

    My parents always called slippers ‘bedroom shoes. No one else I knew used the phrase. Then I grew up, became frum, moved to Monsey, learned ah bissele Yiddish, and learned the phrase ‘stenk shiach.’

    Another phrase that I never heard outside of my family was ‘on the riggle’. Other people locked the door, we put it ‘on the riggle’. Then as a Mommy in Monsey I was asking a more experienced Mommy how to keep my toddler from making trouble in the bathroom, because he had just reached the door-opening stage. She told me “You need a riggle” and presented me with a hook-and-eye lock to put on the outside of the bathroom door.

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