aurora77

Hello zahavasdad,

I didn’t realize that, thank you for letting me know 🙂

Hello longarekel,

I can’t say that I have noticed this problem in my limited experience…have you tried different brands? I am partial to beeswax candles myself — to me, it seems as if the flame burns more cleanly. This may well not be related to what you are experiencing though. Could it be that perhaps the wicks you have are too long?

Hello kkls45,

I have been thinking of you over Chanukah and hoping that you are back in your home or will very soon be there. Whatever is going on, I wish you and your loved ones the best and am here if you need virtual support!

Hello Health,

I read a reply of yours to WolfishMusings in which you opined that one of his proposed possibilities was unlikely. And, perhaps a demographic statistician by profession would hypothetically be able to provide studies and numbers that support your opinion.

Nonetheless, such “unlikely”s do exist in this diverse world. I myself am coming to Orthodox Judaism after discovering maternal family roots from two generations ago — unlikely, but…here I am. Some posters here in my threads on that subject have even suggested the possibility that, if my maternal family roots can be validated sufficiently to establish that I am Halachically Jewish, no conversion would be required.

Perhaps the wife of this man has a similar situation as my own — i.e., maternal Jewish roots, perhaps even enough so that no conversion is required. In fact, one could not tell solely by looking if this woman just happens to have one maternal grandparent of, say, Ashkenazic Jewish ancestry, while her other three grandparents are not of any known Jewish background. This situation is, again, my own, and I am very familiar with people (Gentile and Jewish) explicitly or implicitly telling me that I don’t “look Jewish.” Perhaps this woman in the restaurant is mistaken for a woman of full Chinese, non-Jewish ancestry, whereas I am taken for some kind of Anglo-Saxon Protestant.

Any given individual that any of us comes across may seem more or less “unlikely” based on statistics, or perhaps based sheerly on the internal, conditioned, unspoken categories of “types” of people that all of us carry around to a greater or lesser extent as a framework for the world — i.e., who we think or guess that people are, what various groups of people are like, etc.

However, when anyone observes the woman whom you described and then asks if the Geyrus was good, what we really end up with are a lot of assumptions, which can not be corroborated on such scant information, placed upon a complete and total stranger. In essence, we learn nothing definitive about the stranger — ironically, what we learn definitively concerns the individual making the assumptions. For no apparently redeeming value or purpose, and with no discernible provocation other than surface appearances and assumptions being out-of-sync in the eye of the viewer/writer, these assumptions became the fodder of negative speculation against a human being by way of the original post.

I and others here have suggested alternative possibilities to your assumptions. You reply that at least some of these possibilities are “unlikely.” As an “unlikely” myself, I am not overly fond of assumptions about who I am based on appearances, especially when those assumptions are then used to imply some negative characteristic on my part (in this woman’s case, the negative implication is that her conversion is/was not valid, because how likely is it that a Chinese woman would be born a Jewish woman, especially to a maternal line of born Jews). To be further dismissed as a unique person by being pegged “unlikely” when the assumptions are challenged adds insult to the initial injury done to this woman by the original post.

I have read enough here in the CR for upwards of a year to know that I am in the company of a couple other “unlikely”s, including one African American convert to Orthodox Judaism from a Christian background. The kinds of assumptions contained in the original post are unkind and unfair to the woman in question, and, from at least the perspective of this “unlikely,” these assumptions hurt others as well.

Hello abcd12345,

I wanted to congratulate you on your motivation, persistence, and bravery in your conversion process! I admire you greatly for these qualities and am working on the bravery part myself in this process. I wish you the best of luck in all your endeavors!

Hello kkls45,

I too am so saddened to hear about your predicament. I hope and pray that you and your loved ones are back in your home soon and that your damages are minimal. I hope some Chanukah festivities find their way to you in the interim.

Thank you tzaddiq for the welcome back!

In my opinion, feeling joy in and celebrating one’s own holidays is a marvelous thing. I spend time trying to see each holiday as a child would, with “fresh” eyes…all the wonder, curiosity, and awe. The memories that result have such incredible potential to ensure one’s lifelong attachment to the community.

Hello WIY and SaysMe,

Thank you WIY for what you said above…I enjoy your posts as well! 🙂

Thank you for the welcome back SaysMe, it has been a busy time on the home front, but I hope things are settling down now so that I can come back more regularly and enjoy a nice virtual cup of coffee with my CR friends!

Hello shmoel,

I have often wondered about something and just remembered it when I read your post — someday, when 9/11/2001 is as far in the past as 12/7/1941 is now, will I still remember 9/11 as clearly as I do today (i.e., like it happened yesterday)? I wonder if many older people continue to have that same feeling about Pearl Harbor today? I wish sometimes that I were part of some organization charged with preserving this country’s history, so I could interview various survivors and people who witnessed historical events. I feel that it is so important to remember and preserve these accounts.

Thank you yichusdik and Nechomah for explaining this…I have seen the Zohar on the shelf at Barnes and Noble and thought about getting it to read, but it sounds as if I would need to have a lot of other knowledge first to even begin to understand what is written there. Do either of you happen to know if women who go very far in their studies ever study the Zohar?

Hello yichusdik,

Do you know if there is much connection between astrology and Kabbala? Pardon my ignorance, I still have a lot to learn. And, is Kabbala something that is given much emphasis in various Orthodox circles?

It definitely gives me pause whenever I think about how vice presidents are only a heartbeat away from the presidency!

Hello shoe store assistant,

I am so sorry to hear that! I didn’t realize that — I will have to read about it on the other thread…

Hello King Bob XV,

I am also so glad that you did not take that desperate step, and my prayers are with you that you have been able to find help, understanding, compassion, and healing in treating your depression.

Hello whatdouthink,

Hmmmmm….very interesting! I had not thought about it that way before. That certainly seems like a positive way to view this storm. I hope that you and yours are safely evacuated!

Hello akuperma,

That is fascinating…I would love to hear more about your experiences being Jewish in an East Asian environment!