Jewish Musings, Friday 10/13

[lee058]

What’s on your mind — how to make kugel? This week’s Torah reading? Life goals? Prayer? We are all engaged in weight loss/weight maintenance journeys and we are all Jewish or at least interested in Judaism. We like to eat, we like to discuss. It is our goal here to provide each other support on our journeys, to share experiences, to call on our rich cultural heritage and texts, and to help each other grow spiritually.





Some of us take weekly turns starting the thread:





Holly

Lee

Louise

Lynne

Peachy









And for those of you that stop by to read this thread without posting — you are welcome to, but you are also welcome to chime in. Don’t be shy!

[lee058]

Good morning everybody! Hope you are all well and SAFE! Please continue to pray for Israel, and be careful today: there are demonstrations and violence planned against Jews.

Today's topic: Jewish superstitions and customs

Since it's Friday the 13th, I thought we'd do something amusing. What are some Jewish superstitions and customs that you know about? Do you believe in any?

Most of the ones I know about are related to babies. For instance, naming a baby. It's considered appropriate to name a baby after a dead relative, using the first letter of his/her name. We followed this custom; my DS is named after his great-grandmother, who helped bring her branch of our family to the USA.

Another custom/superstition is to not name a baby after a living relative, especially if they are older. The idea is that the Angel of Death might get confused and take the wrong person.

Another custom/superstition is to not get the baby's room ready ahead of the birth, and to not buy baby clothes. We didn't follow this tradition.

Still another is about menstruation. Some families do or used to slap the girl's face when she had her first period. I guess it was to comment on difficulties in women's lives. Fortunately, my family didn't believe in that. Some families, instead, have a party to celebrate her becoming a woman. We didn't do that either, but I wish we had. I think it is a nice custom.

I'm trying to think of some more, but right now my mind is a blank. Please add any you can think of; I think this will be a pleasant way to end the week.

Thank you everybody for joining in! Oh, and someone asked about the TCM cruise. I think Holly answered the question about what it is (a movie-related cruise), but I just want to add how much fun I think it would be. This year, it's 11/6-11, leaving from San Diego to a couple of stops in Mexico, but it's sold out. There is a waiting list, though.

Have a peaceful day and weekend, Lee

[gazelle18]

There is something about salt over your shoulder, isn’t there? Or am I just dreaming that?

[peachymom1]

I think it's fun to read or hear about superstitions, but I can't think of a single one that I actually take seriously. I understand people want to take whatever precautions they feel might help, and I don't scoff at that. But I don't have much faith in the ability to manipulate the universe.

I just heard from my BIL that my sister is in surgery now, to remove her appendix. Not sure why they didn't do it last night, but they must have had their reasons. The appendix must not have burst, or they wouldn't have waited, so that's something. I've talked to our other sisters and my kids, so everyone is up to date. It's pretty common surgery, so I'm not worried, but I'll be glad to hear from DBIL when it's over.

Thank you for an interesting week, Lee. My WI didn't go well today, but since I've been eating like an idiot all week, that isn't surprising. Oh well, all I can do is start over and do better. Everyone take good care. Shabbat shalom!

[louise]

Yeah, my grandmother slapped me when I got my first period. Like I wasn't reaked out enou gh. I can't think of any other superstitions than those mentioend but difinetley have heard of al of those aboutbabies, etc.I do have bunched of different hamsa and evil eye ornaments also. Do I believe in their power? I don't really think so but they make me happy.

[hollygail]

One comment about naming babies. It's an Ashkenazi custom to name the baby for someone who has died. Sephardim, on the other hand, name the baby after someone who's alive. The initial (for English) seems to be less important; it's the Hebrew (or Yiddish) name that seems to count more. And yes, my sister is named for my mother's two grandmothers, and I'm named for my father's. Both my son and my sister's firstborn were named for my maternal grandfather (Moishe in Hebrew, Morris in English), but my nephew was David while my son is Matthew. And my son named his last son for my father's Yiddish name (Hershel, but he didn't know the full name so my grandson has Hersh as one of his two middle names; the other is for his mother's father, Joseph / Yosef, who is still alive and about 4 months younger than I am).

There's a superstition about Lilith and babies. Apparently, according to the superstition, Lilith steals babies' souls, but tying a red ribbon on the crib (or around the baby's wrist) apparently "protects" the baby from Lilith. I don't know anyone who believes this one.

Yes, interesting week, Lee! Thanks. And gut shabbes, all.