hello from Joe in Chicago

november was a big month here is chicago. we had a lot of events, and a lot of different kind of events, including, of course, a visit from the wonderful summer shapiro (but this event is not on the calendar, as it was double twice top secret, and summer has all the pictures on her camera). we also had our first snow here in chicity, but that's not what i'm going to write about. instead this post is dedicated to everyone's favorite miracle diet... kashrut.

No, but seriously, this is an issue that came up during a meeting in our house this month and became a much larger issue than i think any of us anticipated. and it's tricky. none of us in the house are extremely kosher; some vegetarian, some don't eat pork or seafood, some totally unrestrained, but we also recognize that our house is also the center for the community we are building, and that, at minimum, during events we have to be respectful of our guests. At the same time, it is our house, we shouldn't be ashamed of the decisions we make or pretend to live a different life than we do. so the issue sort of comes down to the classic secular/pluralist debate. do we cater to the most observant person who enters our house (which, realistically we can't do--not with our dishes and pots at least), or is that one or two people forcing all the rest to change prepare and eat food in way we don't normally do, know how to do, or want to do. Obviously the answer is somewhere in between: make guest feel welcome without making our own lives so difficult we don't feel like hosting anymore. but then there is the question of where to draw the line. is serving a vegetarian option enough, or should we also make sure not to cook a dairy/veggie dish in the same oven as a meat dish, or just not serve the two together? and what about kosher meat? eventually we decided that for now we will just have vegetarian shabbats and leave the in between events as case-by-case. this is easy enough, and we don't even eat too much meat, but what if someone brings a meat dish to a potluck? i have no idea, maybe meat eaters just have to hide in my room and eat the whole thing under my bed.
This issue is interesting because it is relevant for the Jewish community at large. at one point it is likely that all jews were kosher, and had similar if not identical interpretations of what these meant. so then you could go to each other's houses, it was easy. no problem. now some people, some jews, they don't do that kashrut no more, and almost no two do it quite the same. so this is interesting because the decision is bigger than any family's own home, it is about how they are then going to be able to interact with their community. the opposite motivation acts on the K observant jew who has to decide whether or not to relax his/her rules in order to be a guest somewhere. i grew up not kosher in a town without a whole lot of jews, and much less kosher ones, so for me this is interesting. I'm sure this is old news to many...

also, did you know that wrought used to be the correct past particle for work (and "worked" didn't exist) and now it is only remembered because of wrought iron? i heard that scientist burying radioactivity with 50,000 year half-lives struggle with what to write on the container, becuase 50,000 years from now "danger" or "don't touch" etc probably won't mean everything because of the natural evolution of language. so they put a picture of spikes on it. if you had a box of spikes in your basement, would you open it? i probably would, but i guess if i had a box with some weird letters or symbols on it, i would probably open it sooner. just a thought.
good night and shabbat shalom.