Shabbos/Religious Observances

[texasmommy]

As I begin the applications process for nursing schools, I have one huuuuge concern - my religious obligations. I am not permitted to work/attend school, etc. from sunset Friday nights until an hour past sunset on Saturday nights because of the Jewish sabbath. I've heard that a lot of programs have 12hr clinicals on Saturdays...yikes! Has anyone "worked it out" with similar obligations?

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

It's the mikvah, and has to be still water collected from the rain.

I think.

He offered to do it for me, no questions asked, if I ever came to Florida. I even mentioned in my email that I am baptized Christian. The Rabbi was Orthodox I believe. I thought that was very gracious of him. I found him on a Jewish website where you can write and get your question answered.

[texasmommy]

I thought there was some controversy when those Ethiopian Jews wants to immigrate? Since they were Black people, wasn't there doubt about them? I remember reading about it.

The issue wasn't that they were Black people, of that I am sure. There are many, many Black Jews in America, Israel and around the world. I can't recall the details but there was another side to the story with the Ethiopians.

[texasmommy]

He offered to do it for me, no questions asked, if I ever came to Florida. I even mentioned in my email that I am baptized Christian. The Rabbi was Orthodox I believe. I thought that was very gracious of him. I found him on a Jewish website where you can write and get your question answered.

An Orthodox Jewish conversion requires immersion in a mikvah - a ritual bath. The mikvah itself can resemble a hot tub (at least that's what I think they look like!), the water is heated and chlorinated, and in many cases, mikvahs are very beautiful. They are used not only for conversions but also for women to immerse in monthly at the conclusion of their menses and also for men to purify themselves spiritually before davening (praying). The water is a certain percentage of collected rainwater, with the rest of the water being "regular" tap water.

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

The issue wasn't that they were Black people, of that I am sure. There are many, many Black Jews in America, Israel and around the world. I can't recall the details but there was another side to the story with the Ethiopians.

I probably didn't word that properly. There was doubt that Jews had dispersed to Black Africa. But they were still practising Judaism. National Geographic had a story on them, if I recall.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

I probably didn't word that properly. There was doubt that Jews had dispersed to Black Africa. But they were still practising Judaism. National Geographic had a story on them, if I recall.

That's a different group, and I know the ones you mean.

No, the Ethiopians were Jews, and there was no question about it. But, just as in the rest of the world, prejudice exists, and a tribe of stone age black folks claiming kinship makes educated Europeans as uncomfortable as a turd in a punch bowl.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

jlsRN, that candle for for Yahrzeit, the anniversary of the death of the person she was remembering.

She would like that.

:)

[texasmommy]

I probably didn't word that properly. There was doubt that Jews had dispersed to Black Africa. But they were still practising Judaism. National Geographic had a story on them, if I recall.

Oops! Sorry I misunderstood you!

[leslie :-D]

sigh.....

leslie

(no more coffee for me.)

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

sigh.....

leslie

(no more coffee for me.)

I love that scene!!! That movie is so good!

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

My husband LOVES this movie. I find it a couple of hours too long.

When I was programming I worked with a bunch of Russian Jewish immigrants, all of whom started out in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, where you didn't need ENglish and their parents (some of whom remembered fleeing Hitler and the German army) could get by. And a Jew, in Russia, did not have a passport that said "Russian." It said "Jew."

Well, the local middle school, for their school play, did "Fiddler on the Roof." After coming out of such an anti-Semitic environment to this country and watching the little Asian-American kid playing Tevya and seeing that we really do get along (at least we did in the city) they left that auditorium crying.

Sing L'Chaim!

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

Oh, and I saw it on Broadway, in 1968.

:)

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

Here's the Sabbath Prayer scene...