I had always been invited by Shomron to attend these shiurim at Los Chorros. I had never attended before because.. I dunno, it sounded kinda boring to me. But I definitely decided to join, since I thought it could be good to "socialize" with other young jews and also to learn more from the Torah and the Talmud with a rabbi, in a relaxed environment. But as I know how I am, I was decided to join and make a shocking debut. I decided to wear one of my favourite T-shirts, this one:
The text imprinted on the t-shirt says "ten li neshiká, ki ani yehudi!", which can be translated as "kiss me, I'm jewish!". Of course, I didn't know anybody but Shomron, who, as usual, arrived late. So I just introduced myself with the help of a girl, Sol, who lives in the same building where the shiurim are held. She said "oh, you are new here right? let me introduce you to the rest of the people". Like Dani said, my admission to the late teenagers and young adults of the community would be easied by the fact that I look like a very stereotypical sephardi jew, so nobody would even wonder if I had a drop of goy blood. In fact, at the end of that night, Roni (Sol's brother) and Sol drove me home and asked me where my family came from, and when I said my family came from Altona, Osnabrück, Münster and Utrecht, she was startled and said "but wait a minute, you look like a guy from Melilla, how come?". Then I noticed something -I know more about the diaspora, Israel and judaism in general than many contemporary guys and girls. I had to explain her than there had been a sephardi community in Altona, a district of Hamburg, since the 1600s. I was impressed, these kids have been taking classes of Jewish History, Hebrew Language and Torah since kindergarden and at home, and they don't know such things! give me a break.
Anyway, the funny thing came when rab Mamrutt entered the hut where we have our shiurim, and he noticed my t-shirt, he smiled widely, said "oh, a proud frum!" and kissed me on both cheeks, in the usual sephardic manner.So I guess I passed the test, because being in a group of sepharadim talking about religion, making questions and surrounded and observed as the "new" by haredi rabbis and not just no making them suspicious but pleasing them with my answers, questions and pride of being jewish... man, וואדי הסיליקון, here I go! :-)
The text imprinted on the t-shirt says "ten li neshiká, ki ani yehudi!", which can be translated as "kiss me, I'm jewish!". Of course, I didn't know anybody but Shomron, who, as usual, arrived late. So I just introduced myself with the help of a girl, Sol, who lives in the same building where the shiurim are held. She said "oh, you are new here right? let me introduce you to the rest of the people". Like Dani said, my admission to the late teenagers and young adults of the community would be easied by the fact that I look like a very stereotypical sephardi jew, so nobody would even wonder if I had a drop of goy blood. In fact, at the end of that night, Roni (Sol's brother) and Sol drove me home and asked me where my family came from, and when I said my family came from Altona, Osnabrück, Münster and Utrecht, she was startled and said "but wait a minute, you look like a guy from Melilla, how come?". Then I noticed something -I know more about the diaspora, Israel and judaism in general than many contemporary guys and girls. I had to explain her than there had been a sephardi community in Altona, a district of Hamburg, since the 1600s. I was impressed, these kids have been taking classes of Jewish History, Hebrew Language and Torah since kindergarden and at home, and they don't know such things! give me a break.Anyway, the funny thing came when rab Mamrutt entered the hut where we have our shiurim, and he noticed my t-shirt, he smiled widely, said "oh, a proud frum!" and kissed me on both cheeks, in the usual sephardic manner.So I guess I passed the test, because being in a group of sepharadim talking about religion, making questions and surrounded and observed as the "new" by haredi rabbis and not just no making them suspicious but pleasing them with my answers, questions and pride of being jewish... man, וואדי הסיליקון, here I go! :-)
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