Pen-Elayne on the Web

Arrivals, Past and Present

Today marks the first Blogburst celebration of Arrival Day, created and organized by Jonathan Edelstein, the Head Heeb (link at sidebar). Noted Jonathan when he came up with the idea, "All but one [Jewish holiday] are strictly religious, and that one is specifically connected to Israel. This leaves American Jews without an ethnic holiday, one that emphasizes their heritage as an American ethnic group rather than religious ritual." Being not particularly religious but quite often particularly ethnic, I found great appeal in this idea. Arrival Day commemorates the landing of the first Jewish settlers in New Amsterdam on September 7, 1654, so if this catches on (and I'm hopeful it will) we'll have a grand do for the 350th anniversary next year!

Today also marks my first "Blogiversary." I started Pen-Elayne on the Web on September 7, 2002, which was also the first of Tishrei. See, I told you I wasn't particularly religious. Most Jews spend Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) in synagogue; for the last decade or so I've been commemorating it rather differently. I've written yearly "letters to God," for instance; and last year I thought, why not write into the aether in this new format? And it stuck.

But enough about me, this day is bigger than that, so let's talk about my family. My dad, as I've mentioned previously, emigrated to the US after World War II, the Jews in Bucharest having been spared the Nazis' concentration camps, and he and my paternal grandparents endured a terrible boat voyage in the middle of winter to come to this country. So I'm a first-generation American on my father's side. My mom is also first-generation American, her parents having emigrated (separately) around 1920. (I wish I could find my notes from the Your Family in History course I took in college, I tend not to be able to keep these things in my head very well.) In the unlikely event I'm ever able to bear children, they too will be first-generation Americans on their father's side, which I think is neat. I've always been fascinated by the idea of arrivals, of new beginnings, of fresh starts. I actually like to look at every day that way - not as "one step closer to death" the way some would have it, but as a new chance to learn something I didn't know before, to accomplish something yet undone, to arrive at a different place in my life than I was before, the journey being every bit as important as (sometimes more than) the destination.

So how did I celebrate my blogiversary and Arrival Day? I walked up the hill to participate in the Riverdale Jewish Community Council's15th annual Jewish Heritage Street Fair, where I ran into my cousin Marc (still working on that VCJC website, and naturally we talked about Budgie, link at sidebar) and we took in some of the street vendors, like talented artist Hannah Bloch and her gorgeous prints of Lower East Side and other NY Jewish life; the RhymeNiks contingent (which didn't seem entirely kosher; "ghostwriting" other people's college essays?); the folks at the Riverdale Temple who were friendly but stuffed my bag with literature, intent on getting me into shul by any means necessary (the "sheigitz husband" ploy didn't work as they're a Reformed temple and very welcoming of interfaith families, gays & lesbians, etc., but I wasn't quick enough to think of the "please don't make me go to shul, I always fall asleep there" ploy); some people who make wrinkle-less yarmulkes; the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale which gave away cute squeezable star-shaped keyring holders; the Chabad folks of course; and lots of other vendors with no fixed website. I got a cool Super-Jew t-shirt, consisting of the Superman symbol with that flat black hat and payis atop it - yeah, I know the symbol is copyright and trademarked DC Comics and I'm probably an evil person for buying it, but I think all my friends who work at DC will get a kick out of it, and as it was made in Israel going after a street vendor probably wouldn't help. I also got my mom a great present, which Marc will be giving her as he and my uncle Phil will probably see her before I do; and I bought myself a pair of Jewish star earrings, because it seems like the only time I wear earrings are for family occasions so I might as well, and anyway it's becoming a tradition with me to always buy a cheap pair of earrings at every street fair or event I attend.

Here's my Arrival Day 2002 reading list, found while I was Googling on Jewish black hats:

Some bits from the soc.culture.jewish newsgroups on why some Hasidim wear wacky clothing.

A page about what Jews wore in medieval Spain, too soon before the RenFaire for me to do anything about it.

The Database of Jewish Communities, which looks really cool at first glance.

Jews are by law forbidden to proselytize except to other Jews, but I'm fairly sure that law was handed down before websites, at least insofar as the Kehillah Jewish Outreach Media Campaign is concerned.

Check out the Head Heeb's blog today for links to other Arrival Day blogburst entries.