tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141014.post7087005604676024942..comments2023-06-21T10:52:34.013-04:00Comments on Jeremy Rosen's Blog: Washing HandsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17043970242427877089noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141014.post-30392474470403596752010-12-28T00:50:06.897-05:002010-12-28T00:50:06.897-05:00Anonymous:
Fascinating. Thank you so much. Clearly...Anonymous:<br />Fascinating. Thank you so much. Clearly Seinfeld wouldn't have eaten there. <br />JRabbi Jeremy Rosenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12723608669485173271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141014.post-12821036540869720832010-12-26T04:12:34.878-05:002010-12-26T04:12:34.878-05:00Ah, sorry for writing confusingly. I meant, there ...Ah, sorry for writing confusingly. I meant, there were no women in the cafe, apart from me. I suppose had there been, they too would have washed their hands. The cafe was a Tunisian equivalent of a 'greasy-spoon', bursting with working men on their lunch breaks. The men dolloping out the humous spoke French but as there was only one menu item, in one portion size, it didn't get complicated. It was a brilliant place. The ceiling was so high it was quite dark and one could just make out the tops of the wide pillars stretching up to it in pale, smooth stone. The street side of the hall was open and the only source of light. All around was a sea of the faintly gleaming pillars and at their bases, the dark clothing of the men, who all went first to the little wash basins and said their prayers in a low, uniform murmur. Then they shook hands with everyone on a table and sat down to eat. There was no cutlery, the humous and ful was scooped up with bread, warm spongy pita and so naturally, the hand-washing had to be done before either the hand-shaking or the eating. There were no paper towels, wet hands drip-dried so there was no disguising whether they'd been washed. The men were perfectly pleasant to me, presumably because I had also found a space at a basin and washed my hands. Under the gaze of a 100 hand-washers, to do anything different would have been quite ostentatious.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141014.post-47333417774630296812010-12-25T21:39:12.891-05:002010-12-25T21:39:12.891-05:00Leila:
Thank you. I wish my actions necessarily fo...Leila:<br />Thank you. I wish my actions necessarily followed my thoughts!<br />Happy New Civil YearRabbi Jeremy Rosenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12723608669485173271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141014.post-77148041434922324442010-12-25T21:38:04.992-05:002010-12-25T21:38:04.992-05:00Anonymous:
Thats so evocative but do you have any ...Anonymous:<br />Thats so evocative but do you have any idea why women were not supposed to wash their hands or was it simply not to be within touching distance of men. Reminds me of some other people I know!Rabbi Jeremy Rosenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12723608669485173271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141014.post-28639994211025065332010-12-24T22:40:06.622-05:002010-12-24T22:40:06.622-05:00I once ate in an enormous cafe in Tunis that serve...I once ate in an enormous cafe in Tunis that served only humous with ful medames (beans). The humous and the ful were both mixed by hand in washing-up sized plastic bowls and then dolloped onto plates lined up ready to go. The food tasted great. Around the cavernous hall were pillars reaching to a high, vaulted ceiling and attached to the base of each pillar was a sink with a cold water tap. Each man, (and it was only men) before eating, went to the sink and washed his hands, as is the custom in any hot climate.<br /><br />I thought at the time how convenient, sophisticated even, to have separated hand-washing from lavatories.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141014.post-11123141924343780812010-12-24T03:18:44.763-05:002010-12-24T03:18:44.763-05:00You are always so commonsensical, Jeremy and spot ...You are always so commonsensical, Jeremy and spot on where cleanliness is concerned. I always remember putting my hand out towards a bowl of mints at our local Chinese restaurant and pulling it back sharply when I thought of the hands which had already been in there.<br /><br />It is little comfort though, to surmise that Jews may have survived in the past through that cleanliness only to be murdered for so-called crimes which they did not commit. I wonder what we'll be blamed for next?Leilanoreply@blogger.com