I am the epitome of goyim. My time at Penn, if anything, has been not unlike a large lecture course in Jews.
Sure, I had Jewish friends growing up -- like, two -- but I never knew anything about the religion's cultural watershed. One of these friends' mothers made me latkas once. That was sweet. (Note to critics: this entire article won't be about food again, I promise!)
It first occurred to me that there might be more to this thing than fried potatoes and movies on Christmas the summer after my senior year. One weekend, this same friend's parents were gone and she had a few people over. At the time, Domino's Pizza's brilliant buffalo chicken pizza campaign was at its peak -- look, this is the last time I'll mention food -- and I ordered a large one to her house.
"It's not kosher," my friend told me when the pizza arrived. "You have to take it out of the house."
"No, it's actually fantastic. Silly friend. Try!"
Kosher, unbeknownst to me, had a meaning beyond "cool." Thus began my ongoing education.
I've chosen to reflect on this ... umm ... cliche topic because of Passover, which I'm told has now begun. These days I don't feel so much ignorant as I do excluded. I didn't go to some wild Seder last night; I didn't dress up for Purim last month. They all sound great, though. Just great.
I did attend Jonathan Safran Foer's recent reading at Hillel, though. Foer's a brilliant writer, of course -- as a friend puts it, I enjoy having my emotions manipulated. The student who introduced him quoted a source and "personally agreed" that Foer's first novel, Everything is Illuminated, is the Great American Jewish Novel of our generation. The throngs cheered.
I liked the novel, too, I thought.
So this weekend, I think I might actually celebrate Easter. I haven't done that in years. No one will be able to hang out, so I might as well take part in some form of false identity-building. Church? Perhaps not that much. But Easter egg hunts will surely be in the mix. The leftovers will make for some great devilled eggs, for which you can read my recipe in this week's Food & Drink. (By the way, I just bought myself a semester's worth of shit from the Street staff for that little self-promotion. Eh, it is what it is).
I just can't stop talking about food.
Holy Week up in this --
- Jim
