{"id":45209,"date":"2024-10-11T01:54:33","date_gmt":"2024-10-11T08:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=45209"},"modified":"2024-10-10T15:16:14","modified_gmt":"2024-10-10T22:16:14","slug":"there-is-value-in-diluted-wine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2024\/10\/11\/there-is-value-in-diluted-wine\/","title":{"rendered":"There is value in diluted wine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently, a stranger responded to a forum post I wrote on Ravelry, a knitting website. I\u2019ve worked off and on for many years designing knitting patterns. In the last four years, I\u2019ve been distracted by the pandemic, by moving house and renovation, and the war. I haven\u2019t put out any new patterns for awhile. Then, hit by a variety of antisemitic interactions, I decided I didn\u2019t want to market my past work either. Most of my patterns are like anyone else\u2019s, but a few show my Jewish identity. This includes two kippah knitting patterns and a hamantashen grogger design.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, I mentioned my hesitancy about marketing during wartime to a Jewish knitters\u2019 group. Out of the blue, I got a screed from an outsider that shows just why I\u2019m wary. According to this response, I\u2019m one of those \u201cpeople without a soul.\u201d Among many other comments, it was insinuated that\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Israelis appropriated everything \u2013 we even stole hummus. Of course, the \u201cwe\u201d showed exactly how jumbled up this person was. She assumed all Jews were Israelis or that all Israelis were Jews. The person didn\u2019t understand the word \u201cantisemitism\u201d at all. It was quite a daunting paragraph. I knew many things about this hateful post were off base, as did others who were on this forum. Despite multiple reports about this screed, however, the website\u2019s owners didn\u2019t respond to us or promptly remove the hateful post.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, my household encountered hateful graffiti about the war in our neighbourhood again, which we reported to the police. This is at least our fifth report; there\u2019s an investigation complete with incident numbers, as most of the graffiti isn\u2019t about the war but simply Jew-hatred.<\/p>\n

I then read a biased media report online. Recognizing the name of a journalist associated with it, I contacted her \u2013 and here\u2019s where the narrative changes.<\/p>\n

The journalist was open to my concerns, thoughtful, and the article was immediately edited. The police contacts I have dealt with have been unfailingly responsive and empathetic. I was comforted by professionals who saw our concerns, indicated they too saw the hate or bias, and acted on it. These were smart people who used their roles to stand up for what is right. Were they allies in every way? I wouldn\u2019t go so far as to say that, but, in these instances, I felt less alone.<\/p>\n

As part of my Daf Yomi <\/i>(page of Talmud a day), I\u2019ve been learning the Babylonian tractate of Bava Batra. In Bava Batra, on page 96, a question arises. At what point is a food so significantly transformed that we need to change the blessing we say when eating it? Rabbi Elliot Goldberg introduces this in an essay on My Jewish Learning, and it gets at the weird gradations we encounter and how to categorize them. On this page, there\u2019s a question that relates to beverages. At what point is a drink derived from grapes so watered down that it\u2019s no longer wine, and now just some sort of flavoured water? I immediately understood this because, centuries later, I\u2019ve also had those bubbly waters flavoured with \u201creal fruit.\u201d Is there any actual nutrition from the fruit in what we are drinking? No, there isn\u2019t. It\u2019s usually just a little grape taste in the carbonated water. It tastes good, but it\u2019s not juice.<\/p>\n

My household traveled in September to a family bat mitzvah in New York City. There were many great moments during the weekend, including the bat mitzvah, which was held at the famous congregation, the Society for the Advancement of Judaism. This is where Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan served on the pulpit and the cantor was famous for composing \u201cHava Nagila.\u201d Reconstructionist Judaism started in this building. There was good food, some great sightseeing. I especially enjoyed the perfect fall weather in Central Park during Shabbat, watching cousins play and chat in the playground.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even so, I don\u2019t love travel. A 12-hour journey, two airplanes, an international border and huge crowds can be a drag. Like the diluted wine conversation, it reminds me that not everything is obvious. Some dilution (or travel) is fine. Too much can result in a less pleasurable experience that we must bless and define differently.<\/p>\n

On the airplanes, I read a novel, Suzanne Joinson\u2019s A Lady Cyclist\u2019s Guide to Kashgar<\/i>. At first, it appeared to be a story about women missionaries and their proselytizing efforts in Western China. By the end of the novel, it was about sexual assault, lack of medical care, gender identity, riots and war, colonization, British identity, exoticism, refugees and more. Just like diluted wine, sometimes things are not what they initially appear to be about. A book I sought out as entertainment was something more.<\/p>\n

So, too, what we see as entertaining or as a diverting hobby \u2013 a knitting project, for instance \u2013 can be more. The design is a piece of technical writing, the finished garment keeps us warm and, somehow, discussion about it can turn into an opportunity for those who hate. Even the chore of reporting something can turn positive, via an opportunity for dialogue with a journalist or police officer, or negative, when a site\u2019s moderators and owners fail to respond appropriately or quickly.<\/p>\n

During the High Holy Days, we reflect on our behaviour, with clear markers of right and wrong, good and evil. Usually, that is more than enough to think about, but, this year, everything I ponder is tinged with this last year of tragedy, war and its aftermath. As I escape into the outdoors, a good conversation or a novel, I go back to the talmudic conversation about diluting wine. The past year has felt \u201cdiluted\u201d to me by the sadness and the war and antisemitism. Yet, I hope, as always, that Sukkot will bring good weather for sitting outdoors, and interesting conversations. Simchat Torah might give me a chance to dance with the Torah with joy and without reservation. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As I sat in Central Park, a cousin asked me, with only a little smirk, if I was still into \u201cthe knitting thing.\u201d I paused. It\u2019s OK to acknowledge that our intellectual energies and what we find entertaining have changed or diluted during this time. Many have changed irrevocably since Oct. 7, 2023. The High Holy Days offer us an opportunity to get back in touch with ourselves and consider who we are. The changes may be hard ones. We may be \u201cdiluted\u201d differently, but the change itself isn\u2019t bad. Rather, it\u2019s part of life\u2019s journey. Here\u2019s hoping for sunny moments in the sukkah this fall, but, if it snows instead here in Winnipeg or it rains in Vancouver, we can\u2019t control that. We can just control how we understand and bless it. Gam zu le\u2019tovah<\/i>, this too is for the best.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Joanne Seiff<\/b> has written regularly for the Winnipeg Free Press and various Jewish publications. She is the author of three books, including <\/i>From the Outside In: Jewish Post Columns 2015-2016, a collection of essays available for digital download or as a paperback from Amazon. Check her out on Instagram @yrnspinner<\/a> or at joanneseiff.blogspot.com<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently, a stranger responded to a forum post I wrote on Ravelry, a knitting website. I\u2019ve worked off and on for many years designing knitting patterns. In the last four years, I\u2019ve been distracted by the pandemic, by moving house and renovation, and the war. I haven\u2019t put out any new patterns for awhile. Then, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[801,22197,3157,9609,8154,1802,218,2231],"class_list":["post-45209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-op-ed","tag-antisemitism","tag-bias","tag-canada","tag-daf-yomi","tag-ethics","tag-high-holidays","tag-judaism","tag-talmud"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45209\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}