tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3356197772493765397.post8253056768223985662..comments2023-06-14T07:02:58.527-05:00Comments on The St. Lou Jew: Fading traditionsY?http://www.blogger.com/profile/11649272113923397688noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3356197772493765397.post-80131317454088201082009-04-15T04:07:00.000-05:002009-04-15T04:07:00.000-05:00Hello, M-teen. Your nom-de-web is a cute wordplay ...Hello, M-teen. Your nom-de-web is a cute wordplay on your name.<br /><br />Your mother's mother and my father were sister-brother. I used to<br />babysit your mother and her younger sister when they lived next door<br />to us. My sister Anne sent me the loss of tradition item you posted.<br /><br />The easiest way to remain part of a wider Jewish community is to live<br />in Israel. At this moment my wife is in Tiveria (Tiberias), our son<br />Erez is in Herzlia, our daughter Libby (named after your mother's<br />cousin Libby) is in Tsafat (Safad) and I'm home in Petah Tikva. Once a<br />week I work in Jerusalem.<br /><br />Even in Israel traditions can die with the death of a family member.<br />At our seders, my wife's mother Georgia z"l used to read the coffee<br />grounds that remained after drinking Turkish coffee (called BoTZ = mud<br />in Israeli Hebrew). Everyone reveled in her revelations except, of<br />course, the one whose cup was being read. I was the lucky one. I don't<br />drink coffee.<br /><br />GeoRGia (the country, not the state) was so-named because it is a<br />narrow throat (Hebrew GaRGeret) of land between the Caspian and Black<br />seas. This throat was part of a male body-part map that stretched from<br />its white head (Hebrew RoSH) in Bela-rus (white Russia) to its right<br />(Hebrew Y'MiN) foot in Yemen.<br /><br />Your mother's mother's father immigrated to the States from<br />Baranovichi, Belarus in 1905. When Haley's comet arrived in 1910, he<br />was herding cattle in Texas. Later that year his wife and son (my<br />father) arrived in the States. They settled in Savannah, Georgia where<br />your mother's mother was born.<br /><br />If you are interested in body-part maps, Google < anthropomorphic maps<br />"izzy cohen" >. I discovered the Phoenician maps of Hermes in west<br />Asia and Aphrodite in north Africa. These maps are relevant to the<br />Exodus story. So I started a tradition of describing these maps at our<br />seders.<br /><br />The Aphrodite map stretched from her cranium (reversed at Morocco) to<br />her left (Hebrew S'MoL) leg at Somalia.<br /><br />The Egyptian word for Egypt is KMT. It is cognate with Hebrew KBD or<br />KaVeD, Aphrodite's liver.<br /><br />Giving the shin its ancient T-sound, Goshen sounded like Hebrew KiTiN<br />which means bean, her bean-shaped kidney. That's why Ashkenazim do not<br />eat beans (KiTNiot) on Pesach. Cotton (Arabic KuTN) was exported from<br />Goshen. The Latin genus for cotton is Gossypium. Compare English<br />gossamer = cotton-like.<br /><br />Egypt is the Greek name for that area. It is based on hepato- as in<br />hepatitis, a liver disease. Compare aedes aegyptii, the mosquito that<br />causes that disease.<br /><br />The bodies of Hermes and Aphrodite are connected, literally, at Sinai<br />but describing that may be too risque for this blog.<br /><br />Best regards,<br />Your cousin Israel<br />cohen.izzy@gmail.comizzy cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08636949944962809285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3356197772493765397.post-81188058888685496182009-04-12T18:31:00.000-05:002009-04-12T18:31:00.000-05:00Traditions are difficult to maintain in any enviro...Traditions are difficult to maintain in any environment as open as ours. In the case of seders, they are frequently memborable occasions and family members are happy to participate but not to carry on the tradition. And when it's something the wider culture doesn't embrace (like Christmas or Easter), that makes it all the more difficult. So if it's important, you seek out a community that supports what you want to do and start making your own traditions. It isn't easy but it beats regreting that the tradition stopped with you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3356197772493765397.post-22349000658575923372009-04-10T10:25:00.000-05:002009-04-10T10:25:00.000-05:00Wow, great piece. I think that this really resona...Wow, great piece. I think that this really resonates with a lot of people.<BR/><BR/>My grandmother was also the matriarch. We used to have about 30 people at her house every year. There was Hebrew and singing, and family. <BR/><BR/>When she passed away, it was harder to keep things together. <BR/><BR/>But traditions change and morph with every generation. And Jewish paranoia leads us to always worry that we will be the last link.<BR/><BR/>In fact, your post is witness to the value that you believe these traditions hold.<BR/><BR/>With a bit of planning, we could have our own seder next year, rekindle some fading traditions, and maybe start a few new ones.Y?https://www.blogger.com/profile/11649272113923397688noreply@blogger.com