Religion
Orthodox Jews
The three major groups within the Jewish religion are the Orthodox, the Conservative, and the Reformed. The Orthodox adhere more closely to the traditional customs than the other two. Mom and Pop were Orthodox Jews and, naturally, they kept a kosher house. Pop didn't work on any of the Jewish holidays, and we separated the meat and dairy foods and dishes in the house. The boys went to cheder for religious instruction and were bar mitzvahed, confirmed. But we weren't very religious Orthodox Jews.
Saturday, shabbes, the sabbath, is a special day for the Jews. It is meant to be a day of prayer, and a day of rest from work. The house is cleaned and scrubbed on Friday in preparation for shabbes. We wear our good clothes, and we rest on shabbes, this being the seventh day. Shabbes is a holiday that starts on Friday evening with the lighting of the shabbes candles. We are expected to be at shul to celebrate the shabbes, and to refrain from any activity that might be related to working. That is the way the shabbes was meant to be celebrated, and among many Orthodox Jews it still is. It wasn't that way in our house.
Pop didn't work on shabbes, and we did change our habits for the shabbes. We didn't do the things we would normally do during the rest of the week. But we didn't observe all the rules that the more Orthodox Jews did. We turned the lights on and off on shabbes and the holidays. Religious Orthodox Jews wouldn't touch the light switch on those days. Pop drove the car on Saturday, and handled money on Saturday, things that a religious Orthodox Jew wouldn't do. Driving a car and handling money can be associated with working, and therefore were prohibited shabbes activities. Most importantly, though, we didn't go to shul on Friday evening or on Saturday, unless it was for a special purpose like attending a relative's bar mitzvah. (Eddie's grandfather was religious. He went to shul at the Jewish Children's Home every Friday and Saturday.)
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