tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12610610.post113072356807442871..comments2023-12-27T03:40:39.548-05:00Comments on Mah Rabu מה רבו: For you were strangers in the land of EgyptBZhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18242965196421853025noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12610610.post-1130947959506475802005-11-02T11:12:00.000-05:002005-11-02T11:12:00.000-05:00"Caring Committee"?"Caring Committee"?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12610610.post-1130937250422653062005-11-02T08:14:00.000-05:002005-11-02T08:14:00.000-05:00Huh. That was an unfortunate experience. I'm sorry...Huh. That was an unfortunate experience. I'm sorry.<BR/><BR/>For what it's worth, getting into synagogues in Brazil is significantly harder than that, even on a regular Shabbat. You basically need to call ahead of time and let the security guard know that you're coming. (I'm not sure if this is true for native Brazilians or just foreigners like myself.) And mind you, this was Shabbat in a city with no eruv--I was carrying nothing, wearing traditional Shabbat attire, I possibly tried a little Hebrew on them, and my cousin knew the name of the shul rabbi. My cousin, a native-born Brazilian (though not a shul member), and she eventually convinced them to let me in.<BR/><BR/>And not exactly related, but your mention of the security guard(s) reminded me--I had some difficulty getting on the plane to leave Israel this week, even though I spoke Hebrew the whole tiime. They asked me a LOT more questions than usual, including which Jewish holidays I observed (it was 3 am, so I said, "All of them," which apparently was insufficient). They also asked me if I belonged to a "kehilla" in New York, to which the answer is, "No, not really." That was clearly the wrong answer, so I quickly amended that to, "I go to Kehillat Orech Eliezer and Darkhei Noam, mostly." THEN she asked for the "name of the rav" at those places, and when I said that there was no rav, she clearly didn't believe me. Someone ought to give Ben Gurion security a primer on the situation at independent UWS minyanim!Abacaxi Mamaohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06604184268628243496noreply@blogger.com