Jewish Blog Carnivals and a Jewish Grandmother
August 9th, 2009 by LeoraBaila is hosting Haveil Havalim, the Modiin Edition.
Jewish bloggers, submit posts with photos for JPIX. It doesn’t have to be a Jewish theme, though those are certainly welcome. One could argue that a nature photo could certainly be considered a Jewish theme! Batya will be hosting in September.
And submit your kosher recipes to the Kosher Cooking Carnival, please.
• • •
I am reading and enjoying a book called I Love Gootie: My Grandmother’s Story, a biographical book by Max Apple about his grandmother, Gootie.
In this scene in Grand Rapids, Michigan, his grandmother has invited over a single Jewish man named Jerome to meet a single Jewish woman named Marian in an effort to match up the two. Max, who is a boy, has just served the two some of Gootie’s cake.
“The cake is pareve,” I said.
Jerome looked at me.
“It means neutral,” Marian said, “neither meat nor milk. This family observes the old ways. I’m much more modern.”
“Modern,” Gootie whispered to me. “She thinks he’ll marry her because she’s modern. The cat and dog are modern, too— they don’t need a wedding. They just go out into the street.”
The book sounds wonderful, and I will check it out.
You’ve certainly selected an interesting passage. Thanks a lot.
What a great line!
The excerpt reminds me of the scene from Herman Wouk’s “Inside, Outside”, when the hero’s Yiddish-speaking grandmother sees right through her grandson’s slick American principal.
Leora,
I just found a book called Kosher for the Clueless, but Curious.
I can’t wait to buy it. I am finally on my way to keeping kosher. In fact, I am going to the Rabbi and Rebbetzin’s house today to buy gefilte fish. Can’t get more kosher than gefilte fish.
Happy Sunday!
Melissa
I really liked that excerpt. I’ll have to hunt down the book.
Thanks for the link.
It’s on the French Amazon website, both new and second-hand (through betterworlds for instance), so I’m sure you’ll be able to find it.
The person who recommended it to me said she likes Max Apple’s book on his grandfather better (that one is called Roommates – I gather Max roomed with his grandfather when his grandfather was in his nineties and Max in his twenties). I’ll read that one when I’m done with this one – if it ever gets returned to the library.
Great message there in that excerpt.