This afternoon in downtown Chicago I was approached by a pleasant young man who asked if I was Jewish. After resisting my initial urge (“No, but I’m willing to learn”), I replied that I wasn’t, and inquired as to why he was asking. He said that today was a Jewish holiday and he was performing a mitzvah (?), or good deed. He was in good spirits and indicated that it was a happy holiday, so I should be happy, and that my friend (I was with a friend) and I should sing a song when he wasn’t looking. We shook hands and I went about my business with a smile on my face.
The young man was carrying a small bag adorned with Hebrew lettering, and on my return trip I saw that he was wrapping some sort of black cord around another man’s arm, and held what looked like a small black box in his hand. I presume these items were extracted from the bag.
A query to one of my Jewish friends revealed that today is Lag Ba’Omer, and reading the Wikipedia entry explains the young man’s infectious high spirits and good humour.
So, what good deeds/merrymaking was my Jewish friend up to?
ETA: My apologies, I should’ve used a more descriptive title.
Yes, today is indeed Lag Ba’Omer, but there aren’t any overly important rituals that he might have been trying to share with you.
The bag undoubtedly contained tefillin, about which you can read more at that Wikipedia link. Suffice it to say that the practice of wearing tefilin is considered very important, it is done every day except major holidays, and the young man was probably a member of the Lubavitch Chasidic group.
Jews aren’t supposed to proselytize except to other Jews. Had you answered in the affirmative, he would have tried to get you to go to his temple or at least wrap tfillen and say a prayer.
It’s kinda funny because a Christian would only try to have a further discussion with you if you answered their question in the negative.
I love some of the traditional Jewish Holidays - many are solemn, that are designed to make you stop and think about the past, but then they get happy and involve families [and food!]
I lived with a fairly observant jewish man for a while, and the family interactions in his community were fascinating. Like everybody else, they have their share of disfunctionality, but on the whole they seemed very comfortable. I do think it is attributable to nonproselytizing.