When you discover your culture you discover yourself.

Summer was ending and I had just completed my tiring surgery which had left my left arm almost immobile. I felt very tired and weak but I carried on because today we would be seeing Crowns Heights Brooklyn. I was 14 super into anything Jewish whether it be religion, culture, customs, tradition, history religion ext. At this point, I could write Hebrew in 3 different scripts and was considered my self a master in both modern and biblical Jewish history. I felt very proud to be Jewish but realized we weren’t too religious and I wanted to see what traditional (religious) Jewish life was like.

Because of my surgery, my dad decided to let me choose where to go. Wanting to learn more about Jewish culture and Judaism I chose Crowns Heights Brooklyn, a city where the Jews are Ultra-Orthodox (very very religious) lived. Today I would see what traditional Jewish life was like. I didn’t know what to expect. At first, I thought the men would be slouched in Yeshivas (Jewish religious schools)  reading the Torah (the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament) all day but as you will see I was wrong. My dad and I took the subway, we soon saw I guy who had a striped suit, long black pants, and a dark fedora .I said  “That guy looks religious, we should follow him he’s probably going their.” My dad said no and we ended up somewhere else. This doesn’t look Jewish at all I said, “we are in the hood.” We kept walking and seeing houses that were Hispanic or Black rather than Jewish .After about thirty minutes of walking the neighborhoods became more Jewish, the houses we saw started having mezuzah (scrolls with a decorative case) on the doors only used by Jews. “We should of gone this way” I said. We soon bumped into the same man. “Go figure where else would the religious guy go” I said to my dad. He looked down at the floor realizing I was right.

We paced behind the man trying not to stalk him. It was then when we entered the heart of the city. Small houses lay to the north and south while the center of the city was surrounded by brick stores aligning and surrounding the center.

To outsiders, the people looked different. The men sported black suits reaching down to their feet, with a white buttoned shirt tucked under while wearing a black fedora, and having a yarmulke (a Jewish skull cap) tucked under their fedoras. Their suit blended in with their suits to the point where one could not tell the difference. The men had long sideburns which seemed to disappear into their scruffy unshaven beards. The older the man was the longer beard he would have. Children dressed similar wearing a white buttoned shirt, black pants, yarmulkes, but no suit. The women wore vary long skirts covering their knees. On top of that, they wore a shmatta to cover their hair which is like a rag. Furthermore, their shoulders down to their knees had to be concealed. The town was vibrant. The whole town was centered around religion. There were stores lining the streets dedicated to fulfilling Jewish traditions. There were stores selling Tefillin(Jewish prayer boxes), Torahs (Jewish Old Testaments in Hebrew), Kippahs, Mezuzahs, and more. The kids played outside in the street while they men would usually work in the stores or in other places. No matter who we met they were happy and were curious to know where we came from.

We soon stumbled upon a silver store “let’s see if we can get some of the kiddush cups we’re missing.” As soon as we walked in magnificent silver was  everywhere to be seen; there were goblets, cups, plates, silverware, menorahs, and everything you could imagine. We soon saw the old lady at the counter who runned the store. She nicely greeted us and showed us where the silver was.She showed us a beautiful menorah ( a lamp with 8 branches ran on oil used for Chanukah), A beautiful silver goblet, and a dreidel or sevivon (a spin top used on Hanukkah)Just before  we finished she started talking to us. My dad asked if she had kiddush cups (ritual cups used on Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath) “why, did you lose them” she kindly asked. “No” my father replied, “Our rabbi kept taking them and promised to give them back.” “who's your rabbi,” She asked. We whispered the name in her ear. “What's the name,” she asked again. We both told her again. “That's my cousin,” she said. “I have the last name as him.” Me and my dad took a step back so she couldn’t hear and started hysterically laughing. “What are the chances that we go to a random town, and the store owner is our rabbi’s cousin. The awkwardness covered the room like black covers the sky on a dark night. Although she couldn't hear us we scenced that she felt the awkwardness too. We payed for our items and quickly thanked her.

“One last thing where can I get the get up,” My dad said. “You mean the suit the hat and the other clothing. “Yeah,” my dad said. “Oh here are the places,” she said as she wrote them down on a note. “Is this the first place you’ve been to in Brooklyn?” she asked. “Yeah” we both said.                     

“You should go to the Chabad World Center down the street.” We were now on our way, after taking a few steps we saw the building. After walking for round five minutes we saw the brick building, in front of it were around 30 men all wearing black hats and suits. We creeped to the back of the building and saw around 15 teens eating an almost endless amount of pizza. “Lucky” I told my dad.  A slim kid walked around with the famous  black hat and black suit saying “get a slice for a dollar, one pizza for one dollar!” he said. Me and my dad laughed, “that's a real Jew I said.” Not knowing where I was and trying to start a conversation I asked “are you really charging for that pizza?” He replied “roses are red, violets are blue, I charge for pizza what about you!” After being lost for around 5 minutes our chances of doing anything seamed dismal. Than right before our eyes a young man with a scruffy beard saw us and asked “are you hear to see the Chabad World Center” he asked. “Yes” my dad and I replied. “Here I’ll give you a tour.” He opened the big locked door with his key and showed us to the hall where me and my dad saw a little kid getting his Tzitzit white ritual  fringes used  for rituals for the first time. The parents took a picture and sang prayers as the kid jumped up and down, up and down grinning at his new tzitzit. “Want to wrap Tefilin ( a set of small black leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah.)

Since I wanted luck after my surgery combined with the fact that it was such a powerful mitzvah (a good dead or religious duty in Judaism.)After we were the man brought us to a new room. The wall was covered with moniters, red buttons,flips, switches, speakers, and other gadgets the wall looked like it was part of a military base.“This is where the Rebbe streamed his talks all over the world” the man explained. After that our tour was done. We soon went to the clothing shop were they sold hats suits and other items. “What would you like the taylor asked. “Can we both get hats and suits we both asked. He can get a hat but you have to be married to have a suit. Do you have a daughter or granddaughter he could marry my dad asked jokingly. The man did not find it funny and his face turned red but he kept helping us. After we got our clothes we left fast not wanting to provoke anyone else at the store. We then decided to go to a Judaica store where we bought a book teaching Yiddish as well as a mold for Challah and some toys for my baby brother. There we met a Rabbi and his wife who knew my dad's friend who was also a Rabbi. I complained to my dad how my sister had married a Cohen (Levites who served as priests) while we were also Levites but since we were not Cohens we were supposed to wash their feet. The rabbi soon said “don’t be sad… Your daughters upgrading” at first this made me and my dad mad but we couldn't help but laughing. We spoke to the rabbi and his family and we had a very good time.

Overall we had an amazIng time and I felt when I discovered my culture that at first felt alien I discovered myself.