Rambling

There must be a large Ethiopian community in Jerusalem. And it seems they're always getting married. What size population would be necessary to have one wedding per month? Or so it seems. They do it big, with a professional cameraman and sometimes a big limousine.

But what really impresses me is how they dress. The men all look very smart in white shirts and black jeans. Or to really dress up, they wear all white, with a shiny colored vest and a matching colored strip on their trousers. The women, likewise, wear very nice clothes. Frequently they wear dresses of lightweight crinkled off-white muslin with strips of very colorful embroidery, with a shawl/head covering of the same light material.

I'm not clear on the differences between their Shabbat clothing, or wedding clothing, or everyday clothing, because I only see them on Shabbat, and there are a lot of weddings.

Elsewhere, anything goes. Well, not quite anything. In general women in Jerusalem are probably more modest than in the U.S. Especially in the more religious communities. Among the men, the word is "casual." Even in kehilot, men can be seen wearing shorts and T-shirts with writing on them. And of course, it's hot, and in hot weather you have to wear less. ?? Not me--I don't feel any cooler having the sun beat on my bear skin. Whoops, I mean bare skin. In some circles, they say we should honor the Sabbath by wearing nicer clothes than we wear during the week. In other places, they continually quote "God looks on the heart," so you are pre-emptively barred from saying anything about their shoddy appearance.

So, I try to be more concerned about what's really on people's hearts than what they look like. It's really important to do this, because Jerusalem is a very mixed environment. You can get into lively conversations about the Bible and religion. You find that people's experiences are so different from your own. It is a good exercise to not be around people who agree with you on everything. It makes you value what you have received, but also ready to examine everything in a new light. The body of Christ is one, and each member is necessary.

But really, black is black, and white is white, right? Not necessarily. Now I am going to ramble on about colors. What we consider pure white in America is not necessarily considered pure white somewhere else. Our "pure" is sort of cold, theirs is warm.

And they say that the colors you wear reflect your personality. If you wear bold, bright colors, you are outgoing, or positive, or confident, or something like that (and they imply also that you're supposed to be outgoing and postive and exuding confidence). If you like gray and brown, you are, well, not very interesting.

Disagree. Flat disagree. When I see someone dressed very plainly, which is not very often, I look twice. Because you have to look twice to determine what color you are seeing.

What I especially like are light neutrals. So light and so neutral that you can't quite define what the colors are. So I have a colorless personality. Don't think so. But if you want to pass colorless me by, that's okay, I appreciated your flash of blue or your red and orange stripes while you were here.

Let's  see, where was I going with this? Oh, I guess I didn't have any particular aim. Just wandering. That's a nice word. It means you aren't on a straight, pre-determined path, and don't particular care where you end up. However, after wandering aimlessly for a while, sometimes it's nice to go back home. Which reminds me, I need to hang my Andrew Wyeth.