Anglo-Jewish dilemmas
Apr. 21st, 2009 11:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lavendersparkleA lot of talk lately has been about the potential conflict between religious identities and Britishness. Part of the problem is the difficulty in defining Britishness, particularly as one of the defining features of being British seems to be constantly whining about how rubbish Britain is and scoffing at countries which indulge in flag waving and knowing more than the first line of their national anthems. An older, enlightenment model of identity requires that citizens rank identities in a hierarchy in which Britishness id ranked first. Such demands seem nonsensical to a younger generation, who have grown up within multiculturalism and feel more comfortable holding a plethora of competing identities in tension.
Most of the time I think that religious obligations and national norms manage to rub together reasonably well, but I have found a seemingly insurmountable problem facing Anglo-Jewry. Antisemitism? Assimilation? Loyalty to Israel? No, don't be stupid, the real issue is tea on Shabbos. You see as English people we love tea. We view is as some kind of magical medicinal substance which can alleviate almost any trauma, perhaps adjusting the amount of milk and sugar for the severity. I can tell from my husband's experience, that tea plays a central role to pastoral care, particularly to the bereaved. Throughout the 20th century, tea has played a crucial role in British war efforts, from the tea vans which would rush centre of the devastation during the Blitz, to ply the victims with the sweet milky beverage, to government departments worrying about how to supply adequate tea to the few survivors of a nuclear holocaust, during the Cold War. However, we are also Jews, and as such we should keep Shabbat. This poses two main problems for tea making. Firstly, you can't boil water on Shabbat. Some Jews even don't use hot taps during Shabbat to avoid more cold water going into the boiler. A solution to this is to use one of those urns which can be boiled before Shabbat and will keep the water boiling over the rest of Shabbat. Even if you can live with the energy inefficiency of that solution, the brewing of the tea itself might count as cooking, which is also prohibited.
Tamar Fox has written a post about this on the Mixed Multitude blog. The Chabad method has the problem that most teas should be made with boiling water, although it might be OK with Oolong, which should be brewed with cooler water. There's a 40 minute lecture on the issue, which I haven't listened to yet.
If you're planning to make tea during the week, or do not feel bound by halacha, here is a film you might find useful.
As for me, well my solution was to marry a non-Jew who makes me tea during shabbat. I'm not sure whether to call that a triumph of integration.
Most of the time I think that religious obligations and national norms manage to rub together reasonably well, but I have found a seemingly insurmountable problem facing Anglo-Jewry. Antisemitism? Assimilation? Loyalty to Israel? No, don't be stupid, the real issue is tea on Shabbos. You see as English people we love tea. We view is as some kind of magical medicinal substance which can alleviate almost any trauma, perhaps adjusting the amount of milk and sugar for the severity. I can tell from my husband's experience, that tea plays a central role to pastoral care, particularly to the bereaved. Throughout the 20th century, tea has played a crucial role in British war efforts, from the tea vans which would rush centre of the devastation during the Blitz, to ply the victims with the sweet milky beverage, to government departments worrying about how to supply adequate tea to the few survivors of a nuclear holocaust, during the Cold War. However, we are also Jews, and as such we should keep Shabbat. This poses two main problems for tea making. Firstly, you can't boil water on Shabbat. Some Jews even don't use hot taps during Shabbat to avoid more cold water going into the boiler. A solution to this is to use one of those urns which can be boiled before Shabbat and will keep the water boiling over the rest of Shabbat. Even if you can live with the energy inefficiency of that solution, the brewing of the tea itself might count as cooking, which is also prohibited.
Tamar Fox has written a post about this on the Mixed Multitude blog. The Chabad method has the problem that most teas should be made with boiling water, although it might be OK with Oolong, which should be brewed with cooler water. There's a 40 minute lecture on the issue, which I haven't listened to yet.
If you're planning to make tea during the week, or do not feel bound by halacha, here is a film you might find useful.
As for me, well my solution was to marry a non-Jew who makes me tea during shabbat. I'm not sure whether to call that a triumph of integration.