The 100th post

It's official, I have found stuff worth of 100 blog posts to babble about. Go figure! This all really started one evening last year. My brain was going overload, projecting texts and thoughts that built up in my silly little head after meeting my bf, reading books, visits to the Holy Land... Fingertips on fire, I suddenly realized I had written 10 texts on Israel and Judaism, in a mere couple of hours. Where to put all that? Make it public? Does anyone want to read these? Well, what the heck, let's give it a shot.

www.bubblews.com

The blog has by now gone beyond these original 10 texts. New ideas and topics have popped up along the way. The only place I have advertized this blog is on Finnish "Blogilista", which is a never-ending website listing hundreds and hundreds of blogs. Some of you, especially Finnish readers, probably found your way here through there.

The rest of the readers of this blog are my family and friends. Or so I thought. Turns out I was wrong. Often when explaining something to my father, sister, mother or a friend, I said "but yeah you probably read this in my blog already". I could tell from their faces that they hadn't visited this site for ages (not that they should feel guilty about it). But they merely don't find this as interesting as my past life blog, as it isn't full of juicy gossip on my relationship or the language isn't Finnish.

This actually means then that the majority of you people reading this blog are total strangers to me! I can see I have visitors from all over the world. So I wonder who my readers are... Jews, other shiksas, people interested in history or traveling to Israel? Don't be shy, take the time to introduce yourself in the comments field. It's about time I knew something about you, like you know a little something about me... :)

gsickminds.net

We are what we eat

I recently read a book on all things kosher. The topic interests me, as I happen to love food and in my culture, there aren't any restrictions when it comes to eating food. We Finns can chow on pork, bear meat and hare. In a city called Tampere, they just love mixing blood in their sausages making the sausages black, and this autumn's crayfish season is just closing in. We can flush all this down with a glass of milk - a very typical drink even for adults at a mealtime. The raspberries we pick may have some tiny maggots in it. But like my grandmother - and now mother says, it's OK to eat them - they are practically made of the raspberry anyway.

Finnish blood sausage wrapped in bacon - do not try to sell this in Israel! (pic from lautasellasi.blogspot.com)

An observant Jew would probably faint at this point. Or to say the least, feel very disgusted. Actually, I also started feeling a bit queasy when thinking of a greasy pork ribs with melted cheese and a glass of milk. Ew. Keeping kosher in Finland would be extremely hard, and the only way out I can see is to become a vegetarian. Then you would be on the safe side for the most part.

www.israeli-t.com

Nowadays when I eat or cook, I often find myself thinking if this is "kosher" (OK, even though the beef or chicken I buy here at the super market isn't officially kosher). The other day I was cooking a nice beef steak with chanterelles and onions, and topping it off with cooking cream, I couldn't help but think of Deuteronomy 14:21 from the Bible... You know, the part about not cooking a kid in its mother's milk. A while back, I was attending a seminar and the buffet lunch had pork for the warm meal - the second option being shellfish mixed with rice. One weekend when doing BBQ with friends, we took big mushrooms, filled them with cream cheese and wrapped the whole thing in bacon. A Finnish summer BBQ delicacy but a taunting nightmare for anyone keeping kosher.

(www.biblicallykosher.com)

The book that I read had some really interesting insights to the kosher rules. Firstly, only recently has the European Union passed regulations for kitchens to have separate utensils for vegetables, dairy products and meat, in order to prevent bacteria from spreading. At an observant Jewish home, this has been a tradition for centuries already.

www.ekollel.com

What also makes sense is not to eat anything naturally dead. And check an animal that you have slaughtered if it was fully healthy. It is kind of disgusting to think what exactly could be found in a cheap frankfurter or minced meat - the production line where they generally throw all the crap that's left. Probably they throw in anything that wasn't good enough to be used as plain meat. Eating blood is a big no-no, which, you know, should be left only for vampires anyway. And since humans aren't really the top of the food chain, we shouldn't go after beastly animals that could as well kill us.

All the rules, in the end (according to the book), actually encourage people to live in harmony with the nature and above all, respect the nature. In addition, having discipline like this when it comes to food is good for the human nature. Gluttony and freely stuffing your face hasn't been proven healthy anywhere on this planet.

I have been allergic to fish and shellfish since I was a baby. It used to be so bad back in the day that my face would swell up even if I smelled fish. Nowadays, actually towards the end of this summer, I have learnt that I am no longer allergic to shrimps and crayfish. Hooray! But I couldn't help but wonder if this was one of G-d's jokes on me: I'm a shiksa, so of course I should be able to enjoy a shrimp or two every now and then. Whatever the irony might be here, I guess I should in the end be grateful for any medical healing (or blessing) that comes my way.

www.memegenerator.com

Second year student

I've voluntarily cursed myself with a continuation of another Hebrew course. Yes, as if the humiliations of last semester weren't enough, I decided to rise up for the challenge yet again and keep struggling with this foreign language. It is stressful at work again so I need that counterbalance anyway...

A tiny factor for creating stupid, useless arguments between an Israeli guy and a Finnish girl is to urge the Finnish person to read Hebrew. Reading without what I call the vowels. Infuriating. It is simply impossible to guess what a word means if your basic vocabulary is on the same level what a chimpanzee would know after completing immense training for years in this language. To give the Israeli an idea what it is like, I tried the same in Finnish. Do you know what this word is?

rhtomtti

Yes, a few vowels missing. For a Finn, it might be easy to figure out but for you foreigners, probably not. (Hint: I twisted this word in Hebrew to something nasty, similar to the word you use for "glass" in Hebrew.)

To bring back some of the alphabet learnt last time around, I'm posting some familiar writing below encountered in Israel. But for the record, I would not have been able to figure out the red & white text if I hadn't recognized the logo and famous bottle shape...

Mickey D's! Mem, kof, dalet, vav, nun, lamed, dalet, samech... Be-te avon!

Le chaim!

My pink elephant

I am getting the feeling that in spite all the hospitality, friendliness, kindness and jokes together, being non-Jewish is a kind of a glass ceiling one can't break. Even with the risk of sounding ungrateful or defying the saying about not throwing stones in glass houses (with those glass ceilings), here goes anyway.

Being non-Jewish, you ultimately will be liked only to a certain extent. It doesn't mean you are hated or considered a bad person, but since you're not Jewish – you won't be taken for a ride for that extra mile. Shiksa/goy is a label you can't choose to take off. And it might not be obvious discrimination or a statement of opinion – or even anything that someone would say out loud. It is kind of like that pink elephant in the living room. Everyone knows it's there, but it might not be spoken of. Well, except by a blabber shiksa like myself.

I can't help but think if my surname ended in ”-ovich” or a maternal great grandmother would be discovered to be Jewish; that invisible barrier I can't break, the label I can't take off, would be removed for me. I would get an all access pass to the Jewish funfair. But alas, none of this will be happening. Well, what about that conversion thing then? For all the reasons stated in this text so far it would be like forfeiting and admitting that there is something wrong with you.

But that's the thing, there isn't. No one did anything wrong by being born non-Jewish (or vice versa for that matter). It is not a choice, but yet you are being judged according to it. It could be compared to the security check at any Israeli airport. They treat you in a sort of polite manner, but yet doubt, question and scan you, leaving you feeling uneasy and thinking what did I do wrong to deserve this. And the process will never go away if you keep visiting the land of Israel – no matter how many Israeli stamps in your passport, hamsa key rings or I heart Israel t-shirt with blinking neon lights in your suitcase. Or no matter how nice, funny and smart you are as a person. You're always the usual suspect. You didn't do anything wrong; it's just the way it is and will be: at the airport, outside the airport.

So, the pink elephant is there, your presence in social media is denied and your existence is never revealed to certain relatives or friends. Those who say that this sort of situation is not really a problem, are lying. There's obviously something to be hidden, and it may not be you as a person - but the fact that you are not an "-ovich". I am not writing this to demonstrate that I am desperate to join the haim-mile club. No, but the whole setup is very sad and hard not to take, well, personally. Feeling inadequate as a person for qualities in you that you can't help is quite a heavy baggage to carry if this status quo will persist in my life going forward.

Sometimes, I'm asking myself how it is in reverse. Did I ever encounter a situation where I'd need to hide or deny the fact that I have a Jewish boyfriend? Did my parents, family or friends ever consider it a constraint? So far, never. The only constraint that I can see is that we as a couple can never visit certain Arab countries, but this is not a problem caused by me, my country or my background. And sometimes I think if this is a European thing, where people are sticking to their national identity, language and colors of flag so strongly. Would it be different in the US for us, for instance? I wouldn't be Christian, Finnish or shiksa, he wouldn't be Israeli or Jew, but we'd be (after a long naturalization process and unlikely to happen anyway) just merry Americans?

I'm not asking to be considered kosher, I'd settle for being parve. But like the piggies and myself, we can't really help it. According to the Torah, according to the glass ceiling, pink elephant... we are what we are - can't chew this cud. And in a desperate search of a silver lining and somewhat of a positive ending to this text, I could say that at least I'm not an Arab or German. So it could be worse, no?

Holy Land, here I come!

Finally! At last – like Etta James would sing – I've got flights booked to Israel. This summer in Finland has been quite balmy to us near the Arctic Circle but I'm the kind of girl who needs minimum +28C to start wearing skirts and shorts to call it a real summer. To reach these degrees, we Northerners usually have no other choice but to hit the South. The temperatures in Tel Aviv seem to bounce nicely between +25C and +30something C, and I especially look forward to those warm evenings and nights when you don't need to carry a sweater and gloves with you "just in case it gets chilly".

I am quite prepared: got some shekels, sunscreen and Crocs waiting to hit the heat. I recently purchased my first-ever pair of Crocs even though I previously had sworn off those hideous clumsy plastic things. But then I was tipped off by a friend and I came across this pretty pair that swooned my picky feet - and we've been walking on air together ever since (love at first step). I've been told that Crocs are somewhat of a national attire in Israel so now I will fit in nicely!

I've never really experienced the lovely sea and beaches or the Dead Sea in Israel. The only swim I have taken there was a hasty dip in the Genesaret, so this time around I am hoping for more. Contemplating a swim means, though, daring the horrors of wearing a bikini... I'm thinking the mud at the Dead Sea would cover nicely all the screaming white, wobbly bits that I am not proud of, so maybe I should opt for that? Panic preparations for the bikini problems have started: I've booked an appointment for ultrasound fat removal procedure next Tuesday. And ran 2km last Tuesday. Desperate? Yes. Will it help? No. But there is no harm in trying is there...

I was determined to book the flights with Finnair in order to commemorate the fact they opened this seasonal route just this year when I'm in first need of this connection. Apparently it is quite a popular one as I could only get my return ticket with the familiar blue & white wings. To make things a tad more interesting, I've booked a kosher meal for my return flight. I am curious to see & taste how a Finnish airline goes kosher!

Need to struggle at work for a little more, and then I can call it a h-o-l-i-d-a-y!

Shiksas keep out

It was Friday afternoon, I had worked until 6pm again and felt really bored with all that... Playing around with my mobile phone on the subway before hitting the bar to have a drink with friends, I tuned in for the daily Times of Israel newsletter and noticed this ad:

Exactly what was needed to catch my attention. My imagination started galloping... why not enter this contest - what's the worst thing that could happen? One year in Israel, working for one of these companies, learning the language, getting a real taste of the culture (so I'd actually know what I'm talking about here), and a perfect getaway and wake-up call from the ever-so-dull routine I have developed back home. I could rent out my apartment for one year, no biggie, and IBM, KPMG or the likes of them would not look bad on my resumé either.

Before I texted "let's try this out!!!" to my Finnish friend who is an Israel fan, I started reading the details of the contest. My enthusiasm took a nose-dive from 100 to 0, when the rules for the contestants were:

• Must be Jewish or of Jewish descent.
• Must be a citizen of the US or Canada.

My first reaction was that this is discrimination - something I'm not really used when living in Finland and belonging to the boring majority of people here. "This is my Israel"? More like that is their Israel, shiksas from the 236th tribe keep out. Landing a dream job in Israel is not for you.

Then I started thinking that the newspaper and newsletter are probably not really targeted to the likes of me to begin with. That ad was never meant for my eyes to be seen and to be misunderstood that it is not for everybody but concerns North American Jews who are thinking of aliyah.

Well, never mind, it was not meant to be. After a mojito and catching up with friends, things didn't seem so grim after all. There are other dreams and jobs out there.

(View the contest here.)

Eager ivrit student

I (אני) can't begin describing how studying (לומדת) Hebrew (עברית) has saved my life (חיים) last autumn and this spring. Even though the language classes (שיעורים) sometimes are a source of temporary moments of intense frustration, looking back I am so happy and glad to see how I have progressed from zero knowledge to what (מה) I know (יודעת) now (עכשיו). The classes have also (גם) been a form of therapy for me amongst busy working life, taking my thoughts off from all the work things I should not be wasting my time thinking when outside the office.

Now I can in Hebrew tell a bit about myself, order simple stuff in a restaurant (מסעדה), ask and tell the time (מה השעה) and make simple questions and sentences. In Hebrew - the language that made no sense to me not so many months ago! I even installed a Hebrew keyboard to my cell phone (פלאפון) so I can sometimes surprise my boyfriend (חבר) by WhatsApping him in Hebrew.

When the course started, we were about 25 eager students (סטודנטים). Those with not enough time or motivation have dropped out and a bit over 10 (עשר) is left. This remaining group is so into the language that together we bought extra classes for the spring. And I already pre-enrolled for the next course starting in September.

There's still a long way to go before I could add Hebrew to my LinkedIn profile as a skill. Maybe (אולי) a four (ארבע) week summer holiday in a kibbutz (קיבוץ) in Israel (בישראל) would take me to that level?

I wonder, though, how well do the Jews in diaspora know Hebrew or is it just the sabras of Israel that know it well? Do e.g. Finnish Jews speak fluent Hebrew?

My Seder style dinner

This past week has been important for both Jews and Christians. Passover and Easter coincide this year (again) and Israel has probably been buzzing with tourists, Jerusalem in particular with Christians.

My boyfriend and I were also supposed to go celebrate Passover in Israel this year. But alas, an exam week ruined the plans, so we settled for spending Easter in Helsinki... The grey views, dirty snow, everything closed, much fun.

But then I got this idea, just for the sake of my boyfriend, that since he wasn't able to do the Seder dinner with his family, maybe I could give it a go here in Helsinki.

This all actually started in New York City last June when I bought the below books while visiting the Jewish museum. I don't know why I did it, probably because of pain of a solely Hebrew Haggadah-book was fresh in mind from that year. To take corrective measures, I decided to buy the Hebrew & English version for next time and the museum gift shop keeper was such a good salesman that he sold me the Passover cookbook while at it. He warned me, though, that the recipes are only kosher style. So I guess the whole Seder now in 2013 was doomed to be a bit of kosher style; passover style; Jewish style. Not quite the real thing but something mimicking it, anyway.

Once my boyfriend finally (took a while!) booked his flights here, the real planning started. What do you need to arrange a tiny Passover dinner for two? I started making a to-do list in my mind and some I could cross out immediately...

• Great, the Haggadah I have from New York.
• There's got to be a Seder plate. Without it, it just won't work. Where to get one of those?
• Did the matza have a special plate, too?
• Does Prophet Elijah need a special cup or would a normal one do?
• How in the world do I make my home "kosher for passover"?
• And of course, where to buy the food? 

I decided that Prophet Elijah needs to settle for one of my Iittala Essence wine glasses. I wouldn't be able to arrange the Seder on the right night anyway, and he is probably busy visiting real Jewish homes. So that's going to have to do. What about removing all the leavened food from my home? Please forgive me, but I saw no point of selling all my pots and pans to a goy (ehm, I'm a goy myself). The kitchen I cleaned, I'll give you that, but I won't go on all my fours with a magnifying glass to look for a bread crumb that might or might not be there. I don't keep bread at home anyway.

(Mind you, upon arriving in Helsinki my boyfriend announced he took a loaf of bread from home and brought it here as it would have expired otherwise. So much for the great efforts of getting rid of all the chametz...)

So, let's move on to the plates. A brief thought of stocking up on tiny Iittala Teema plates crossed my mind, but then I thought that would look too hastily put together. I wanted the real thing. There aren't any Judaica stores or museums in Finland, so my best bet was to surf then net. I remembered seeing lots of online store selling anything Jewish, anything from a small star to a massive Menorah. No problem!

But no, wait. All these stores are American web shops. Any purchase above 25€ and I would have to pay customs and VAT and while at it, an arm and a leg. Same goes for all the Israel web shops as it is outside EU purchases.

Plan B then. Google for Jewish online stores in Europe. Thanks to that blessed European Union, I wouldn't have to worry about any customs formalities and paperwork. I found a nice British online store offering all items Jewish, including beautiful Seder plates of glass. A bit pricey, but hey, at least they deliver to EU countries. Just when I was about to place my order, I noticed a warning text in red: glass items won't be shipped outside the UK. And all the Seder plates in their selection were of glass...

Plan C then. Activating the 4th best language I can speak and write, I googled auf Deutsch for jüdisches online Laden. And there was a hit, and boy was it a good one! Judaica4all offered a great selection of products, including Seder plates and this time there were no red warning texts. I found a tray for the matza and some other small items, too, so problem solved. A week later when the items I had purchased arrived in Finland, I had two days of terror with the local post office, as they had handed my parcel to someone totally else! Eize mazal, this person was honest and returned it (unopened) back to the post office, so I could go retrieve it.

So what was left on my list now? Of course, the holy of the holiest in any Jewish holiday... the food. This is touchy, this is the zone and area where shiksas will be beaten to pulp by all the bubbes and Jewish mamas out there. Nothing tastes as good as your mama's cooking - especially if your mama is Jewish! Flashing images of ruining this Jewish holiday for my boyfriend passed before my eyes: mushy matza ball stew instead of a soup and what not...

But there was no other choice but to work with what I've got. A visit to the only Kosher store in Finland, Zaafranco, provided me with a 1kg box of Aviv Matzot, an Osem Matza Ball mix and Israeli honey for the charoset. Bothering relatives, friends of my friends', and lots of googling for easy Passover recipes, I settled for the following dinner menu:

Seder Plate

**

Matza ball soup

**

Oven-baked chicken breast with crunchy Matza meal and almond coating
Oven-baked garlic and onion potatoes

**

Matza brittle
Almond biscuits

Topping this up with five bottles of wine (all of them Kosher for Passover), everything was set for my boyfriend on Friday night. The charoset, Matza brittle, almond biscuits and soup stock I prepared the day before, maror and all the rest on the same day.

And you know what? It all turned out great! I was able to participate by reading some Hebrew parts of the Haggadah. The charoset and maror were tasty, my boyfriend wanted a second round of both the soup and the chicken. The only part we didn't do so well with was the wine - just finished one bottle...

All in all, we had a nice, secluded dinner in great company, blending Jewish tradition in a little bit off-environment. I'm proud of myself that the food turned out to be a success. However, we both agreed that leshana haba'a be Israel because with more people and his mother's unbelievable food (I especially miss the liver), Passover tastes even better! :-)

PS. The next morning, my boyfriend indulged me with Matza brei, an omelet that will keep you feeling full until the evening!

Matza brei, topped with charoset and maror. Great combo, believe it or not!

Tuning in for the season

After +10 years of a break, I watched the animated movie The Prince of Egypt again. I remember clearly when and where I saw it the first time; my cousins received the VHS (or was it DVD?) as a Christmas present and we watched it two or three times during the holidays. I was already borderline "too old" to like cartoons anymore because it wouldn't be considered "cool" for someone in my age back then, but secretly I really liked it. Now, I could watch it in the original language and on top of that, could understand some of the Hebrew spoken in the movie - and love it openly regardless of age. :-)

The story of the Exodus is especially important now as Passover is nearing. The holiday commemorates the events around the freedom of the ancient Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Moses as the leader, lead the people to the promised land that would flow with milk and honey. If you're not familiar with the events that lead to the celebration of Passover, watch the movie. While some artistic liberties have been taken to make the story work on the silver screen, the 600 religions experts used during the movie make sure that the underlying facts are respected.

I have been involved in Passover celebrations in 2011 and 2012. The first time, I barely had a clue what was going on. Second time around, the experiences from the first time were immensely valuable for me to make a good impression. Stay tuned to see what happens in 2013...

http://robsmovievault.files.wordpress.com

This blogger's mind-boggler

I can't remember where I picked up this little book of whys, but it is a pretty efficient, straight-to-the-point declaration on matter relating to the Jewish faith.

The first "why" question, in the first chapter, explains the fact that why the religion of the mother is the primary factor in determining if a child is Jewish or not. I'm pretty sure I've discussed this topic before in my blog; how Judaism only considers those born from a Jewish mother as Jews. You are considered non-Jewish, if your mother is non-Jewish. Doesn't matter if your dad is a rabbi, you're still not among the chosen ones.

This rule was established because of a pretty simple reason (here comes the why). One can be sure who gave birth to a child - but of the father you can never be sure. Or to say the least, in some circumstances it can be questioned. Fine, nowadays we have those mail order DNA tests and all that to help you if you're in doubt, but back then for the Jews, perhaps just a teeny tiny bit suspicious by their nature, the mother was the 100% source of Judaism and this remains until today.

So, us shiksas out there, out here. Anything that would crawl out of our foreign loins would never be considered Jewish. But here comes the catch: if I did have kids with a Jew, the kids would be entitled to receive Israeli citizenship. And even my children's children would still have this birth right.

This is where the confusion begins. Israel, the state established for Jews, historically based on Zionism, is willing to grant its citizenship just-like-that to someone that officially, according to the real, religious rules isn't even Jewish. My little book of whys does not answer my question why is this and how this contradiction persists.

One could argue back that not all Israelis are Jews. And this is true. While Jews are the majority in the country, there are minorities of Arabs/Muslims, Druze and Christians. Therefore, you might catch an Arab with an Israeli passport at the airport. But no "outsider" Christian or Arab would be granted the citizenship without ifs or buts and allowed to do aliyah, unless their would prove one of their grandparents being Jewish (the Orthodox Jews would probably add here, that it would have to be the maternal grandmother - if any). And we come back to the matter of one having a Jewish bloodline.

And yes, shiksas can convert. Someone might point out here that even the first Jews ever were converts. But Judaism is not something you can just go and be 100% , is it? Same thing if I convert, I'd always be Christian by background. If I lived in Switzerland for 20 years and got citizenship, I'd still be Finnish under the surface. Nationality and religion are something more profound, something you're born into. Political ideologies e.g. communism doesn't know this kind of so-called restrictions. One can be a 100% communist regardless of where they come from. But can a convert-Jew ever be considered 100% Jewish? This is probably a matter of opinion...

When it comes down to it, Judaism and Israel are more than just a plain religion or a plain sovereign country. They are like Siamese twins, so grown together that you can't separate the one from the other. There are two heads thinking independently: the Jewish one thinking in religious terms and the Israeli one tuned into a more secular mindset. Somehow, though, they need to co-exist, because both without one another, would be way worse off.

Modern art pieces

It was a sunny Sunday and I had scheduled to go to Kiasma (the Museum of Modern Art in Helsinki). To be honest with you, I've never been a huge fan of modern art. It is really hard for me to appreciate something that, for the most part, could be created by a five-year-old or even by myself. The 10 EUR entrance ticket felt a bit pricey because I knew I wasn't going to get much out of the visit, but I justified it to myself as a donation for Helsinki's cultural efforts. No Guggenheim, so go Kiasma.

The visit was just as I had expected. A rolled up carpet leaning against the wall or a ashes on the floor didn't provide my soul with high, cultural nutrition. I don't know if I'm missing a gene because most of that stuff didn't open up to me? Fine, some Romanian artist had made some witty wall drawings and slogans regarding today's world, but that's pretty much it. My friend and I roamed the concrete floors of the museum with no clue what we're supposed to get out of it.

Without a quick visit to the 5th floor (which we didn't find by the way before asking the staff for directions), I wouldn't have had anything to share with you. Below are a couple of piece inspired by Judaism, containing Jewish symbols or made by a Jewish artist. Please, don't ask me to explain them to you in detail. I just know what the descriptions said for the pieces and that's it. :-)

Monument (La Fete du Pourim) from 1989, by Christian Boltanski. The collected clothes and faces tell of lives lived. The work does not refer to any specific persons but Boltanksi recycles faces from work to work. Purim is a Jewish celebration that involves wearing masks and costumes.

Wall writings I (2009-2010) by Outi Sunila. Afar, it looks like this...

...and upclose, like this. Random wall writings in public places captured by the artist and put into pins. Tip to the museum: I went to the gift shop to buy a pin from this collection - there weren't any.

Father, not Uncle (Freud/Katharina) 2008 by Michal Heiman. The work re-enacts one of Freud's case studies where a young woman asks him for help with her anxiety attacks. In the video, the artist reads Freud's study (in Hebrew!) while the texts in the video challenge and underline the details. Freud did later admit to altering the story.

Want to visit Kiasma? See their website for more details.

Mother knows best

I have had my fair share of feedback from my friends. Resigning my membership with the church, taking up on studying Hebrew, avoiding pork meat, visiting Jewish museums, reading nothing but holocaust books. You've gone way deep into this! Oh, next thing you know you're converting! You're blinded by all this stuff!

Well, damn it. Me quitting the church had nothing to do with my boyfriend. I'm studying Hebrew merely, firstly, to understand and read at least something when visiting Israel and secondly, of course to eavesdrop understand what my boyfriend is talking about on Skype with his family or friends. I consider pork unhealthy and well, the holocaust books... there I have no logical explanation. I'm just interested. Same goes for the museums.

But what is surprising is that my mother has been, let's say, supportive in all this. Sometimes I wonder who is more excited: me or her. My mother...

• Was actually the one I went to Israel with. She wanted to go there.
• Works as my SMS-alert if there's anything Israeli/Jewish on TV - may it be a TV show, movie, documentary and whatnot.
• Experiments making hummus at home. Because the ones in the store in Finland aren't as tasty as in Israel.
• Takes pictures of the synagogue in Zurich, just so later she can show them to me.
• Collects pamphlets from a pro-Israeli demonstration, just to share them later with me.
• Buys me a book, just because it was written by a Jewish author.
• Tells me about a Finnish actress, who converted to Judaism.
• Buys mangoes from Israel.
• Puts miniature Israeli flags on these mangoes from Israel.

So, Mom, do you just love your daughter very much and show your approval through all these nice gestures - or is there something I should know? :-)

Didn't read this yet. On the waiting list...