DAY 6

This morning I looked out the window toward the street (through 3 layers of bars or fence) and saw an older lady, rooting through the curbside trash apparently looking for metals and anything else of value. I believe that I encountered her yesterday morning a block or two away. I admire her industriousness.

In New York City trash is serious business. On the way to breakfast, Josiah and I encountered 2 Sanitation Enforcement Officers in the space of about 3 blocks. A person could let their imagination run with the possibilities for a person dressed in a police-like uniform and armed with blue gloves unleashing their observational powers on the mounds of household trash piled on the sidewalk.  I asked Rich Swartz about the “Garbage Police” and he informed me that they can write expensive tickets for a host of reasons including: not properly segregating recyclables, trash cans lacking lids, cardboard boxes that are being disposed of not being in bags, and can be influenced by a generally trashy area in the front of a house or the prevailing mood of the Sanitation Enforcement Officer. Rich promptly began rearranging his trash and picking up litter as he told me these things. He also told how the neighborhood children like to borrow (permanently) trash can lids as sleds in the winter time…and how the lack of a lid can translate to a $100 fine.

Today was Jewish Day! We were oriented to the Jewish faith by a local resident. We learned that there are over 800,000 Jews just here in the borough of Brooklyn.

We are here during a special time in the Jewish Calendar. Sunday through Tuesday were the days of Rosh Hashanah or the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashanah kicks of the 10 Days of Awe (Repentance) which end with the very solemn holy day of Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement. During the first 9 days of Awe, the “books” from the last year are opened and Jews are to consider their deeds…and to repent and make wrongs right from the last year. On Yom Kippur the “books” are closed and ones fate is sealed for the past year. Following the Days of Awe a much happier time comes during Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles.

After orientation we divided into 5 groups and headed out to the three major Jewish enclaves in Brooklyn (Crown Heights, Borough Park and Williamsburg). Look at these seasoned subway riders!

Students had an incredible variety of interactions…from a 2 hour conversation with a Jewish lady in a café to Aaron being sternly lectured by an older Jewish man on the street for talking to a lady and her children to Jonathan befriending a “rebel” Jew and getting taken to synagogue and being confronted while crossing the street for not having Tefillin (also known as phylacteries) — a small box containing verses from the Torah– strapped to his arm. Be sure to ask your son/daughter/friend about their specific experiences today.

A highlight during the Days of Awe is the practice of Kapparot. This is a ceremony in which certain groups of strict Jews atone for their sins by transferring their sins to a chicken which is subsequently slaughtered on the morning of Yom Kippur. This is quite a spectacle with streets closed off in the Williamsburg area for stacks of chicken crates and crowds of people who purchase a chicken, wave the chicken around their head while reading/reciting this prayer (presumably in Hebrew) “This is my exchange, this is my substitute, this is my atonement. This rooster (hen) will go to its death, while I will enter and proceed to a good long life and to peace.” The person being atoned for bends forward to read the prayer off of a paper on the table while they or a helper wave the chicken around their head. At the conclusion of the prayer, the “atonee” gently kicks the chicken in the head (you can see the elderly lady doing this near the end of the second video at the far end of the table). The chicken is then returned to a second set of cages for slaughter and distribution to the poor on Yom Kippur. Take a look!

Another interesting practice going on now is the preparations for Sukkot (the Feast of Booths/Tabernacles). Families are buying the temporary (typically bamboo-roofed structures in which they will be spending time during this feast. Some people go to Home Depot…in Williamsburg you can go to “Sukkah Depot!”

If you look closely you can even see Sukkah’s being constructed on the balconies of high rises.

A nearly omnipresent object on the right side of the doorway in the homes and businesses of Williamsburg was the Mezuzah which contains the Shema Yisrael prayer (Hear O Israel, the LORD our God…). It is customary for Jews to touch the mezuzah as they pass through doorways.

The teams reconvened in Prospect Park for a pizza supper and debriefing. Our leftover pizza was given to a group of “Rastafarian–looking” men who were convened nearby and who greatly appreciated the pizza.

Due to rain, a number of team members being sick, and near universal exhaustion the evening plans to go to the Highline in Manhattan were canceled and we headed home early arriving at home base around 7:00 PM.