{"id":32669,"date":"2013-06-18T20:38:56","date_gmt":"2013-06-18T20:38:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=32669"},"modified":"2013-06-21T14:50:44","modified_gmt":"2013-06-21T14:50:44","slug":"arent-there-any-real-problems-in-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/community\/arent-there-any-real-problems-in-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Aren\u2019t There Any Real Problems in Life?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Toy<\/a>The big news two weeks ago was the word \u201cknaidel\u201d in the National Spelling Bee. Should it be kneidel, knaydl, knaydel? People were really up in arms over this! (Personally, I prefer kreplach, so the whole issue is moot to me.) True, there are no standardized transliterations for Yiddish words but if Webster likes knaidlach more than kneydlach, it\u2019s no skin off mine.<\/p>\n

This past week, the big scandal was Israeli bourekas. There, the Chief Rabbinate issued a set of guidelines for the shape of pastries. In this way, consumers can easily tell a crescent-shaped dairy rugelach from a straight parve rugelach. Now, I hate government paternalism as much as the next guy \u2013 let people buy 500-ounce sodas for all I care! \u2013 but I was having trouble mustering any ire about this rule since it\u2019s kind of already Jewish law.<\/p>\n

One should not bake bread with milk or with animal fat; if he does, the loaf must be in a distinctive shape so that people will recognize that it\u2019s dairy or meat, not parve. That\u2019s a basic law of kashrus. (You can read it in the Shulchan Aruch or here, in OU Torah\u2019s HaShoneh Halachos<\/a>.) So a kashrus agency enforcing a law of kashrus doesn\u2019t exactly scream anything insidious to me.<\/p>\n

I saw real ire last Pesach. Two things had people going nuts then. The first was the status of quinoa, which some people eat on Pesach and others do not. Why is this a point of contention? Some people eat rice and beans on Pesach; others don\u2019t. Some people eat matzah balls on Pesach; others don\u2019t. Some people only eat vegetables that can be peeled on Pesach! Why should a difference of opinion over quinoa tear us apart? If I eat it and you don\u2019t, I won\u2019t serve it to you! If you don\u2019t want to eat at my house until after Pesach, no offense taken! I won\u2019t eat at your house during Pesach if you serve corn and peas, so I hope you won\u2019t take offense, either!<\/p>\n

A surprising amount of bile was reserved for \u201cschlissel challah.\u201d This is a custom to bake a key in a challah on the Shabbos following Pesach. I have no idea why this custom has gained popularity in recent years but it doesn\u2019t offend me one way or the other. I actually read people ranting online that customs like this were \u201cdestroying the religion!\u201d Really? Apparently, some people are concerned that if doing so becomes mainstream, they will be looked down upon for not doing so. Honestly, I have trouble seeing rioting in the streets and religious schisms forming over whether or not someone chooses to bake a key in a bread. Is this a big topic of conversation in most circles? I guess one could refrain from inviting guests with opposing \u201cschlissel\u201d customs on the Shabbos after Pesach, but I really don\u2019t think most people care enough to summon religious zeal on this matter. (I didn\u2019t grow my sons\u2019 hair until their third birthdays, as many do. If anyone asked, I said, \u201cIt\u2019s not my minhag.\u201d Nobody got righteously indignant over that and it\u2019s way more visible than whether or not my wife bakes a key in a bread.)<\/p>\n

These are the things people are getting upset over? Aren\u2019t there any real problems in life?<\/p>\n

I always like when Lindsay Lohan or Brittany Spears is the top news story. Not because I care about celebrity gossip (which I don\u2019t) but because if Amanda Bynes is important today, that means that there\u2019s no Columbine, 9\/11 or Intifada going on. A slow news day is a great thing. If I care about Governor Christie\u2019s lap-band surgery, that means there\u2019s no Hurricane Katrina to talk about. If I have time to care about what Justin Bieber writes in the Anne Frank House guest book, it means there\u2019s no Boston Marathon bombing or Sandy Hook elementary.<\/p>\n

By the same token, if people have the time to get upset over kneidlach (or however you want to spell them), I guess it\u2019s a sign that there aren\u2019t bigger problems in the world.<\/p>\n

Except, you know, there are.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve noticed, but the Middle East situation is still kind of a mess, and we have a few kinks to work out on the home front, as well. I guess most people don\u2019t think they can solve Syria or homeland security but bourekas? That<\/span><\/i> they can do something about!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s okay. We can get wrapped up in the little things so long as we remember that they\u2019re the little things.<\/p>\n

I was at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. That\u2019s a Big Thing. I was trapped in a building on Water Street for several hours after the towers collapsed and I was evacuated on foot over the Manhattan Bridge. People on the Brooklyn side provided evacuees with water, chairs, and bathroom facilities. No one asked us if we ate quinoa on Pesach.<\/p>\n

Hurricane Sandy was another Big Thing. My neighborhood was without power for two weeks. We were effectively trapped with no public transportation services and a gas crisis. (Remember the fuel rationing? It wasn\u2019t that long ago!) People sent the community supplies and food from near and far. No one asked if we baked keys in our challahs.<\/p>\n

These are just my personal experiences but they are not exhaustive. The organizations that sent supplies to victims of the Oklahoma tornado did not specify boureka shapes as a criterion for aid.<\/p>\n

Arguing over little things is a luxury. It\u2019s okay to indulge once in a while. But when push comes to shove, we have to remember what\u2019s important. If you can keep a sense of perspective and put differences aside when called for, then feel free to kvetch away now and then. We get it; it\u2019s cathartic. Just don\u2019t make non-issues into real issues. They are not \u201cdestroying the religion.\u201d The religion is doing just fine, occasional differences of opinion notwithstanding, thankyewverrymuch.<\/p>\n

Me? I\u2019m going to go have some bourekas and see what Lindsay Lohan has been up to lately.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fights over the spelling of “Knaidel”, the shape of bourekas and if we can put keys into challah? 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