Yom Kippur in D.F.

(Warning – this is a long one!)

A member of the conservative temple that I attend in Charlotte was kind enough to set me up with his family in Mexico City for Yom Kippur, so I packed my bags and took a bus there on Friday afternoon. I arrived at the home of Moses and Pola Strimling (parents-in-law of Alan Becker, formerly from here and now in Charlotte) just after 5, about an hour before Kol Nidre services. Their house was like an art museum, with paintings and curios everywhere. Mr. Strimling had a huge collection of roosters – figurines, paintings, you name it. Everyone had just finished eating, but Mrs. Strimling insisted that I still had time to eat and loaded up a plate of chicken, challah, sweet potatoes, salad and kreplach soup for me. Mmm…I love Mexican food but it was nice to have some Jewish-style cooking, especially before the fast.

The Strimlings live right across the street from a synagogue, but they don’t go there because it’s Orthodox Sephardic. Apparently, what I’d read online about all but two of the 20 some synagogues in DF being conservative was completely wrong – it’s the other way around. The Strimlings told me that there’s one reform and one conservative temple, the rest are orthodox. They belong to Bet El, the one conservative congregation. There, we joined about 2,400 others for Kol Nidre services. The Strimlings kind of shuffled me in because I didn’t have a “credential,” but once inside they were able to find me a seat from a friend in the row in front of them.

For once I didn’t feel like a guera (slang here for “whitie”) because practically everyone had the same European ancestry. They were Mexicans, yes, but more obviously, Jews. I felt like I could’ve been in any random city in the U.S. except for the fact that everything was in Spanish. I wonder if other Mexicans here call the Jewish-Mexicans gueros, too. Probably.

The services were a much better fit for me. Rather than one long string of prayers, the rabbi broke in to give speeches and remind everyone of the page numbers so we could all follow along. He was a very powerful and clear speaker. They also had two cantors, both with beautiful voices.

Saturday morning, I walked to services with the Strimling’s son, Joseph, and his kids Ariela and Daniel. It’s only 10 minutes by car, but 50 minutes on foot. We stayed in services until Yizkor ended around 2:30 pm and then I went home with Mrs. Strimling and her parents to break the fast. I made it about 22 hours, though I cheated the night before with some tea. I’m glad I didn’t wait until sundown to eat, though, because we ended up going back to services at 5:30 and didn’t leave until past nightfall at 8:30 pm. During Havdalah, they turned off the lights and the kids waved glowsticks in the air as we sang the last blessings of the night.

After services, we went to a break-fast party at the Strimling’s cousin’s house, whose husband is the director of the JCC here, or CDI for Centro Deportivo Israelita. They have 22,000 members, isn’t that incredible? I can’t even imagine what it must look like inside. Their house was an immaculate condominium with hardwood floors and lots of art as well, including sculptures by a relative who was there. I can’t remember his name, unfortunately, but his work apparently appears in almost all the synagogues around here.

Here I am posing with one of his masterpieces.

The food was also amazing – lots of potato salads, cheese spreads and bagels. I was so pysched about the bagels. I haven’t seen bagels here before, but DF apparently has the goods. The desserts were also delectable – brownies and chocolates and an apple cake. I had no trouble sleeping later that night.

Overall, I think the weekend added up to more time than I’ve ever spent in shul in a 24 hour period. Who would’ve thought that would happen in this heavily Catholic country? I didn’t really mind because I was enjoying being with the community and it wasn’t like I had plans to do something else. On the other hand, I don’t think I would choose to spend that much time praying again if it were up to me, especially here. I say that partly because there were many times when I felt like I was standing in the middle of a family reunion instead of a religious service. People were constantly coming and going; getting up from their seats to greet someone they hadn’t seen in a while, regardless of what was happening on the bimah. It seemed particularly bad during the Torah service, which really struck me because we often shut the sanctuary doors during this time in the US to avoid extra disruption. Of course, chatting happens during U.S. services too, but it seems like it’s more subdued or else reserved for after services in the temple lobby. Here, I was literally distracted at times. I guess I don’t blame them for talking so much if they feel obligated to spend all day in services. That’s a lot of repetition of prayers – at least 4 or 5 times each! But why not just go to fewer services and save the gabbing for before or after?

I guess there’s a cultural explanation behind all this, too. It’s interesting how much I learned about cultural differences within my religion just by spending this day and a half in DF. For example, I noticed a clear self-imposed division between Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews. I suppose we have that in the US too, but I’d never really realized it, or I guess there was never a Sephardic community around me to have seen it. And I hate to say it but the stereotype that many of my teachers have of Jews seems to be true. According to their limited experience with Jews here, all are wealthy, cheap, super religious and live in closed communities where they keep to themselves. I can’t speak to the cheap part because I saw nothing but generosity. But this community definitely has money, no question about it. And apparently they are more religious than what I’m used to in the U.S., where reform and conservative branches boast the most temples, not orthodox. The neighborhoods I saw with heavy Jewish populations such as Lagos de Tecamachalco and Polanco weren’t closed off, but they didn’t scream “welcome to our Jewish way of life,” either. Almost anything that would indicate Jewishness was hidden. All the temples just looked like plain buildings from the outside, you couldn’t even find a sign with the name sometimes. You would never know it was a temple unless someone told you.

It’s a shame that Jews feel the need to hide their culture here. But I guess it makes sense if there’s a lot of anti-semitism. Apparently, there have even been problems with extortion. Criminals target Jews with money, calling to say they’ve captured their kids (even if they haven’t) in hopes of getting a ransom bribe. President Felipe Calderon had a message on how to avoid this that a temple member read during the services. That’s another thing: The president – the president! – sent a message to the synagogues with his well wishes and advice. I’ve never heard anything like that in the states. Maybe presidents have sent something and the shul never chose to read it. Or maybe it’s just that Mexican political figures have more interest in buttering up the Jews here since many of them control powerful businesses.

Okay, I think I’ve vetted my observations thoroughly enough by now. Moving on to Sunday…The Strimlingers were gracious enough to let me spend a second night with them. Then, they insisted on feeding me breakfast, packing me a lunch to take on my school trip, and paying for my taxi to get to Bellas Artes. Oh, and they gave me a bracelet and their cantor’s CD, too! I think I owe them several rooster collectibles for all their hospitality.

I had no problems meeting up with my classmates in DF. The ballet was beautiful – the dances, the costumes, the staging, everything. The program included 10 dances from various parts of the country. I watched the first half from the balcony and then snuck down to the floor for the second half since the theater was fairly empty.

One of my favorite numbers was a festival dance set to Caribbean music from Veracruz. I was surprised to see so much Spanish influence in the golpes (clogging or flamenco style footwork) and proud postures. Up until now, I’d seen more of the grounded Aztec-style dancing that local groups perform at religious ceremonies or for recreation.

We were allowed to take pictures and videos, but of course the lighting wasn’t great so my shots aren’t so good. You can see more online and maybe one of these days I’ll even figure out how to post a video. Hah.

After the ballet, we spent 2.5 hours at the Museo Nacional de Antropologia. It was overwhelmingly huge, but in a good way. I’ve seen a lot of history and prehispanic art exhibits at various museums in all the cities I’ve visited, but this has the most comprehensive collection by far.

The ground floor was filled with artifacts and reconstructions of famous ruins. The top detailed the customs and lifestyles of each indigenous group, including artwork and replicas of typical homes. I wish I’d had more time there, but half of our group wasn’t really interested in museums. Even after I stopped reading placards about an hour in, I didn’t have time to get to every room.

I think we all slept on the way home, except for the driver of course. This week, I start my 13^th week of classes. I’m now officially halfway through my 24 weeks of studies here. I can’t believe how quickly time is passing.