New beginnings

For reasons that are well outside the scope of the blog, Mr & Mrs NF along with the 4 little NFs have moved from a small bedroom community half-way between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to the big city. While the NF is sure to stay in touch with "J", "YS", the big Gong, the Gonging gabbai, the LA etc,  the move will hopefully afford lots of new cannon fodder for the blog.

So the NF took NF #2 (age 8) to Shteiblach yesterday morning for shacharit. For those of you that are unfamiliar with Shteiblach, it is a Jerusalem institution where one can pretty much catch a minyan at any time of the day. The population in Shteiblach is pretty eclectic - dati leumi, shasnikim, chareidi light, some breslov chasidim....

Two observations:
1. Many if not all charedim insist on wearing a jacket and hat for davening. A hat is worn because you never know when it is going to start raining in the middle of davening (and also Yaakov Avinu wore a hat when he davened right before his chavrusa learning Tosfos with the Eastern Bunny --- and we all want to be like Yaakov Avinu). The jacket is worn because in Europe (before the war)  many shuls had a country club attached  where mitpallelim could have their juice and toast right after davening before going home to the rebbetzin and 11 children. It goes without saying that  entry to the clubhouse dining room required a jacket. As religious life in Europe was perfect before the war, we should all wear jackets when we daven.

Why is it that people who wear  hats have to wear a hat that looks like a group of Mexicans have danced on it?  

Why is it that people who wear jackets have to mismatch an old dusty suit jacket with any old random trousers? If you really want to look "michubadik" during davening, then dress in a "put together" manner.

2. In the NF's experience when davening in Shteiblach, there is always some very frum dude who will always stand right in front of the aron kodesh for shmoneh esrei. He will then go for the world record in how slowly he can daven. So  when the cohanim need to get to the aron for birkat cohanim they are blocked by "really frum dude". "Really frum dude" - if you know that your shmoneh esrei needs a little ex lax to get it moving, why stand in front of the aron?