Memphis Friends of Israel Festival

This past Sunday, May 16th, I had the pleasure of attending the 3rd annual Memphis Friends of Israel Festival.   You did not have to be Jewish to attend this festival.  It was open to the public to learn more about the culture and traditions of the Jewish and Middle Eastern countries.

The dances by Jewish children was one of my favorite things there.  It was really upbeat and made me want to dance along with them!  The New Orleans jazz band was very entertaining as well, as they filled the air with Middle Eastern tunes.

After watching the children dance and the jazz musicians play, I headed over to a tent to learn more about culture.  One tent had Middle Eastern artwork and a place where you could ask the Rabbi anything you wanted, while another tent had a Jewish man talking about the history of the Middle East.

On my way over to another tent, I noticed a large group of children gathered around waiting in line to climb a rock wall.  They also had a large inflatable slide nearby.

The next tent I arrived at was one full of animals native to the Middle East, some of which included a hedgehog,  rooster, lambs, ferrets, and turtles.

They even had a turtle race you could be a part of!

Among other things were Kosher foods of all types and Middle Eastern food such as hummus, falafel, & pitas.

Overall I really enjoyed coming out and enjoying what all the Israel Festival had to offer! In case you missed it this year, keep updated for next year and for more information visit

http://memphisfriendsofisrael.org/untitled1.html

Here are a list of some Jewish words and their meaning I thought I’d share with you guys:

1. klutz
   Or better yet, klots. Literally means “a block of wood,” so it’s often used for a dense, clumsy or awkward person. See schlemiel.
2. kosher
   Something that’s acceptable to Orthodox Jews, especially food. Other Jews may also “eat kosher” on some level but are not required to. Food that Orthodox Jews don’t eat – pork, shellfish, etc. – is called traif. An observant Jew might add, “Both pork and shellfish are doubtlessly very tasty. I simply am restricted from eating it.” In English, when you hear something that seems suspicious or shady, you might say, “That doesn’t sound kosher.”
3. shalom
   It means “deep peace,” and isn’t that a more meaningful greeting than “Hi, how are ya?”
4. shmooze
   Chat, make small talk, converse about nothing in particular. But at Hollywood parties, guests often schmooze with people they want to impress.
5. Mazel Tov
   Or mazltof. Literally “good luck,” (well, literally, “good constellation”) but it’s a congratulation for what just happened, not a hopeful wish for what might happen in the future. When someone gets married or has a child or graduates from college, this is what you say to them. It can also be used sarcastically to mean “it’s about time,” as in “It’s about time you finished school and stopped sponging off your parents.”
6. Shlep — Drag, carry or haul, particularly unnecessary things, parcels or baggage, particularly your wife’s parcels or baggage- Jewish men are trained from an early age to get used to shlepping. By the time we are married, we just automatically look for things to shlep and places to shlep to. What a life!!!! And we all hope that one day we’ll be able to afford to hire someone to shlep for us….but even when that day comes, we often help the shlepper shlep so we shouldn’t feel guilty. Are you following? This word carries a lot of weight in our culture. In fact, I’m amused thinking that many people who don’t like Jews use this word and don’t even realize that they’re speaking Yiddish, especially when they tell their wife that they had to shlep home a couple of dozen bagels….

Until next week, Shalom!

israel, Israel festival, middle east, Shelby Farms Arts & Culture, Faith & Spirituality