more from tzfat

it turns out that my seemingly abstract dislike for graves has a basis in at least one person’s halachic works. None other than Rambam! Whew. I was nervous that I was just making it up. Last week was his yortzeit and people organized trips to visit his burial site in Tiberias; which is directly against what he wrote! Ya know youre jewish when you visit a grave of a person who specifically wrote not to do that.

Yesterday (Sunday) I found myself traveling to… yes, a grave in Tiberias. Not the Rambam’s. Rebbe Admor Simcha Bunim of Vodrka. This was after I found out that my distaste for grave visits had a source in Jewish halacha. This irony was enforced by the following story I heard from my havrusa(person whom I learn with)

My havrusa’s wife converted to Judaism – she also happens to be African american.. and well there is this group of people maybe a few hundred in Uganda who have converted to Judaism. The funny part is that most of them did the conversion via the conservative rabbis; and within this group an even smaller group wanted to break off and do an orthodox conversion. My chuvrasa wife connected via skype with the second group.

Ya know theres this joke about the jew they find on a deserted island…. They find him and see three huts… "why did you build three huts?! " dont you know? This is the synagogue I go to weekly; this one for shabbot" and the third –id never step foot in that one!

So if you ever meet a person from uganda… Just ask them… If thy visit the grave of the Rambam.. If they say yes, youll know youre talking to the ones who did the orthodox conversion.