Other Cultures at Home ; a Letter From a Reader in Passaic

Summary

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People frequently travel to other countries to enjoy different cultures, but the other night I was privileged to see another culture, from another time, in my local park. As Orthodox Jews were leaving temple, they walked to the small stream that runs through the park. As part of the Rosh Hashanah high holy days, Jews are required to pray over a body of water to cast their sins away. So hundreds of men (some with long beards) wearing black suits and broad-brimmed black hats prayed at the water's edge. Imitating their parents, small boys, wearing long-sleeved shirts and vests, with yarmulkes on their heads and talis fringes flying, threw grass instead of the traditional bread crumbs into the water. Fathers handed prayer books to slightly older boys, trying to engage them in prayer. Mothers and daughters wore Laura Ashley style dresses, with old-fashioned long sleeves and lengthier hems.

Hundreds of people, peacefully praying, talking, and caring for their children. On an early fall evening, it was a marvelous sight. But on a smaller scale, this sort of thing happens all the time in Passaic: We have an incredible wealth of different cultures, peacefully packed together. When I walk through my neighborhood, I see young African-Americans in dreadlocks, hear cheerful Hispanic music, and watch an old woman in a sari as she lays out fresh made round breads to dry in the summer sun.

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Other Cultures at Home ; a Letter From a Reader in Passaic

My Pakistani Muslim former neighbors wore the traditional headscarf, the chador, and the smell of thei...

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