The Jew Who Wore Two Hats

Once upon a time, I opened a checking account in Israel.

The banker explained that I was allowed to write the date using either the Gregorian or Hebrew calendar.

I thought that was so cool.

And you know what would have been even cooler? If writing the Hebrew date had been the only option.

I wondered why Israelis — who do all speak Hebrew last I checked – would not want to use the Hebrew calendar?

Did you ever hear the one about the Jew who wore two hats?

The punchline is, When was there ever a Jew who did NOT wear two hats?

Not for the past 2,500 years, which is the majority of our history.

For most of Jewish history, we have had this balancing act between two IDs.

We have our Jewish ID, in which we’ve been living in the year ’85 since Rosh Hashanah.

But we also have our …. Christian (yes, I went and said it – the Gregorian calendar is from Pope Gregory XIII) ID, which just began it’s year ’25.

We have our Chanukah, with candles in the window.

But when we attend the public Menorah-lighting next to the giant decorated tree, we have our “Jewish Christmas.”

At home, we have the rhythm and richness and tradition of Shabbat.

But outside, we have le weekend.

At home, we have the wisdom of Torah.

But everywhere else, we have “Biblical literature.”

Here are some other concepts that can make us wear two hats. Try challenging everyone to come up with the two (or more) versions of each.

Ethics
Faith
Kindness
Miracle
Peace
Pleasure

(This dichotomized analysis of Judaism was inspired by the book, Being Jewish.)