TRADITION
NIGHTCAP
My Year of Living 'Jewishly'
An Irish girl's stint living with a Chosen family.
By Debbie Prunty
t's hard to believe my year of living "Jew-
ishly" is coming to an end. I celebrated
my anniversary right before your Thanks-
giving holiday ... and that's when my year,
and posting as an au pair, ended.
I'm your classic Irish girl: blond hair, fair
skin and light eyes — mustn't forget the
freckles — and of course Catholic (albeit
non-practicing). Growing up about 13 km
(30 minutes) outside Dub-
lin, I'm from a town called
Tallaght, which feels small
but, in truth, is a medium-
sized city of about 90,000
people.
I don't want to leave
the impression I've grown
up in the culchie [an Irish
idiom for"the sticks"].
Dublin in the last two
decades has evolved into
a fairly cosmopolitan city;
and being part of the
European Union has made
travel to the continent
easily accessible. What
we, [the Irish], don't have
Debbie Prunty
much of, though, are Jew-
ish families.
Ireland is a lovely place.
Beyond the history — and its mythology
— the people are what make it so grand.
Similarly, I found the city I've called home
for the last 12 months, Huntington Woods,
equally dynamic. While much smaller
than my hometown, the people here are
I
both worldly and similar in disposition:
kind, into their family and neighbors and
engaged when listening.
When, at age 25, I decided to travel to
America and work as an au pair, I signed
up with an agency that matched me very
quickly with a family outside of Detroit. I
knew little of Detroit other than cars. When
I found out that my host family was Jewish,
I realized I knew more
about Detroit than
Judaism.
Given that Dublin
— even today — isn't
the most diverse com-
munity, I had no clue
what Judaism was. My
first stop was onto the
Internet to research my
host family's religion.
After reading about it,
but having yet to see it
in practice, I'll admit I
was a bit nervous.
I really didn't know
what to expect — how
[Judaism] would affect
or restrict me, if at all.
I communicated with
the family a bit before
coming stateside, and there was nothing
to indicate they were any different from a
family of Catholics or Protestants.
Of course, I also knew phone-chat and
living under someone's roof isn't the same
thing, especially with the responsibility of
helping rear three small kids, then ages
7, 5 and 12 months. Once I arrived, it
was a steep learning curve remember-
ing all the different rules [customs]
because my family is not just"Jewish,"
they are observantly Jewish.
Practically speaking, not working
on weekends meant my family's
Sabbath had little, if any direct im-
pact on me. (I could turn the lights
on and off, etc.) Also, this fam-
ily is quite "modern," so creature
comforts and such weren't much
different from what I would expect
in any other home. The only cus-
tom I really found hard was the
foods that were prohibited (e.g.,
bacon). But, after a while, I hardly
noticed.
Living with my family has given me
a valuable education about their (your)
religion — an education I shall not soon
forget. After spending the year learning
why my family did the things they did —
observing the Sabbath, keeping kosher
and the like — I have a new appreciation
for people who actively practice their
religion.
I remember thinking, before I came to
the States (and even shortly after I arrived),
that Jewish people — or people of strong
religious beliefs — were making life harder
for themselves. But after living with a fam-
ily who takes their religion to heart, and
reading their library of books on the
subject, I found it extremely interesting.
I learned a great deal about Judaism's
history and how family seems to be a
central focus of life; I've come to admire
what a beautiful religion it is. The themes
of being a decent person, and being the
best you can be, are tenets that may not
be unique to Judaism but seem to play an
essential role. It keeps [my host family] on
the right track.
The Irish aren't much into the traditional
"goodbye"; instead, we prefer to say, "Take
care!" So, take care family, neighbors and
friends. Know I leave Detroit having gained
a great respect for the Jewish community. I
will consider you friends for life. R.1-
BRIGGS&RILEY
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