Shabbos - Simply Tzfat

בס"ד . Scientist by degree and social scientist by hobby, I find myself scrutinizing things most people don't ever think about. (For example, does the lid on the pam spray pop when you put in on as air goes in or out?) Despite this keen attention to detail, or rather because of it, I usually lose the big picture.... . Late again for Shabbos on the other end of town, I put on my fast pace as I walk with Yenti to Me'or Chayim, the Breslover's neighborhood in the south of Tzfat. Almost out of breath, we walk in together to our host family's house, at least ten minutes before candle lighting time (the official beginning of Shabbos when all forbidden forms of labor cease). Like anytime in a new place, things flash into my awareness: a parrot. Double layer tichel (haircovering). Walls blank of a picture of the Rebbe. . Not paying attention, I light candles and head to a nap - my favorite way to usher in the Jewish day of rest. In the back end of the house comes more flashes: silk kapota (long black jacket) with a floral print. Man with long payos (side locks, typically curled a hair style worn by many Hasidic Jews). Ok, now things are getting weird. . The beginning of my social science "habit" was ignited in a sociology class. Forced into seeing in society what always had lay hidden, I feel like I learnt more about myself my my black, poor, inter-city professor. Who knew there could be negative effects on someone's psyche from walking into the drug store and finding only "flesh" colored bandaids, none of which looked anywhere near his chocolate skin. But moreso, as I would learn later on in a comparative literature class, who knew the effects on an individual all those things we don't notice. . Being in a world of Lubavitch for about four years now, I feel pretty comfortable in the community. But it is all those little things that crept in which make me blind to what the community really is. Blind, that is, until I see what the community is not. Every flash of dissonance I experienced brought me one step closer to discovering that I wasn't at the house of a Lubavitcher. But it also brought me one step closer to seeing my blind spots. . (I was, interestingly enough, at the house of a talented musician, the frontman of a band Simply Tzfat.)