Lily 14
Now the Haredi dress code is a two tier thing, much stricter for themselves than for those outsiders passing through their area. For us, the seculars, they are happy to see that knees and elbows are covered.
I see the obvious approval on the face of the kindly old rabbi as he sees my floral dress, 3/4 sleeve, almost ankle length.
He regards my note, ponders just a moment. Then writes his reply, of course, I know just the person for you. Please come with me.
He walks me to the nearby Development, maybe two blocks away. Introduces me to Ruth, age 30, four children, also deaf. Now she has also taken the ASL course, so we hit it off right away, talk all afternoon.
She insists I stay for supper, hard to shop for stuff on my first day. Her husband isn't there, weekdays he is in a residential yeshiva out of town; comes home weekends.
She can leave the children for a bit in the care of the oldest child, so she helps me explore. Everything from newsstand to grocery store to bakery to clinic to library.
And always, when we are out, I invite her to go for coffee. I always let her choose, she has ideas of which place is more kosher and which is less. By the time we're done, I've discovered half a dozen neat places for coffee, a real asset to know.
And, in a curious way, it is the Haredi network which saves my butt, gets me employment. Using my library knowledge as the starting point, she summons an acquaintance to explain what is happening at the library at a not so far away minor IDF station. Seems there has been a lot of turnover, for no explicable reason.
Esther grins wickedly when she finally understands my story of starting out as tech, ending up as helper. Seems nobody from nearby can be hired because no one has the tech background. Yet any seculars hired soon move along. Why? It is totally beneath their dignity to spend half their time on tech work, half putting away books.
Next day I accompany her to her Admin Clerk job there. On the spot, the Captain in charge of Finance and Admin hires me.
Cheerful look, "seems things are in a bit of mess. Could you start today?"
Absolutely.
I see the obvious approval on the face of the kindly old rabbi as he sees my floral dress, 3/4 sleeve, almost ankle length.
He regards my note, ponders just a moment. Then writes his reply, of course, I know just the person for you. Please come with me.
He walks me to the nearby Development, maybe two blocks away. Introduces me to Ruth, age 30, four children, also deaf. Now she has also taken the ASL course, so we hit it off right away, talk all afternoon.
She insists I stay for supper, hard to shop for stuff on my first day. Her husband isn't there, weekdays he is in a residential yeshiva out of town; comes home weekends.
She can leave the children for a bit in the care of the oldest child, so she helps me explore. Everything from newsstand to grocery store to bakery to clinic to library.
And always, when we are out, I invite her to go for coffee. I always let her choose, she has ideas of which place is more kosher and which is less. By the time we're done, I've discovered half a dozen neat places for coffee, a real asset to know.
And, in a curious way, it is the Haredi network which saves my butt, gets me employment. Using my library knowledge as the starting point, she summons an acquaintance to explain what is happening at the library at a not so far away minor IDF station. Seems there has been a lot of turnover, for no explicable reason.
Esther grins wickedly when she finally understands my story of starting out as tech, ending up as helper. Seems nobody from nearby can be hired because no one has the tech background. Yet any seculars hired soon move along. Why? It is totally beneath their dignity to spend half their time on tech work, half putting away books.
Next day I accompany her to her Admin Clerk job there. On the spot, the Captain in charge of Finance and Admin hires me.
Cheerful look, "seems things are in a bit of mess. Could you start today?"
Absolutely.
posted by afghangirlscifi @ 10:29 AM
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