I love wearing sneakers on Yom Kippur. I don’t wear my running shoes or anything with leather uppers, so by the end of the day (assuming I’ve been on my feet in synagogue, which hasn’t happened in many a year but whatever) they’re feeling a little sore, but having a valid reason to wear socks and comfortable shoes gets two thumbs up in my book. Fancy shoes with heels and pointy toes and shiny accoutrements make me miserable.
Miss M came home from gan on Friday with a sheet explaining the restrictions of Yom Kippur (not applicable to one at the tender age of five, though not wearing leather shoes is pretty much doable for anyone) and was in tears at the thought of having to wear her slippers in public. Taxman and I tried not to laugh as we explained that she could wear her [faux] crocs because they’re made out of plastic. “Ok,” she sniffed.
Actually, if she were cunning she’d agitate to wear her shiny pink plastic dress up heels outside of the house–normally not allowed, because a) they clatter like you wouldn’t believe and b) every once in a while she still falls down even wearing normal shoes.
Maybe when she’s six she’ll figure it out. In the meantime, we will have to figure out how to explain that Yom Kippur around here will look like a giant block party. Our neighborhood is probably 15-20% religious, which means that the majority of people will not be in synagogue tomorrow evening but rather in the streets, riding bikes and hanging out. Public bus and train service, which always shut down for Shabbat, are joined by air travel (the Tel Aviv airport closes for 33 hours) and any kind of car-based transport (except for emergency services) as unavailable to the general public on Yom Kippur. (Read: it is not legal to drive or be driven on Yom Kippur. I have no idea how enforceable this is.)
Of course, at five, the gravitas of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, explained at gan in Hebrew over the past two weeks, has not seemed to make much of an impact. I can’t say that I’m sorry about that; once she figures it out, she’ll have her whole life to grapple with it.
I have wondered what people would do if crocs had never come around. would we still all wear ugly slippers to shul? would there still be a rush to find keds right before the yom tov?
I heard rumblings at some point in the recent past (9 Av?) that crocs for the fast days were going to be under review because now they are worn all the time. (The community where we were staying after we moved out of our apt in NY is not modern orthodox at all!) I guess it becomes a letter of the law–obv they are not leather–vs spirit of innui nefesh [afflicting one’s soul]. In our house it’s only the kids who wear them, so we’ll just stay out of it. 🙂
There’s no law against driving on YK. Gmar chatimah tovah.
I heard there was! I have been misinformed. How is it, then, that nobody does?
I also heard that it was against the law to drive on YK, but then I was corrected. Last year, I stood on my mirpeset in the evening, and listened to the utter silence, broken only by the 6 cars that went by (3 of them police cars) on the highway over the course of the hour I stood outside. I never notice the highway noise (it’s far enough away), until YK. The silence is unbelievable.
I think no one does because just – no one does. We drove to shul for Kol Nidre, just in time, and people were glaring at us because they were already out on the streets with bikes, blades and boards. No one was on our street from about 3:30 on.
Maybe it’s kind of like how everyone knows Memorial Day is when the pools open? 😉
I have a teacher who groans every year when the subject of crocs comes up for YK. The not wearing leather shoes thing is supposed to be an affliction, a discomfort, because back in the day, leather sandals were far more comfortable than sandals made of reeds. So she says, is wearing comfy crocs really in keeping with the spirit?
Hey, why didn’t we talk about all this stuff over coffee instead of all our griping? I know, I know, griping is waaaay more fun 😀