Middle Age And Survival of the Fittest

Suburban Correspondent here to say L'Shanah Tovah Tikatevu!  It's Rosh Hashanah, which always brings to my mind apples, and honey, and challah (despite the fact that I've married a Catholic).  It also reminds me of sitting next to my father during  the long, long Rosh Hashanah services (I was raised in a Conservative congregation over 30 years ago, which translates to Conservadox now - I swear, I almost passed out with shock a number of years ago when I attended modern Conservative services with a friend and saw women on the bima).

But I digress.  I amused myself during those long services by playing with the fringes of my father's tallis.  I can still feel their silky smoothness slipping through my fingers as I twisted and braided them, I can still smell the mothball smell of the women's winter coats and dresses, I can still hear the mournful chanting of the liturgy.  As I grew older, I was allowed to attend the children's services in another part of the building, which were shorter and which usually culminated in such curious exercises  as deciding what you would do if you were hiding from the Nazis (we Jews are a fun bunch) or playing what I am fond of calling "the lifeboat game" that was so popular in liberal Jewish circles in the 70's. 

Don't remember it?  Sometimes it was set in a lifeboat at sea, other times it was set in a nuclear fallout shelter.  The premise was, there were 10 people in the group but only enough food and water for, say, 4 people to survive.  We each were given roles (or identities) to play (doctor, grandparent, cancer-cure researcher, etc.); and we had to decide who should be deemed worthy enough for survival.

Talk about upbeat, hey?  I'll tell you now, any woman past childbearing age was a goner for sure.  I'm thinking that those childhood lessons may be contributing to my creeping feelings of worthlessness now, in middle age.  Maybe that's irrational, but you'll never find me jumping into a lifeboat already filled with younger people.  I need to better my odds.

Apples, anyone?

Comments

[Karen]

What a sad memory. At least you have a memory of your father doing something with you. All I can ever remember mine doing if he was at home was either sleeping or arguing with my mother.

[the planet of janet]

wow. we never played that game.

and i'm glad!!!

[amyz5]

i like the tallis part. i too was raised conservative and must tell you that being a member of a reform congregation has made a big difference it the way i feel about judaism.

women are embraced (we have a female cantor and have female associate rabbis) the lay leadership is filled with intelligent women.

and much of the service is in english so i get it.

[Veronica Mitchell]

Our terrorizing games were simpler, of the monsters/bears/alligators are going to eat you variety. But we did have scary Christian fundamentalist comics about the Antichrist, so there's that.

[Cheri @ Blog This Mom!]

If I had to play lifeboat now, I'd let the pirate stay.

[Fern]

Oh!!! Our Southern Baptist church had some game where they'd pretend the government had demanded all our Bibles and we had to see what we could remember. That was special. But we also (not at church) played lifeboat and hide from the Nazis and the KKK.

Now that we as a society have a few seasons of reality TV under our belts, the lifeboat game is different. We all know to get rid of the strongest people first so they don't kill us. And to keep the middle aged woman so someone will make food and clean.

[Jenn @ Juggling Life]

I was raised Heathen--we definitely did not play that game!

[suburbancorrespondent]

Too bad, Cheri - they never did have a pirate involved. That would definitely have made things more interesting...

[MW]

So now, if you were in a lifeboat situation, would you throw out the deadbeats and old people?

[Bonnie]

I think Fern's comment was my fav, too funny.
I was taught fun songs about popcorn popping and give said the little stream.
I think my fav part of the story was about your dad. It touched a soft spot in my heart.

[edj]

I've played that game in language school in France! Must be a European thing. I was so mad, because I was a dr with tropical meds training, but they still picked the 20-year-old tall blonde Swedish girl (she was also a dr but hadn't thought to add the tropical meds training) over me. Grrr...