DATI/LO DATI

By Dr. Yasmine Kalkstein
I confuse Israelis.  I wear tank tops, love to put scarves in my hair (especially on shabbat), prefer not to drive on Shabbat, but will and have on occasion....

Are you dati? (religious).

Sometimes I feel like Israelis categorize themselves into dati or not.

My cousin, Yaara, source of wisdom, has told me she is not dati. Why? Because she drives on shabbat.  Yet, she keeps kosher, has shabbat dinner every Friday, and won't swim before Tisha Ba'av.  In the U.S., she'd be  considered a religious Jew.  But here is Israel, she explains it comes down to driving.

It's very easy to assume someone not wearing a kippah doesn't care at all about Judaism.  Today I got my haircut by Arik.  He was not wearing a kippah.  I fell into the categorizing mindset and he was "chiloni" (secular).  But no, turns out he didn't name his child without asking a Rabbi before the Bris.  He said, "i'm not dati, but we try to keep what we can".  But you ARE religious I am thinking.  So, I think I have to accept that "dati" does not mean religious like it does in the U.S..  I think it means a certain label that you wear a kippah and keep shabbat by not driving or using lights. 

I wonder though if having such a sharp dichotomy is good...I don't think so.

Modiin, as Arik, the haircutter described it, is "religious light".
my haircut

we eat ice cream almost every day

these playgrounds are !@$#$ing unbelievable.  really.

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