Kosher Alternatives

Some time ago (it was in the summer) I was on an errand to get some meat to barbecue for dinner. I don't recall exactly why, but I was on foot and in a hurry (meaning: kids were hungry). I was high-tailing it for the local "big-name" grocery store near our house. On the way I passed a Jewish deli that I have walked by a million times. On this day I thought to myself - "Hey, they've got meat in here and it'll save me a lot of time to just go here and run back home". So I went inside and asked if they had any brats. The man behind the counter, clearly an orthodox Jew, said "I've got kosher hot dogs that are to die for! How many do you want?". I bought a half dozen, thanked him and went out of the door with a smile on my face.

It wasn't until I was half way home again that it occurred to me how stupid it was for me to ask an orthodox Jew if he was selling pork sausages.

What I remember about it was that the guy didn't bat an eye at my question. He just proposed, in a very positive manner, a kosher alternative to what I had asked for. He didn't correct me, or remind me that Jews don't eat pork, or take offense at the insensitivity of my question. The result was that I left his store feeling that I had bought something even better than brats - kosher hot dogs (turns out they were actually pretty good...). I would have no hesitation about going back there again to buy something else - not because the kosher hot dogs are that good, but because of the welcome I felt from the man behind the counter and his willingness to share, in a positive way, his particular culture and life.

In all honesty, I am not this way about the particulars of my culture and life and I wish I was.

Too often, with the particular Catholic things that I do - natural family planning, not eating meat on Fridays, reverence for the Eucharist, praying the Rosary, etc. - there is a tendency for me to hide these things away as if they are offensive to other people. It is likely the case that, at least on occasion, because this is how I act about these things, I have inadvertently "taught" other people to react to these things, about which they would otherwise have no pre-conceived notions, as if they were things that drive us apart. The analogy for the deli would be for the man to say "No, no brats here, we sell food for orthodox Jews only, is that what you want?".

Ironically, this isn't what I intend, but in honesty, it is what I sometimes do.

I wish I had more of the spirit of the man in the Jewish deli - if someone comes to me asking about contraception, I propose the "kosher" alternative - natural family planning - "It's the best!". Worried about your kids sexual behavior? I've got books on chastity! How many do you want? Life got you down? Are you suffering and not sure what it all means? I've got Jesus Christ truly present in the Eucharist - Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity - in the Adoration Chapel!

"It's to die for!"