I just came back from two days last week at Limmud in England where I sold lots of underwear.The fascinating thing about being at a stall when everyone else is busy at a conference is that you see the word from behind your little table. My location was ideal, exactly outside the exit from the dinning room. We all know that Jews never pass up food, so hundreds of people streamed past my table three times a day. I got lots of curious stares, a couple of very unimpressed sneers but mainly a lot of smiles. My favorite were the 60's + men, who'd look, look away and then look again. My standard response was "It's just a bit of fun".
In the way of all good Chasidic Parables my 3 favorite encounters were:
the Rabbi:
I had a long discussion with a man who is an ordained Rabbi but I imagine the type that doesn't use his title. We talked about important things, the polarization of the Jewish world, the importance of tolerance and how age makes you wiser. It was very philosophical, I loved his outlook which is that life is much more complicated than we think possible and Jewish law and ritual come to help you make sense of it all. Tension happens when the rules/ritual govern our lives rather than guide them. What endeared him even more to me me was that he bought underwear for his nieces!
the student:
I gave a session at Limmud on how the brand came to be ... and why jewButt continues to get the brand's founder to do things like present at Limmud ... I was amazed by all the great feedback I got from the participants. One of the questions we discussed was what practices we thought were missing from Judaism that exist in other religions? The best answer I got was this one from a 15 year old, she said; "Islam has the idea of a Haj were you make a pilgrimage to Mecca and you only have to do this once in your life time, I like this better than the Jewish idea of having to live in Israel"... and I was thinking I'd hear things like I wish there were Christmas trees.
the Comedian:
There was of course one guy who thought my brand was particularly funny and pointed this out loudly, every opportunity he had. I was very amused when his wife came up and confided in me that he'd forgotten to bring clean underwear and he'd have to buy a pair of mine. I said I'd be happy to give him a pair for free if he'd send me a picture. He decided to pay but asked me what size I thought he was. What can you say to a boy but XL? A female friend of his, later brought back his purchase to exchange the color. Her boyfriend had given him a spare, new, pair of boxers and she was the proud owner of a pair of jewButt.
P.S It was wonderful and a really huge special thanks to Alicia and Anthony for all their help with my stall.
