Life is different when you're Kosher

People who don't keep kosher feel, and view the world differently than people who do. Now don't get defensive. I'm not using words like "better" or "worse". I'm using "different".

I've just got back from a few days in the UK, where I presented two Ma'aleh events, one in Hendon with the Emunah organization and one at Birmingham University Hillel.

On Friday morning, my Mum took me to the new VanGogh exhibition at the Royal Academy. Entering this beautiful historic building for an exhibition full of priceless art, I take note that there's no gum-chewing security person at the entrance checking my bag. Strange that. The UK is different in this way than, say, Israel. Must be because they've never had terrorism over there.

Anyway, we walk around the different rooms, taking in the sumptuous pictures, which are accompanied by exhibits of the actual letters the artist wrote to his brother and sister about his work. There's a lot of new stuff there I've never seen before, and it's mostly gorgeous. He did love to use a spot of colour, that Vincent.

One picture attracts my attention - it's a painting of 2 huge orangey brown crabs, looking very undead. In fact, they look as if they're waving their huge pincers around and are about to leap out of the canvas to bite us all, two hundred years after VG painted them. Says something about his gift, doesn't it?

Still, I'm intrigued by this - what an earth made VG choose them as a subject? Not the most aesthetic of creatures, or the most aesthetic of paintings. I retreat backwards to see if I can glean some insights from the other, more knowledgeable, members of the public. I notice two young women standing respectfully back with a look of awe as they contemplate the crabs.

"Crabs... look at that!" says one woman to another, and they stare at the picture.

After a pause, the 2nd woman replies "Makes you hungry, doesn't it?"

We Kosher people you see, that would not be our first reaction to a picture of two crabs. Would it be fair to say that the dietary temptations for you non Kosher people, are a teensy bit different from ours? Take prawns for example. I mean those
segmented fat pink worms that you guys put in cocktails sometimes. Your mouths are watering, right?

That's exactly my point.

PS. VG died before he could paint his next project, a plate of chopped liver.