![\"\"](\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_b7Eh98KJ_qI\/TLSf3zI8BeI\/AAAAAAAABFo\/csSdRp_L5cM\/s1600\/nytkosher.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nThis week, the\u00a0New York Times Magazine<\/em>\u00a0supplement was entirely about food, and, although as a college student with a meal plan I am singularly uninterested in cooking, one of the articles<\/a> caught my eye. \u00a0Food writer Frank Bruni tries to understand the success of the Basil Pizza and Wine Bar<\/a> in a Hasidic neighborhood of New York City.<\/p>\n Bruni marvels at the Basil\u2019s ability to attract Hasids, West Indian immigrant, and liberal \u2018young professionals\u2019 while hewing to the cultural and culinary demands of its Orthodox Jewish patrons. \u00a0Clara Perez, Basil\u2019s owner, meets the requirements for kosher certification, but must also make sure the female waitress are wearing long skirts, and that they never join in on a chorus of \u201cHappy Birthday,\u201d since it is forbidden for Orthodox Jewish men to hear a woman singing.<\/p>\n The restaurant undergoes periodic surprise inspections to make sure that it is keeping kashrut. \u00a0And Rabbi Levy says he would be forced to revoke the kosher certification (making it forbidden for Orthodox to patronize the restaurant) if he discovered moral failings such as crude comedians or if young men and women at Basil were socializing \u201cother than for matrimonial purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n The article took the position that Basil represented an exciting compromise and a promising model for the somewhat segregated neighborhood, but I finished the article confused about what goal Bruni thought had been achieved. There didn\u2019t seem to be anything particularly admirable about the ability of a cultural group to tolerate non-members who were scrupulously following their laws.<\/p>\n Is there something intrinsically valuable about diverse cultures occupying the same space?<\/p>\n When we talk about the virtues of diversity, we\u2019re usually talking about more than a kind of anthropological fascination in seeing a different culture in real life. Diversity is supposed to bring another perspective to bear on our own prejudices and assumptions and help us root out false and destructive beliefs. This requires enough openness to dialogue and exposure to assemble some kind of marketplace of ideas and is always a threat to the culture to which you already belong.<\/p>\n Only the non-Orthodox are being exposed to alternate rules, but I doubt the emphasis on sex-segregation and impurity is going to have the same crossover appeal as Basil\u2019s Parmesan and White Asparagus Pizza.<\/p>\n Does anyone else see a profound benefit for either community or a reason why this restaurant should be emulated?<\/p>\n Still working on a paper, still making short, standalone posts. \u00a0Gevalt. This week, the\u00a0New York Times Magazine\u00a0supplement was entirely about food, and, although as a college student with a meal plan I am singularly uninterested in cooking, one of the articles caught my eye. \u00a0Food writer Frank Bruni tries to understand the success of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[81],"class_list":["post-320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-interfaith-dialogue"],"yoast_head":"\n