The Hebrew Hula

A follow-up Bat Mitzah piece to uncle-bilbo.deviantart.com/art… that I did for email attachments to ‘progress reports’ on Amy’s quickly-approaching Bat Mitzah. As usual with my posting, some explanation is required.

The background to this begins with Apache history and language. Most of the Reservations have two or three related Apache clans that speak very similar dialects of the Apache language. Back in the 70's, the idea was introduced that people would use Native American Sign Language (NASL) to highlight key words. This is usually enough for speakers of one dialect to be understood by others. Mickey uses NASL excessively, not just with Apache but Cherokee, and she began teaching it to her friends long ago.

Obviously Mickey inhales languages - she will switch between three or four languages in the same conversation, which gives me a headache, signing the whole time. She has also been helping her friends with their Hebrew lessons for years to the point that she speaks it better than any of them. She may be the only Native American who is reasonably fluent in Hebrew!

The point of all of this is that Amy is terrible with languages, and Mickey got the idea of signing in NASL when practicing her lessons for her Bat Mitzah. So the two of them get together, chanting in Hebrew and signing in NASL in unison, which has somehow evolved into this little dance. Which always brings Jessica Greyfox running to join them - she probably can’t hear anything but she loves to dance, standing on her hind legs or spinning in circles while gekkering, a type of growl foxes make while playing. I’ve warned them that Amy had better be able to get through her Bat Mitzah without signing and dancing or all of us will be in trouble with Rabbi Bob, and I’m not even Jewish!

Actually, Rabbi Bob never misses a chance to tease me on a number of points, one being ‘you ready for that circumcision yet?’ That led somehow to a running joke that he could get together with Melinda to hold weekend clinics to ‘Spay, Neuter and Circumcise You Pets and Kids, For That Parental Peace Of Mind’