About a decade ago, I saw a friend at Bnai David-Judea. I shook his hand and he immediately kissed the hand that I had just shaken.<\/p>\n
I was moved. Over the next few months, I saw some old Sephardi men following the custom.<\/p>\n
I thought, this is a beautiful custom. It made me feel amazing to have someone kiss his hand after shaking mine.<\/p>\n
So tentatively and awkwardly, I adopted this custom about three years ago. <\/p>\n
I asked an Ashkenazi friend about it today. He keeps pointing out the damn foolish baal teshuva type things I do in shul, so I wanted his help. I don’t want to look like I’m trying too hard to fit in. Where precisely on your hand do you kiss after you shake someone else’s hand?<\/p>\n
He said it was the thumb. I’m not so sure.<\/p>\n
Anyway, he told me it was a Sephardic practice and I should cut it out. It was stupid for me to do it.<\/p>\n
I just Googled the topic and found this<\/a>: “Today, it is mostly the practice of Sephardic Jews to kiss the hand upon meeting a Rabbi or Torah scholar, and it is considered a sign of great respect. Chassidic Jews sometimes kiss the hand of their Grand Rabbi.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" About a decade ago, I saw a friend at Bnai David-Judea. I shook his hand and he immediately kissed the hand that I had just shaken. I was moved. Over the next few months, I saw some old Sephardi men … Continue reading