“Scotches & Separation” Explores Divorce in the Jewish Tradition

20140112_201703On Sunday, I led a Scotch-tasting and learning event for adults. This was the second in a 2013-2014 series that combines a spirits-tasting, in-depth exploration of a topic in Jewish tradition and an opportunity for people to give tzedakah to the Jewish enrichment endeavors for young adult Jews with which I am involved, SoCalJSS & SoCalJYAE.

This event, “Scotches & Separation”, featured a discussion on a topic in Judaism that gets discussed much less than it deserves, divorce. Even if someone, themself, is not divorced, they may have friends or family who get divorced and it is unfortunate that there are either none or few classes or serious conversations about It.  In putting together sources on the topic, I was impressed by how much material there is on the topic!

Scotches for the tasting
Scotches for the tasting

This being the sixth such event in the series, it was also the most well-attended, with roughly two-dozen people there! Amongst some of the gathered were a few people who had either gone through, or were going through, a divorce. I was glad I was able to provide a framework in providing some wisdom from our Jewish tradition on the matter.

In addition to the discussion was a Scotch-tasting. Although last year, we did have a single-malt Scotch-tasting, this featured both blended Scotches and single-malts, in order to enable people to experience differences between and amongst them. There were three blended Scotches, two of which were brought by attendees (thank you, Seth Groder & Larry Fell), and four single-malt Scotches – Laphroaig 10 (generously sponsored by Professor Jeffrey Blutinger), Glenfiddich 12, The Macallan 15 & The Glenlivet 18.DSCN6868

Snacks were graciously provided by the hosts, Shmueli and Devorah Lovitch.  The next such tasting and texts event, “Gin and Genocide”, will be taking place next month on February 9th.

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