The Perfect Spiral is a Thing of Beauty

Two teenage Jewish girls are playing catch with a football in the middle of our street.

They are early teens, maybe thirteen or fourteen, and, of course, they are wearing skirts because their family is Orthodox as are all the Jewish families on our street except us. We, well, my husband is genetically Jewish, culturally Jewish, Jewish in a hundred different ways, but he’s not religious. Still, he says, “Good Shabbos,” when he passes Orthodox folks on the street and they nod and smile a bit.

Anyway, about the two girls. I watch from my upstairs office. It takes me a minute to see it. Both girls throw perfect spirals. They back up to get a run at the throw and then they put the ball in the air, and it twirls like it’s on a stick. Their dad, the rabbi, must have taught them. Or maybe mom. In either case, it’s a skill to throw a perfect spiral. I want to say (reflexively) especially for a girl who nobody thinks would want to throw a football in the first place, you know, the Orthodox Jewish girls wearing skirts and looking sweet and inoffensive.

I’m awed. I want to take their picture.

They are wearing basketball shoes with their long skirts and tights.

Now their two younger sisters are joining them in the street to kick a soccer ball.

Just goes to show. It’s a mistake to assume anything about anybody ever. I love knowing that.

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Photo by Dave Adamson on Unsplash