Bethel meals

by Alligator Wisdom 43 Replies latest jw friends

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  AudeSapere

  My dad spent two weeks in KM school back in the mid-70's.

  The table head also decides which way the food is passed. The table head at my dad's table apparently preferred that all serving dishes be passed to the right.

  Ever since then, this is how dinner is served by our family. To the right and no reaching across the table to take a short cut. Wait your turn while it's passed to the right.

  Well... we've gotten a little sloppy during the past 5 or 6 years, but it was rigidly upheld in house for decades. It was the 'Bethel Way.' (Organization at its finest.)

  -Aude.
• 

  Wasanelder Once

  Ate at Walkill in the mid 1980's. Yep, everyone stood up on cue and the three of us who were guests stood up about five seconds later. At that time they had three legged chairs in the dining room and you could tell how many guests there were that day because thier chairs inevitably fell over backwards as a result of thier occupants panic. The chairs made a loud echo-ing "Crack" on the floor. There was a chuckle at the table.

  It was a bit boarding-school-like. It didn't impress me. Seemed too ritualistic for me.

  W.Once
• 

  choosing life

  I ate lunch there once. What inpressed me the most was how incredibly fast they ate. I was just getting started and they were finishing already. The food was good, but the pace was so hectic that it was a sure recipe for indegestion. And nobody seemed to say much-just scarf down their food and run back to work. I lived in a boarding school once and it was a much more pleasant and relaxed atmosphere.
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  mama1119

  I just remember the cornbread was really good
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  buffalosrfree

  I ate at Bethel, and was not impressed at all, seemed a lot like it was when I was in the Army and trying to eat the first several meals there. So regimented, so on cue, with the standing etc. i wasn't impressed with the food at all, in fact hardly ate anything, and when the head of the table asked me what was wrong I told him I thought the food sort of sucked and was warm and not hot, that which should have been chilled was warm, not good why??? He was stunned I guess because he couldn't say a word until the prayer. I didn't stand as I wasn't handicapped and I know of no (rule, law of the bible) that requires one to stand.
• 

  jayhawk1

  Too bad you can't order food there.

  "Brother Jayhawk, what would you like to eat?"

  "I'll have the wine and unleavened bread, hold the salt."
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  daniel-p

  I understand that they were Bethel elders, one at the Foot and one at the Head of the table.

  Only table heads had to be Bethel Elders. Table foots would usually be the "up-and-comers," at least an elder, but not a Bethel elder. Of course, all this is screwed up now since they stopped the Bethel elder arrangement.

  Yea, some table heads definintely took their job more seriously than others. The older ones usualy wouldn't give a $^#&, though, and some wouldn't even seem to take an interest in their little "privileges."

  So people may call all this stuff cultish ritual, but I never, and still don't, see it that way. Bethel is an institution and as such has a lot of tradition. A lot of the traditions are silly and don't make sense, but they are for the most part harmless. Universities have rites and rituals, military corps have hazings, and Bethel has fruity little table heads.
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  Santisimo

  My brother and I used to get our Bible studies at Bethel in Brooklyn just so we could have a shot at a free lunch. Sometimes we got lucky and were invited. It was funny how some of these guys would race to the cafeteria. It seems that if you didn't get to a meal on time you were outta luck. Worse still, these Bethel Bots couldn't even cook in their own dorms. That's why so many of them were slim and ate like cows when I used to invite them over. I was like "Damn bro, you better stop packing so many books and eat a freakin' piece of chicken or somethin'!".

  Have you ever seen how the Bethel Babes (Females) eat when they visit someone at their home? They try to act like they're not starving but when no one is looking they inhale their food. I used to feel bad for the girls because they were soooo hot and wasting all that ass on a dead-end job.
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  gymbob

  I was at bethel for a few years back in the 70's, and almost ALWAYS the tablehead was a elder, sometimes there just wasn't any around (dinner time) so some brave up-and-coming guy would need to sit-in, but it was rare, not forbidden.

  Morning was assigned seating, afternoon and dinner you could sit anywhere. If you didn't show up for breakfast, you could expect a visit to your room right after the closing prayer by your tablehead. Table heads would decide which way the food would be passed after the first prayer (some guys would try and sit to the left or right of the head to get first picks on the food, so the head would decide, "we'll pass this way tonight" to prevent that sort of thing).

  I always felt the meals were very much like the military would eat, so never had a problem with it, and most visitors I ever ate with loved the style and being part of the whole "bethel thang".

  The food was always pretty good, and REALLY good the afternoon of the Gilead Graduation. They would let us off work a few minutes early that day. Some, mostly couples, would go to their rooms for a glass of wine or something with friends before going to the dining hall. You could almost always expect to have something special like prime rib on that day. I remember one graduation meal when Freddy Franz thanked Jehover for everything on the menu...carrots, peas, etc.
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  blondie

  Thanks, daniel-p. I couldn't remember if it was required to be Bethel elders at the foot or if I was just fortunate............

  I was a guest the first time and I was glad that the Bethelite cued me into the prayer jump up.

  Blondie