SAME OLD, SAME OLD JEWS
Ashkenazi Jews are the same everywhere. My Mississippi mishpocha are lawyers. My relatives in Israel are lawyers. My relatives in Arizona are lawyers. I have relatives, through marriage, in West Virginia. Some are lawyers. (By the way, West Virginia Jews request “Country Roads” at banquets; I’ve played several West Virginia Jewish Reunions at the Marriott in Charleston.)
Philip Roth wrote about New Jersey Jews. Joseph Epstein wrote about Chicago Jews. Mordecai Richler wrote about Montreal Jews. Stories populated with pickles and old guys named Herman. (By the way, there’s a Don Hermann’s Pickles in Cleveland.)
I played a wedding for a Canadian Jew and an American Jew. Under the chuppah the rabbi talked about choosing between “about” and “aboot.” That’s the big difference between an American Yid and a Canadian Yid.
Happy Passover.
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Here’s an article I just wrote for City Journal. “Hanging in There.”
2 comments
That reunion we played in Charleston was a dangerous place to be. Remember the huge Dupont chemical plant across the street. Not a good neighborhood for a motel and a reunion. Plant have a way of exploding. Unrelated to that comment I haven’t had a Don Hermann pickle in decades. They were habit forming. Now, too much salt in them!
Bert, Get your hands on some Shmura matza. Its the best. Have a great Pesach.
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