{"id":13914,"date":"2013-04-17T08:00:20","date_gmt":"2013-04-17T12:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/?p=13914"},"modified":"2024-12-07T18:43:18","modified_gmt":"2024-12-07T23:43:18","slug":"the-heymish-and-the-amish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/2013\/04\/17\/the-heymish-and-the-amish\/","title":{"rendered":"THE HEYMISH AND THE AMISH"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I live <\/strong><\/span>near two large Amish settlements\u00a0 — Middlefield, Ohio and Holmes County, Ohio. I know some of\u00a0 the differences between the various Amish sects. Some Amish use battery-powered lights on their buggies.\u00a0 Some don\u2019t.\u00a0 Some use the triangular orange “slow vehicle” sign, some don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Speaking of guys-in-black, I also know some very frum<\/em> Orthodox Jews.\u00a0 I\u00a0 know what the crocheted yarmulke means versus the black hat.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve only been around Amish and<\/em> Jews once.\u00a0 I saw an Amish man in the lobby of Green Road Synagogue — an Orthodox synagogue in Cleveland. \u00a0I said to myself, \u201cI\u2019m wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

This “Amish<\/strong><\/span>“<\/span><\/strong> guy was probably a hipster Jew trying to look Amish, with a wide-brim hat, beard, no mustache and a vest. \u00a0Like Solzhenitsyn.<\/p>\n

I saw 15 Amish women in blue dresses and white bonnets come out of the kitchen.\u00a0 They carried parfaits on trays.<\/p>\n

Then I saw a horse and buggy at the side door. (How does a horse and buggy get to suburban Beachwood? By truck.)<\/p>\n

Solzhenitsyn<\/strong><\/span> stacked bales of hay in the temple lobby and brought in chickens. He was John, an Amish from Middlefield, and he worked for an Orthodox Jew who owned a mattress factory and was hosting a sheva brochas <\/em>(post-wedding dinner).<\/em>\u00a0 <\/em>Yiddishe Cup played the dinner.\u00a0 We played our usual repertoire of\u00a0 Yiddish, Hebrew and klezmer. \u00a0I asked the Amish buggy driver what he thought of the music.\u00a0\u00a0 He said, \u201cIt sounds like Mozart.\u201d\u00a0 Maybe because of the violin?<\/p>\n

The man stacking the hay said some Amish in Ohio play harmonica — the 10-hole diatonic model.\u00a0 “That\u2019s all, for instruments,” he said.\u00a0 \u201cOther instruments [like flute, guitar] might lead to forming a band.”\u00a0 A Jewish joke?<\/p>\n

The rabbi<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 jokingly asked if Yiddishe Cup knew any Amish songs. We tried \u201cAmazing Grace.\u201d Probably a first for Green Road Synagogue. \u00a0 The Amish liked the song. \u00a0We also played a Yiddish vocal, \u201cDi Grine Kusine” (The Greenhorn Cousin), which the Amish didn’t seem to go for.\u00a0 I thought they would like our Yiddish repertoire,\u00a0 since the Amish speak Pennsylvania Dutch.<\/p>\n

Now I know:\u00a0 go easy on the Yiddish at Amish-Jewish parties.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Alan Douglass, Yiddishe Cup’s keyboard player, Green Road Synagogue, 2011<\/p><\/div>\n

—-<\/span><\/p>\n

The Klezmer Guy trio plays Nighttown<\/span><\/a>, Cleveland Hts., 7 p.m. Tues., April 23.\u00a0 $10.\u00a0 Play it safe and make a res:\u00a0 216-795-0550.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

An evening of social commentary, plumbing tips, and song.\u00a0 As if Garrison Keillor was raised on pastrami.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Alan Douglass, piano and vocals; Bert Stratton, clarinet and prose; Tamar Gray, vocals . . .
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

—<\/span><\/p>\n

Next week “Klezmer Guy” posts up on Tuesday (April 23) instead of Wednesday.\u00a0 Just so I can remind you<\/span> one more time<\/span> about the April 23 Nighttown gig.<\/span><\/p>\n

—<\/span><\/p>\n

Mazel Tov to Sen. Jack Stratton (I-Calif.) for reaching his goal on Kickstarter.\u00a0 His band, Vulfpeck, hit the mark<\/a> today.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Jack the Tummler . . .<\/span><\/p>\n