Arts/Pop Culture
Who can believe on Mothers Day, I am performing with the Yiddish Theater with all my family in the audience! I am a Red Hot Yiddishe Mama!!!! Only in NEW YORK, only in NEW York!!!
Carol Levin
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Only in New York
The time I had a Chavruta with a stranger on the subway. yehudi and I just met 5 minutes before and we had the deepest Chavruta on tha Parasha. Never met him before,never saw him afterwards but we both knew we have the Jewish connection.
Only in New York
My Uncle Tommy converted from Catholicism to Judaism for love, before he married his wife, Yvonne, who descended from Dutch Jews. I must be one of the few New York African-American Catholics who had Jewish godparents. Their children, David and Robin, went to Yeshivas and spoke Hebrew fluently. I went to my cousins' bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah. They were extremely devout. Sometimes I would telephone my level-headed godmother for advice. When she died young, it seemed like losing my mother again. When Robin and David died in their 40s, I was in shock. Tommy, whom I remember for his sense of humor, passed away recently. I remember Robin for being fun-loving and tenacious-- She introduced me to disco roller skating in the 1980s, though she was an amputee. David's widow is Catholic, as are their children. During a holiday I spent at their house just before David passed away, I remember how David prayed quietly and sang softly in Hebrew.
Laura Anne Walker
Only in New York
I lived in the Amalgamated Houses on Grand Street. I was in my second year of dental school and I needed money for a date. The first two floor in the Houses are occupied by Hassidim, so erev Pesach I went around knocking on doors asking for Chometz to burn. After assuring the people that I wasn't Jewish (I am) they would bring the Chometz out to me to burn. I earned $18, and that was plenty for a date in those days.
Carl Stelman
Only in New York
The Brooklyn Heights Connection - My first living in the city experience was after I was 50 and in Brooklyn Heights and Ft. Greene. The cultural mix of people and religions was amazing, but what really stood out were my friends and "family" at B'nai Avraham who showed what Jewish love really is. Thanks to their love and so many opportunities to learn, I have such appreciation for every holiday. OK and I've gained 5 pounds from all the eating events. ;-)
Only in New York
Only in New York would a shoemaker say "you're Jewish right...I could just tell...me too" This interaction was strange to a San Francisco native. I grew up in San Francisco, but moved to NYC after attending college at Cornell University. At Cornell, I started to realize that there are strong differences between being Jewish on the West Coast and being Jewish in New York. So, when I moved to NYC, that feeling only grew. When the shoemaker asked if I was Jewish it was at first strange, but then comforting. He and I exchanged stories and chatted for a while. A quick - and what I thought would be an annoying - errand turned into a chance to share a connection. It gave us both an immediate feeling of a connection to another person in such a large and sometimes overwhelming city. A welcome feeling to a city newbie. Only in NYC does being Jewish give you an immediate welcoming, warm, and caring connection and community.
Morgan Miller
Chance Encounters
I am a native NYer and with the exception of the 2 years that I served in the U.S. Army, have lived here all my life. One Sunday, I was on the NYC subway system and noticed a young tourist couple who looked like they could use some help in getting oriented. I offered my assistance and found out that they were visitng from Italy. Turns out our only common language was Hebrew!
Henry Rieser
Only in New York
Growing up near Washington DC, I was always disappointed with the turn out of the Jewish community at Soviet Jewry demonstrations or rallies for Israel. I willl never forget, when I was a student at Rutgers, arriving at my first NewYork rally. Now here was a Jewish community that knows how to show up!
Lyn Light Geller
Only in New York
When my grandfather came to this country from Vilna, Lithuania in the 1900's, he and his older brother began manufacturing ladies suits and sweaters in a fashion building on Broadway. As a young girl, I loved visiting while the women worked at their knitting machines that hummed all day long- hard workers who offered hard candies from their pockets but could not speak English. In the 1940's they called my Papa, the King of the Boucle sweater, which made me very proud.
Sande Boritz Berger
Chance Encounters
When tourists quip, “She’s a remarkable town,” I always nod in agreement: Only in New York would I get lost exploring an unfamiliar neighborhood and happen upon a small Israeli eatery humbly tucked between two dry cleaners. Only in New York can your Latino cab driver start singing a Hebrew song with his own Spanish spin on it. Only in New York would I find myself without kosher cutlery after renting a place and be graciously offered whatever I need from the Satmar camp across the street. And only in New York can you stand outside of a lobby with a group of strangers at 2am and realize you’re all related. Yes, I've experienced every one of these instances and my infatuation with this town knows little to no bounds.
Leora B
Only in New York
A little embarrassing to admit this but here it goes: I failed my drivers test the first time I took it... in less than 2 minutes. Feeling completely defeated on my 16th birthday, I spent the next month religiously practicing how to parallel park. I signed up for a second test in a neighborhood far away where I was told the testers were less grumpy. As I anxiously waited behind the wheel to start, the tester pointed to a little good luck charm taped to my radio console that my Babi (grandma) got me to stay safe in the car and said "is that a car mezuzah?". He was Jewish! The test went fine and I ... uh... passed.
Molly Lukash
Only in New York
I love New York. I got into a taxi today and it was a taxi with no divider between the passenger and the driver. The driver was wearing a kippa with a Jewish star on it, had an Israeli flag and an American flag hanging in his taxi, had a picture of the Rebbe, and when he found out I was Jewish he played Hava nagila on the radio. #ilovenewyork.
Lori Kolinsky
Only in New York
I'm from Israel ... and this summer, when I was in New York, I got to experience what it's like to be a woman in a reform community where my Jewish experience is more open ...
Gal Bar Yosset
Only in New York
My Jewish New York Story stems for working at a partner agency The New Jewish Home. At The New Jewish Home there is a Rabbi on staff providing education and cultural experiences/ events to both Jewish and non Jewish residents, patients, families and the community of the upper west side. The services on the weekend are the most telling when the auditorium of The New Jewish Home is filled with love, life and laughter.
Lauren Siconolfi
Chance Encounters
I met my husband at the Matzah Ball, an event at Webster Hall for Jewish singles on Christmas Eve. We were both there that night with friends, and one of the guys he was with knew my best friend. I met my best friend in a Jewish day camp 15 years earlier. My Jewish story is how a friendship made in a Jewish environment ended up connecting me to the man I married. New York might be a big place, but the Jewish world is still a small place.
Marcy Hallerman