I was actually going to talk about my weekend with CJ's parents, but it is cold, I am cranky, and this evening I have to leave the island of Manhattan for its hinterlands, a far-off place called "Williamsburg." For the record this will be my second foray into Brooklyn in the past week. Seriously, who lives in Brooklyn?
Harley is much smaller than I am.
Kvetch* over. Now on to seriously address this issue. Jews love the warm weather. Many retire to Boca Raton, or other Florida locations. During Passover Jews flock en masse to Florida and Israel to celebrate the holiday of freedom on the beach/in the sun. Or maybe just try to recreate the 40 years of wandering in the desert. Whichever.
And despite the fact that some of Daboys dislike the warm weather (inexplicably, in my mind) I don't think that it is an accident that Savannah, Georgia is home to one of the oldest Jewish communities in the United States. Sure, Rhode Island is older, but Rhode Island sucks. No, not really. But it is colder than the South. By a lot. Jews are one of the few groups who, when they came to America, did not seek out a climate similar to the one from which they came. Scandinavians went to the frigid midwest, and it was no accident that African American were the ones chosen to slave in the South. It was thought that they would be better able to deal with the extreme heat than other groups (like indentured servants).
This is a bit rambling, so I'll wrap up with this last thought: when Hertzl was considering another location for the Jewish homeland (other than Israel) he chose Uganda. Not the JAR (also known as Birobidzhan). Uganda. A warm place.
*To kvetch is to complain.
4 comments:
Annie is a liar. I am huge. Just ask anyone. Really. A giantess.
Annie, on the other hand, is lilliputian.
I live in LA for many reasons not the least of which is that I love warm weather.
Doesn't hurt that I was born and raised here.
Well, the Jews kinda stayed away, at first, from the warm weather of the Southern part of this hemisphere because the Spanish Inquisition was still partying on like it was 1599.
If you can't stand the heat, they said, stay out of the auto da fe. And so they did.
I should say, though, some Jews of Eastern European ancestry, MUCH prefer the colder weather. Why? I will tell you with one word:
FRIZZ!!!!!!!!!!!!
There is a reason they call it a Jewfro.
I mean, I guess the frizz is a good thing. While Annie and her whole family are GIANT Jews, I am part of the shorter Jews. So when my hair frizzes, some days I reach 5'6". That's a tall Jew right there...
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