Re this National Review article an assertion is made scenario below actually happened - See pics below
Would another Jew, Orthodox or not make this mistake?
Based on the two photos, it’s obvious. The Amish men have straw hats and their clothing is very “casual”.
Not Jewish, but grew up in new york city, and I’d not make that mistake. Side curls, fur hat etc.
No.
Agreed: They’re Hasidic, so I don’t believe it.
Or… there are relatively minor, but still noticeable, differences between Hasidic rabbis and Amish men and/or ZZ Top.
The writer hedges his bet on whether or not the incident really happened:
Anyway, there’s no way I could mistake an Amish man for a Hasidic man. It’s not even remotely possible.
Granted, I live in Brooklyn, New York, where a significant percentage of the world’s Hasidim live, and so I see them every day, but still, Hasidic men and Amish men don’t look anything alike.
No. Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn are a common sight. When Amish come up from Pennsylvania (chicken and potato farmers meet with us at our food coop a couple times a year) they draw stares, even with all the local weirdos in the streets.
Aside from beards, what do they have in common?
From a distance, I suppose it might be possible. Dark suits, dark hats – I’ve seen Amish wear dark hats as well as straw hats – and the long beards.
Up close, I don’t think that one would confuse them if you were at all knowledgeable about them. Hasidic men have mustaches, and the side curls, as well as (generally) nicer-looking suits; Amish men don’t wear mustaches.
Uh, I don’t know how to put this without sounding offensive, but please accept that it’s an honest observation. Jews bathe daily, sometimes more. Amish bathe weekly, if that.
I was born in Manhattan, in a mixed neighborhood, and went to a modern Orthodox run preschool-early elementary school, where there were some Haredi students. We moved to Queens while I spent lots of time with my aunt and uncle in Jewish central, in Brooklyn.
Then, at age 14, I moved to S. Indiana, and lived there until I was 22. Lots and lots of Amish. Amish smell. It’s a fact, not a judgment. But aside from that, it’s very obvious that Amish don’t have moustaches or peyos, and Jews do. Plus, the women look completely different-- too different to go into it.
And if the Amish are true Amish and not Menonites, their clothes are hand sewn, and fixed with pins, not buttons.
That sounds like a made up story to make fun of the ignorance of the Reform Jew.
No, I would not make a mistake, but then I pay attention to such things.
I suspect this isn’t a completely true and honestly told story. In fact, it reminds me of an all too common KIND of story I’ve run across many times in my life, always told like this.
It’s sort of a fake, third rate imitation of a Biblical parable story. I’ve heard the like told by left wingers, right wingers, religious fanatics, anti-religious fanatics, and you-name-the-self-righteous-subgroup.
The actual story is always pretty much the same: a pseudo-humble “hero” interacts with a bombastic loudmouthed jerk, catches them in a self-contradiction, and then puts them down for having made the mistake. The thing that makes these stories both annoying AND third-rate (as parables go) is that the particular “moral” to the story is always narrowly defined to cater to the subgroup who’s point of view the story is being told by.
I’d offer them both rides if they needed one.
Indeed. I take a commuter train into downtown Chicago every day. The station where I arrive – Chicago Union Station – is also served by Amtrak, and a fair number of Amish travelers come through; one can often see them in the corridors, and at the restaurants. And, yeah…many of them have what Dave Barry once called “visible stink rays,” at least to someone like myself, who’s accustomed to a cultural norm of regular bathing.
No way an Amish guy’s clothes are as well-tailored as a Hasidic guy’s.
I don’t think I’d confuse the two men. There’s enough difference in the clothing and facial hair that it seems pretty obvious if a man is Amish or Hasidic. And I agree that this story is clearly meant to be a parable.
Slight hijack: the movie Witness (good movie, BTW) has a young Amish boy approaching a Hasidic man from behind and briefly mistaking him for Amish:
QFT. When you’re working out in the fields all day and bathe maybe once a week, you have a tendency to have a strong stench. And the women… aside from their dress, makeup and smell, Jewish women aren’t generally built like Amish women. The latter tend to have very wide hips with very poor posture.
- Being religious fundamentalists (though of different religions, Judaism and Christianity respectively)
- Speaking a High German dialect (Pennsylvania Dutch and Yiddish respectively), though both groups almost always speak English too nowadays.
- Being obsessed with personal modesty (mostly with respect to women)
- They don’t try to convert others (mostly, Lubavitcher Hasids do proselytize, but to other Jews only), but they do accept genuine converts.
- Having clothes that are largely recognized as “old fashioned” (though different in numerous respects)
- Both run their own schools. They prefer to send their children to their own schools and it is difficult for an outsider to gain admission to such schools.
- Both usually prefer to be left alone to do their own thing, and get annoyed if you try to tell them to change their lifestyle.
Major differences:
- Hasids are Jews, Amish are Christians.
- Hasids mostly live in New York and New Jersey, Amish mostly live in Pennsylvania and areas to the south and west.
- Hasids mostly live in urban areas, Amish prefer rural areas.
- Hasids wear tzitzit (fringes also worn by other Orthodox Jews). Amish don’t.
- Amish don’t wear mustaches. Hasids usually do.
I grew up among Amish. They use buttons. They do tend to use hook and eye closures on coats and vests and, I think, dresses, but buttons on shirts and (at least sometimes) pants.
I suspect Ukulele Ike was referring to obvious outward appearances that could lead to the confusion, not differences in practice and belief.
I’ve gone looking for the origin of that story and I’ve seen that it happened to him on a bus, at an airport, etc. Sometimes it’s a man, sometimes it’s a woman.
The only thing that’s constant is that the “bad guy” in the story always berates him in Yiddish. Twerski responds in English and says “I don’t understand you, I’m Amish.”
The other Jew then apologizes in English and talks about how much he/she respects the Amish for sticking to their traditions.
Twerski responds in Yiddish, making him/her look like a hypocrite.