# Could you confuse an Amish man with a Hasidic Rabbi based on their clothing? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 1, 2017, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-confuse-an-amish-man-with-a-hasidic-rabbi-based-on-their-clothing/783472 "2017-04-01T02:03:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-confuse-an-amish-man-with-a-hasidic-rabbi-based-on-their-clothing/783472/41 "2017-04-04T12:27:37Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Many Amish come in to a local hospital for genetic testing and research. They are driven in, in vans and small buses, and have no problem with them. A big reason that genetic testing is so popular among Amish is that they have significantly increased risks for genetic disorders due to long-term inbreeding. Most white people in the US are a mix of many different ethnic groups from various migrations (e.g. a Puritan here, a Scots-Irish Appalachian there, a few Swedish merchants, a Welsh tailor, a Polish carpenter, etc.). The Amish rarely intermarry with non-Amish and they receive few converts, so the gene pool remains mostly stagnant. > [@kayaker](#): > > … > It really seemed awkward. The Amish guy seemed really intelligent, while his employee was obviously not all there. The Amish guy looked like he wanted to grab the damn controls and do things the easy way. Amish people are by no means dumb. The vast majority of them learn two languages (German and English) from childhood and are native bilinguals. They are renowned for their agricultural prowess and their ability to farm even the worst land. What they don’t have is a lot of what most people consider a “general education” nowadays. I once asked an Amish man about Einstein’s General Relativity. He had no idea what I was talking about. His lack of knowledge on physics, however, wasn’t a barrier to the life he wanted to live so in the end it really didn’t matter to him. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-confuse-an-amish-man-with-a-hasidic-rabbi-based-on-their-clothing/783472/42 "2017-04-04T13:35:13Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Many Amish have Mennonite relatives that drive them. > > Also there is more than one Amish business where they come by truck and erect pole barns. Not sure who drives but most if not all of the workers are Amish from the few times I’ve seen them. My cousin has a great job simply driving Amish workmen to construction sites. Where, once there, the Amish men use power tools in order to erect a building, and then when they are done, they all go out for beers. Not allowed to drive though! 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-confuse-an-amish-man-with-a-hasidic-rabbi-based-on-their-clothing/783472/43 "2017-04-04T14:33:43Z")
Another vote for it’s a BS story concocted to make a point at the expense of reformed Jews being somehow inferior. Once that is understood, there is really no need to discuss further. So, discussing further 😃 - no, I would have no trouble telling the difference for all of the reasons mentioned by others: chinbeards vs. beard & moustace, tailored clothing from finer materials vs. rough cloth, difference in quality of headgear, side curls vs. none, tan from working outdoors vs. not… ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-confuse-an-amish-man-with-a-hasidic-rabbi-based-on-their-clothing/783472/44 "2017-04-04T14:53:23Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Based on the two photos, it’s obvious. The Amish men have straw hats and their clothing is very “casual”. In their Sunday garb and more formal clothes its a lot closer. I’ve spent a lot of time among the Amish and related orders. I may sometimes confuse an actual OOD Amishman with a Mennonite or something like that but to mistake a Orthodox Jew for any of them? Don’t see it happening. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-confuse-an-amish-man-with-a-hasidic-rabbi-based-on-their-clothing/783472/45 "2017-04-04T15:02:47Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > My cousin has a great job simply driving Amish workmen to construction sites. Where, once there, the Amish men use power tools in order to erect a building, and then when they are done, they all go out for beers. Not allowed to drive though! 😕 People think its tech that they shun; it isn’t. What they avoid by rule is becoming reliant on anything other than God, themselves and their community. And it all comes down to the “ordnung” (or rules) for your particular community. I know several Amish who can drive, and when helping on an English farm may drive a tractor for example, but would not drive a car on the roads or hold a drivers license. I know others who couldn’t figure out how to get a drink from a water fountain without help from a passing English. It depends on how their exact local community operates and what their Parson allows. Some also has to do with being able to disable the tech on Sundays when nothing should be doing “work”. Which is why you may see Amish with cell phones (you can remove the battery on Sunday) but not landlines into their homes. It is a very complicated life with what looks to outsiders to be tons of contradictions but it isn’t nearly as bad once you spend time inside it all and get to know it better. And it works for them so who am I to say its wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-confuse-an-amish-man-with-a-hasidic-rabbi-based-on-their-clothing/783472/46 "2017-04-04T15:14:58Z")
> [@Magicicada](#): > > Do Amish people ever actually do the thee art thing? I’m in Illinois, and any Amish people I run into either speak German (among themselves) or straight-forward modern English. I was going to say this. My understanding is the “thee art” thing is something Quakers do, not Amish. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-confuse-an-amish-man-with-a-hasidic-rabbi-based-on-their-clothing/783472/47 "2017-04-04T15:46:20Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > I’ve spent a lot of time among the Amish and related orders. I may sometimes confuse an actual OOD Amishman with a Mennonite or something like that but to mistake a Orthodox Jew for any of them? Don’t see it happening. I’ve kayaked Keystone Power Dam Lake, which is close enough to Smicksburg for Amish men (the women stay home) to trailer their rowboats behind their buggies to fish. They’ll explain about how they are fishing for the table, _not_ for recreation. There was a thirty-something dude I’d talk with whenever we crossed paths. I once asked him if he ever had second thoughts about his lifestyle. He had a very solemn look as he told me, “pretty much every day”. But, he thought he was “too old” to change at that point. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-confuse-an-amish-man-with-a-hasidic-rabbi-based-on-their-clothing/783472/48 "2017-04-04T16:01:22Z")
I find it implausible that a non-Hasidic Jew would berate a Hasid as described. I know there are various jerks in the world, but that confrontation doesn’t ring true to me. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-confuse-an-amish-man-with-a-hasidic-rabbi-based-on-their-clothing/783472/49 "2017-04-04T16:07:32Z")
> [@astro](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > “I fail to understand what thee art saying." > [@Magicicada](#): > > Do Amish people ever actually do the thee art thing? > [@Acsenray](#): > > My understanding is the “thee art” thing is something Quakers do, not Amish. Nobody says “thee art.” The word “thee” is objective case, like “him”; “thou” is the subjective case like “he”. So one might say “thou art” or “I love thee,” but saying “thee art” is like saying “him is.” ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-confuse-an-amish-man-with-a-hasidic-rabbi-based-on-their-clothing/783472/50 "2017-04-04T16:12:55Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > It is a very complicated life with what looks to outsiders to be tons of contradictions but it isn’t nearly as bad once you spend time inside it all and get to know it better. And it works for them so who am I to say its wrong? I’m not saying it’s wrong, I just can’t understand a rule that allows power tools and cell phones, but not automobiles. But hey, they throw great parties in the woods, so good for them! ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-confuse-an-amish-man-with-a-hasidic-rabbi-based-on-their-clothing/783472/51 "2017-04-04T16:32:18Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > Nobody says “thee art.” The word “thee” is objective case, like “him”; “thou” is the subjective case like “he”. So one might say “thou art” or “I love thee,” but saying “thee art” is like saying “him is.” Yes, I know that. But (some) Quakers use “thee” in both the subjective and objective cases. And some of them also use it for both singular and plural. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-confuse-an-amish-man-with-a-hasidic-rabbi-based-on-their-clothing/783472/52 "2017-04-04T16:41:32Z")
…and then the Rabbi and his accuser sat down at the same table in the waiting area to do their crossword and sudoku puzzles. The rabbi decided he was feeling peckish, so he opened the packet of cookies he had bought in the vending machine earlier\*, and ate one, which for some reason, made the aggressive stranger uneasy and perhaps a little angry, because he snatched one of the cookies for himself and proceeded to chow down… \*I know, the likelihood that a Hasid would buy and eat cookies from an airport vending machine is so small as to be effectively zero, but it’s just another UL, so go with it. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-confuse-an-amish-man-with-a-hasidic-rabbi-based-on-their-clothing/783472/53 "2017-04-04T17:03:26Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > I’m not saying it’s wrong, I just can’t understand a rule that allows power tools and cell phones, but not automobiles. > > But hey, they throw great parties in the woods, so good for them! If they are working a job off the farm, use of any equipment needed is permissible. Private life, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-confuse-an-amish-man-with-a-hasidic-rabbi-based-on-their-clothing/783472/54 "2017-04-04T17:46:47Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > In their Sunday garb and more formal clothes its a lot closer. But still not real close. > [@kopek](#): > > I’ve spent a lot of time among the Amish and related orders. I may sometimes confuse an actual OOD Amishman with a Mennonite or something like that but to mistake a Orthodox Jew for any of them? Don’t see it happening. Likewise, I’ve been in both populations & highly doubt I’d confuse them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-confuse-an-amish-man-with-a-hasidic-rabbi-based-on-their-clothing/783472.md?page=2)