# "Excuse me, but do you happen to be Jewish by any chance?" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 9, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-but-do-you-happen-to-be-jewish-by-any-chance/634149 "2012-09-09T00:40:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-but-do-you-happen-to-be-jewish-by-any-chance/634149/21 "2012-09-09T21:47:11Z")
As others have said, they search out fellow Jews and try to get them to be more observant. It might be the “tank” but they also might just invite you to their shul or to their home for shabbat dinner. ---
**Author:** ![cynyc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@cynyc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cynyc)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-but-do-you-happen-to-be-jewish-by-any-chance/634149/22 "2012-09-09T21:53:55Z")
Very likely they were doing some kind of leaf-letting of interest to Jews only. It’s happened to me at Brighton Beach. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-but-do-you-happen-to-be-jewish-by-any-chance/634149/23 "2012-09-10T02:19:53Z")
The Lubavitchers also hang out at Santa Monica Promenade. I never know what to say in response to The Question, because I don’t want to deny my ethnic Jewishness, but at the same time I don’t want to be sucked into any religious nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-but-do-you-happen-to-be-jewish-by-any-chance/634149/24 "2012-09-10T02:34:12Z")
> [@Pyper](#): > > The Lubavitchers also hang out at Santa Monica Promenade. I never know what to say in response to The Question, because I don’t want to deny my ethnic Jewishness, but at the same time I don’t want to be sucked into any religious nonsense. Tell 'em you converted from Baptist to Reform Judaism? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-but-do-you-happen-to-be-jewish-by-any-chance/634149/25 "2012-09-10T02:54:09Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > “That’s funny - you don’t look Jewish.” > > That’ll teach the little fuckers to watch where they’re walking. I bet you nearly bust a gut. 😃 That took me a minute to see. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-but-do-you-happen-to-be-jewish-by-any-chance/634149/26 "2012-09-10T21:55:21Z")
Good job it wasn’t me ! I was once “clipboarded”, and asked if I smoked cigars. An ex cigarette smoker who loathed cigars when I still smoked, I answered in the affirmative hoping to get some freebies, tight bastard that I am . And I did. Mind you in a similar situation I received a 45 minute sales pitch on why I should become a Scientologist. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-but-do-you-happen-to-be-jewish-by-any-chance/634149/27 "2012-09-10T22:14:17Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > It happened once when my wife and I were walking in Brooklyn. We said we were, but were atheists. A very friendly discussion ensued. When it became clear we were not interested in becoming observant, they politely thanked us and we all went on our ways. > > On the opposite tack, one of my sons is a blue-eyed blond. (Both my wife and I have blonds in our families, so this is not especially noteworthy.) At a bus stop in Boston a woman asked him if he was Irish. He said “No”. She persisted. He finally told her: “Lady, as far as is known every ancestor of mine has been Ashkenazy Jewish and none has ever set foot in Ireland.” She still persisted, but he ignored her. And there, in a nutshell, you have the difference between the Jews and the Irish: two peoples whose response from the world at large has historically been “shut up.” The Jews, an intelligent race whose survival depended on exercising their intelligence, realized that sometimes it’s best to shut up. The Irish, an equally intelligent race whose survival depended on suppressing their intelligence, simply resolved \*never \*to shut up. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-but-do-you-happen-to-be-jewish-by-any-chance/634149/28 "2012-09-10T22:19:07Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > And there, in a nutshell, you have the difference between the Jews and the Irish: two peoples whose response from the world at large has historically been “shut up.” > > The Jews, an intelligent race whose survival depended on exercising their intelligence, realized that sometimes it’s best to shut up. The Irish, an equally intelligent race whose survival depended on suppressing their intelligence, simply resolved \*never \*to shut up. How do you explain [Robert Briscoe](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Briscoe_(politician)#Political_career)? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-but-do-you-happen-to-be-jewish-by-any-chance/634149/29 "2012-09-10T22:32:37Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > The Irish, an equally intelligent race whose survival depended on suppressing their intelligence, simply resolved \*never \*to shut up. I thought you were going to pull a Samuel Johnson: “Oats, a grain that in England is fed principally to horses, but in Scotland supports the population.” ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-but-do-you-happen-to-be-jewish-by-any-chance/634149/30 "2012-09-10T22:37:05Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > How do you explain [Robert Briscoe](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Briscoe_(politician)#Political_career)? [The exception that proves the rule?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=2046) ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-but-do-you-happen-to-be-jewish-by-any-chance/634149/31 "2012-09-11T05:52:48Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > I’ve been stopped and asked the same thing, in Rogers Park. Asked by a couple of young men in traditional garb and one had a shofar. The shofar drives the tank, right? ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-but-do-you-happen-to-be-jewish-by-any-chance/634149/32 "2012-09-11T10:49:35Z")
I just want to say that I’ve had these Jewish people pegged all wrong for such a long time. I was led to believe that they were, by and large a cerebral and mild-mannered lot. But now I hear that they tool around the city in shofar-driven tanks, stepping up to hassle people in the park? Where can I sign up? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-but-do-you-happen-to-be-jewish-by-any-chance/634149/33 "2012-09-11T11:09:43Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > The older one asked me the titular question, I responded in the negative, he said thanks and they walked into a building a few steps later. > [@Malacandra](#): > > That’ll teach the little fuckers to watch where they’re walking. I bet you nearly bust a gut. 😃 Nice spot! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-but-do-you-happen-to-be-jewish-by-any-chance/634149/34 "2012-09-11T12:29:09Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > The shofar drives the tank, right? I saw what you did! ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-but-do-you-happen-to-be-jewish-by-any-chance/634149/35 "2012-09-11T13:11:04Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > It happened once when my wife and I were walking in Brooklyn. We said we were, but were atheists. A very friendly discussion ensued. When it became clear we were not interested in becoming observant, they politely thanked us and we all went on our ways. > > On the opposite tack, one of my sons is a blue-eyed blond. (Both my wife and I have blonds in our families, so this is not especially noteworthy.) At a bus stop in Boston a woman asked him if he was Irish. He said “No”. She persisted. He finally told her: “Lady, as far as is known every ancestor of mine has been Ashkenazy Jewish and none has ever set foot in Ireland.” She still persisted, but he ignored her. My girls are blue-eyed blond Irish Jews. 😃 I was really tempted to give them very Jewish first names to go with their very Irish last name but Yael and Chaya Very Irish Last Name sounded bizarre even to my ears. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-but-do-you-happen-to-be-jewish-by-any-chance/634149/36 "2012-09-11T13:25:04Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > The shofar drives the tank, right? And on Rosh Hashana, a member of the congregation blows the shofar. He’s always hoping that next year it’ll be the cute young blonde woman, but it never seems to work out that way… ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-but-do-you-happen-to-be-jewish-by-any-chance/634149/37 "2012-09-11T13:27:54Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > I was really tempted to give them very Jewish first names to go with their very Irish last name but Yael and Chaya Very Irish Last Name sounded bizarre even to my ears. I have a Very Jewish last name that starts with an “Ah” sound. At college (in the US) I had an Irish-descent friend, who simply replaced the “Ah” sounds with an “O” sound. It worked very well 🆒 (imagine that may last name is something like, Oh, I don’t know, “Abama”…? :D) ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-but-do-you-happen-to-be-jewish-by-any-chance/634149/38 "2012-09-11T18:36:54Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > The shofar drives the tank, right? No, he just hoots the horn. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excuse-me-but-do-you-happen-to-be-jewish-by-any-chance/634149.md?page=1)