# Indiana Jews and the Temple of Broomstick **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 5, 2017, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jews-and-the-temple-of-broomstick/798018 "2017-10-05T14:00:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jews-and-the-temple-of-broomstick/798018/21 "2017-10-05T20:42:35Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Hi **Broomstick**. You’ve mentioned your Jewish background from time to time here. Yet from your OP, it sounds like this is the first time you’re connecting up with any part of your local Jewish community? I guess I’m a bit surprised at that. Well… my husband and I were a pretty tight unit. And like I’ve also said, I’m ethnically Jewish, not religiously Jewish. My married name is hyphenated and the “maiden name” half is pretty stereotypically Jewish so it’s not like my existence was hidden or anything, but Jews aren’t pushy about these things and there are quite a few “halfbreeds” around. “Oh, is that your name? Are you Jewish?” “Half Jewish, my dad’s side”. Occasionally the local community is mentioned but it really always has been a case of “you’re welcome to come visit, but it’s OK if you’re not interested. Have a good day!” > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Jews will never try to convert you. I’m talking about JEWS (Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, Orthodox, Hasidic), not “Messianic Jews,” who are actually Christians (mostly Southern Baptists). Jews also don’t much care what you believe. They REALLY don’t care if you convert and traditionally, they actively discourage it. Seriously. If you do want to convert (like I did) tradition holds that you have to ask and be turned down by a rabbi three times. It’s not because they consider it an exclusive club or anything; it’s because they don’t believe they have anything that you need. Unlike Christians, whose official belief is that you need to accept Jesus as your Savior in order to get into heaven. Jews don’t have any beliefs like that. So hang out with them all you want. Yes. It’s so refreshing not to have to either not mention my beliefs, or to have to defend my beliefs. When mumbling about getting a social life I’ve often heard “Join a church!”. Maybe I’ll join the local synagogue instead, they seem much less pushy about things. Jews don’t seek converts and they really don’t want you to convert unless you are truly driven to do so. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jews-and-the-temple-of-broomstick/798018/22 "2017-10-05T20:43:19Z")
In my experience, many Jews think that your not sharing their faith is _your_ problem, not theirs. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jews-and-the-temple-of-broomstick/798018/23 "2017-10-05T21:18:25Z")
> [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#): > > Actually, I think it’s a new Harrison Ford movie. I’m dead serious, but that is exactly what popped into my head when I saw the thread title. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jews-and-the-temple-of-broomstick/798018/24 "2017-10-05T21:21:29Z")
Better the Jews of Indiana than the Illinois Nazis. I hate Illinois Nazis. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jews-and-the-temple-of-broomstick/798018/25 "2017-10-05T21:25:47Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I cashier in a store owned by Hassidic Jewish people in a town that has a large Jewish population, I have found most of them to be extremely friendly and very tolerant. They have never tried to convert me or put me down for my pagan beliefs. If you are surrounded by orthodox Jews all the time, how do you not know that they NEVER would try to convert you. You make it sound like that’s even a possibility. > [@Helena330](#): > > You were honest and they still wanted to have you join them so you’re not there under false pretenses, even though I understand it feels like it. Agreed! You may be a halvsie, but you’re still a member of the Tribe. Go and enjoy! > [@Quimby](#): > > As a Jew of New Jersey I welcome you 🙂 Seconded! > [@seal\_cleaner](#): > > In my experience, many Jews think that your not sharing their faith is _your_ problem, not theirs. Wrong. Jews don’t think the fact that you don’t share our faith is a problem at all. Don’t apply your goyish assumptions to us, boychik. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jews-and-the-temple-of-broomstick/798018/26 "2017-10-05T21:45:45Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Jews will never try to convert you. I’m talking about JEWS (Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, Orthodox, Hasidic), not “Messianic Jews,” who are actually Christians (mostly Southern Baptists). Jews also don’t much care what you believe. They REALLY don’t care if you convert. This applies to non-Jews. On the other hand, the Lubavitch branch of Hassidic Jews aggressively recruits fellow Jews to join their sect (I have an unpleasant memory of being confronted on a Manhattan street as a teenager by a Lubavitcher demanding to know if I was a Jew and attempting to convince me to enter his group’s van for some sort of hardcore proselytizing (I managed to escape). They have a reputation of being as annoying as Mormon missionaries, though only to other Jews. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jews-and-the-temple-of-broomstick/798018/27 "2017-10-05T21:55:54Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > If you are surrounded by orthodox Jews all the time, how do you not know that they NEVER would try to convert you. You make it sound like that’s even a possibility. The Orthodox for the most part believe that the messiah cannot come until all Jews are faithful to all of God’s 613 commandments. Converting non-Jews to Judaism who are not committed to following the commandments therefore pushes out the arrival of the messiah. Converting non-Jewish women to Judaism also makes any future children Jewish, too. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jews-and-the-temple-of-broomstick/798018/28 "2017-10-05T23:29:02Z")
Where do you people live that you get all these pushy-Christians around? I swear I never encounter anything more aggressive than your average, “God bless you” or something like that. I think I’ve seen ONE track in my lifetime, in a Kmart bathroom. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jews-and-the-temple-of-broomstick/798018/29 "2017-10-05T23:35:01Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Where do you people live that you get all these pushy-Christians around? I swear I never encounter anything more aggressive than your average, “God bless you” or something like that. I think I’ve seen ONE track in my lifetime, in a Kmart bathroom. I was in Charlotte NC once and the local paper had a column asking the natives not to be so loud about the “God loves you” and “Jesus loves you” stuff since they were scaring the tourists. It was all done politely, not obnoxiously, but still … ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jews-and-the-temple-of-broomstick/798018/30 "2017-10-05T23:38:43Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > A bit of contrast to my father’s family, who sat shiva on him when he married a gentile. Although even there the shunning was not universal. Still, they made it very clear we weren’t welcome. In sharp contrast to almost every other Jew I’ve encountered. Back in the '30s my aunt married a gentile. My grandfather had no problem with it - since my uncle was a Dodgers fan, and that counted far more than religion. My mother was a Giants fan, and that was a totally different story. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jews-and-the-temple-of-broomstick/798018/31 "2017-10-05T23:39:23Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Where do you people live that you get all these pushy-Christians around? I swear I never encounter anything more aggressive than your average, “God bless you” or something like that. I think I’ve seen ONE track in my lifetime, in a Kmart bathroom. Northwest Indiana. I also think that a certain category of Christian views converting non-Christians (whether Jewish, Pagan, atheist, or something else) as Extra Special Brownie Points. If you seem to be “normal” white and Christian they probably won’t bother with you because they assume you’re already in the fold. As a “halfbreed” some of them seem to think I’m in extra special need of rescue. I’ve also met a few who WON’T accept me - either I have to go to Jews for Jesus or be Jewish because Jews are “special” (frankly, I do not follow their reasoning so I’m not entirely sure what’s going on in their heads). Some kind of weird “one drop” rule regarding Jewish heritage vs. being white. Then there was the one nutball who insisted on speaking to me in Hebrew and seemed incapable of understanding that no, the language is not installed at birth or in the genes or something. Not all Christians are pushy in that manner. Quite a few are live and let live. But the hard-sell proselytizers do certainly exist. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jews-and-the-temple-of-broomstick/798018/32 "2017-10-05T23:48:34Z")
Yeah, it’s tough for a lot of Christians, and people in Christian-influenced cultures, to understand that many religions (including Jews) don’t proselytize. The prevailing attitude of Jews is, more or less, “Why would you want to be one of us? The only thing that sets us apart is that we have to follow more rules.”. At most, some sects will try to “convert” ethnic Jews into following the religious side of their heritage as well… but to those sects, **Broomstick** (who’s Jewish on her father’s side) wouldn’t be considered Jewish at all, and so even they still wouldn’t pressure her. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jews-and-the-temple-of-broomstick/798018/33 "2017-10-05T23:49:03Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I did tell them, after all, I was ethnically and not religiously Jewish. Reform Judaism got rid of the matrilineality thing decades ago. As someone who raised way to the left of even the Reform movement, I say you’re making a distinction without a difference. There are no false pretenses here. So howdy, cousin. Enjoy the company of your extended family and don’t sweat about expectations. Just do what’s comfortable. If you get the inclination to learn a little bit about it all, they’ll be there for that. If you just want to show up every now and then for friendly company and a little nosh, they’ll still be there. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jews-and-the-temple-of-broomstick/798018/34 "2017-10-05T23:52:08Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > This applies to non-Jews. On the other hand, the Lubavitch branch of Hassidic Jews aggressively recruits fellow Jews to join their sect (I have an unpleasant memory of being confronted on a Manhattan street as a teenager by a Lubavitcher demanding to know if I was a Jew and attempting to convince me to enter his group’s van for some sort of hardcore proselytizing (I managed to escape). > > They have a reputation of being as annoying as Mormon missionaries, though only to other Jews. I’ve had some experiences along these lines. I was raised (Reform) Jewish and both sides of my family are Jewish as far back as anyone knows, but haven’t been remotely observant since, oh, middle school. In college, I was walking down the street with a Puerto Rican friend, speaking Spanish, and the Lubavitchers stopped me and asked if I was Jewish (it was around Sukkot, I think, and they were trying to convince me to get up on the Mitzvah Tank and say a prayer or something with them. My response? “What do you mean by Jewish?” They laughed and said I had to be Jewish, because who else would answer a question with a question? Anyway, I told them thanks but no thanks. They pressed the point a little bit, which is how I discovered how to make a teenage Orthodox guy REALLY nervous and sheepish - just be a 19-year-old girl in jeans and a T-shirt, and look him hard in the eye and smile. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jews-and-the-temple-of-broomstick/798018/35 "2017-10-05T23:54:06Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I’ve also met a few who WON’T accept me - either I have to go to Jews for Jesus or be Jewish because Jews are “special” (frankly, I do not follow their reasoning so I’m not entirely sure what’s going on in their heads). Look up a thing called “Christian Zionism.” Long story short - some evangelicals believe that Jews (specifically Israeli Jews) will have a part to play in the Second Coming. If all the Jews get converted, Jesus won’t come back. ---
**Author:** ![Okrahoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@Okrahoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okrahoma)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jews-and-the-temple-of-broomstick/798018/36 "2017-10-05T23:56:21Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > This applies to non-Jews. On the other hand, the Lubavitch branch of Hassidic Jews aggressively recruits fellow Jews to join their sect (I have an unpleasant memory of being confronted on a Manhattan street as a teenager by a Lubavitcher demanding to know if I was a Jew and attempting to convince me to enter his group’s van for some sort of hardcore proselytizing (I managed to escape). I doubt that what expected you in the van was “hardcore proselytizing”. You probably encountered one of the “Mitzva Tanks” and what awaited you inside at most was putting on a tefillin. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jews-and-the-temple-of-broomstick/798018/37 "2017-10-06T00:53:07Z")
The Teeming Millions of the Straight Dope eagerly await the announcement of **Broomstick** ’s up-coming Bas Mitzvah! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jews-and-the-temple-of-broomstick/798018/38 "2017-10-06T00:58:33Z")
There’s gotta be fundies here in Pittsburgh, but I’ve never encountered them. I want to find some Chick Tracts, dammit! ---
**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:** [October 6, 2017, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jews-and-the-temple-of-broomstick/798018/39 "2017-10-06T01:01:59Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > There’s gotta be fundies here in Pittsburgh, but I’ve never encountered them. I want to find some Chick Tracts, dammit! Rent a wheelchair. They’ll come out of the woodwork. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jews-and-the-temple-of-broomstick/798018/40 "2017-10-06T01:03:11Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > If you seem to be “normal” white and Christian they probably won’t bother with you because they assume you’re already in the fold. This is pretty much my experience. I’m supposed to be a Lutheran (baptized, but haven’t set foot in a Lutheran church in 25 years) and the worst I’ve gotten is, “Ohhh, ok”, and a disappointed look. I did go to a Catholic ceremony for promoting a priest to a bishop and it was quite interesting from an anthropological standpoint. Mr. H is also a lapsed Catholic, but all that remains is the guilt and a vague sense that abortion’s wrong. I’ve done a pretty good job on that, though, and turned him into a feminist. I think I may have derailed. :o [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jews-and-the-temple-of-broomstick/798018.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-jews-and-the-temple-of-broomstick/798018.md?page=3)