First, this actually happened today, so it is not a mere hypothetical situation.
Second, I’m looking for a factual answer – or at least, a *well informed *opinion – not a bunch of shoot-from-the-hip here-is-what-I-would-have-done comments, so I put this Q in GQ, not in IMO. If the mod(s) thinks it should go elsewhere, they should feel free to move it.
I was in the museum where I work. A male Hasidik visitor (obvious from his dress and the large group of Hasidik persons with him) launched into a sneezing fit. My reflexive reaction was to say, “Bless you,” but I said nothing. I did not know if it would offend him (by which I mean his spiritual beliefs) in any way.
No, he wouldn’t have been offended. You could also have said “Zei Gezunt” or “Gezuntheit”. If he looked like a Hassid of Hungarian descent you could have tried to say “Egészségedre”, which is what my Hungarian Hassidic relatives say, but that might be a bit of a mouthful.
You’d have been fine to say ‘bless you,’ although I’m sure you didn’t offend him by not saying anything. (I am an Orthodox Jew and have lived among Orthodox Jews my whole life.) He himself probably says something like ‘gezuntheit’ or ‘tzu gezunt’ after someone sneezes. Both are Yiddish wishes for the sneezer’s good health. I once reflexively said gezuntheit after a fellow lab-mate sneezed, and the whole room (almost all German, although we were in New York) turned toward me in astonishment, wondering where the American had gotten that one from.
I find it hard to believe that Germans don’t know that"Gesundheit" is commonly used in America, and probably England and other countries as well. The Yiddish “Gezuntheit” is pronounced the same way, and Yiddish is derived from German, to some extent.
Gesundheit but ‘bless you’ would have been fine. Sure, there’s a creepy pagan origin to the latter, but he’d get the point. Actually, if you had said gesundheit, wouldn’t he just think you were saying that because he was a Hasidic Jew? I mean, I don’t say Konichiwa! when I meet a Japanese person.
Seriously, it would not have offended him. Saying “Happy Easter!” may be rude, but no. Unless you are female insisting on shaking his hand, you’re fine.
edit: I’m not sure how frequently gesundeit is used with Hasidim communities…Yiddish varies.
As for the OP’s question, i’m not sure it’s really a GQ, because the whole notion of “appropriate” in cases like this is really nothing more than a matter of etiquette and personal preference. There are probably some Orthodox Jews who would take offense, and others who would not.
but ‘bless you’ would have been fine. Sure, there’s a creepy pagan origin to the latter, but he’d get the point. Actually, if you had said gesundheit, wouldn’t he just think you were saying that because he was a Hasidic Jew? I mean, I don’t say Konichiwa! when I meet a Japanese person.