Yup, it had to be a Friday afternoon when I thought about posting this. The Straight Dope’s 614th Mitzvot, I guess; ask questions about Judaism close to or during Shabbat.
Anyhow, leaving the Yom Kippur closing service yesterday night, I noticed that among the hundreds and hundreds of cars in the synagogue parking lot, only two were pickups. Yes, I thought to myself “let’s count pickups!”, because their rarity struck me as odd; especially after spending the previous week down in Texas.
One might say “Well, not too many Jews work in the trades, so they don’t need pickup trucks”, but many pickup truck owners don’t use them as work vehicles; they’re just regular daily drivers.
So, why don’t you see Jews in pickup trucks? Thinking about it, I’ve never seen an Asian or Asian Indian behind the wheel of a pickup, either. (Then again, in Doperland, there’s probably plenty of Jews that will drive pickups, synagogue parking lots resemble GMC dealerships, and it’s Texans that are the ones driving mostly BMW, Acura and Buick sedans.)
You’re limiting your observations of Jews to observant Jews that drive pickup trucks to services. They may have a second car that’s more comfortable for driving while dressed up for temple. Or they take several people to temple and it’s harder to fit them in a pickup. Or the Jews who drive pickups are less observant. You probably pass lots of Jews in pickups each day without knowing it; how would you tell?
I know several Jews (and Asians) who drive pickups. But the majority of people I know don’t drive pickups so it’s hard to get any feeling for the ratios.
I would chalk up your observation to the lamentable dressing up for services. Everybody wears their finest for High Holy Day services. It follows that they drive the nicest, ‘classiest’ car they can. So even Jews with a pickup truck take another vehicle if they have one.
The whole snobbery and classism and shameless show of wealth get to me. G-d spoke to Moses when he was wearing his everyday robe and sandals. Show me where it says ‘when thou goest to the Temple, thou shalt wear fancy clothes to impress other people’!
Huh. When I was going to temple I always though we dressed up for the same reasons we dress up when going to
-weddings
-funerals
-business meetings
or
-job interviews
Because it’s culturally considered respectful to treat the above situations as formal.
I agree though, that the lack of trucks had more to do with being dressed up, as well as carpooling or transporting a gaggle of kids, than it had to do with jews not driving trucks.
I have three friends, well actually more than three, but I happen to know that these three are Jewish, and two of them drive pickups. So I’d say that 66.6% of Jews drive pickups.
I converted in a mutual effort with a Conservative Rabbi in New Hampshire and a Reform Rabbi here in Arkansas. While eating the last trief meal of my life, the Reform Rabbi came into the Minute Man restaurant and caught me eating a cheeseburger.
I’ve lived in the South my whole life. We’ve got plenty of pickup drivers here (like me!), but no Jewish folks. Therefore I conclude that Jews don’t drive pickups, because they don’t really exist!
Okay, to be fair, I did meet one Jewish girl here once. But seriously, it’s a sea of truck-drivin’ Protestants here.
