# New weird rumor- N.O. Jews got out sooner than most. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 4, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weird-rumor-n-o-jews-got-out-sooner-than-most/320087 "2005-09-04T20:16:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weird-rumor-n-o-jews-got-out-sooner-than-most/320087/1 "2005-09-04T20:16:35Z")
A friend in the NW told me that a businesslady told her that a Jewish man in the New Orleans area had a revelation of how bad Katrina would be, and alerted his fellows to evacuate before it hit the fan. My friend turned it around on the lady & wondered if they might have caused Katrina & got out before just like with the WTC on 9-11. (My friend is quite the joker.) Now on a Christian discussion board, I saw some talk about N. O. Jewish folk evacuating very early. I figured I’d do a google to refute things & came up with this- [http://www.jewishrochester.org/content\_display.html?ArticleID=161550](http://www.jewishrochester.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=161550) Not exactly confirmation, but a bit odd. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weird-rumor-n-o-jews-got-out-sooner-than-most/320087/2 "2005-09-04T20:22:57Z")
Funny! ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weird-rumor-n-o-jews-got-out-sooner-than-most/320087/3 "2005-09-04T20:27:00Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > [http://www.jewishrochester.org/content\_display.html?ArticleID=161550](http://www.jewishrochester.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=161550) I don’t see anything in this cite confirming this rumor, nor anything odd… Could you elaborate about what seem weird to you? ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Pfukke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@Rufus\_Pfukke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Pfukke)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weird-rumor-n-o-jews-got-out-sooner-than-most/320087/4 "2005-09-04T20:32:03Z")
The news story in the link only talks about Jews because…it’s a Jewish website. I don’t understand how that would confirm such a stupid theory. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weird-rumor-n-o-jews-got-out-sooner-than-most/320087/5 "2005-09-04T20:38:50Z")
Only thing I can think of is that some observant Jews who were planning to evacuate might have left on or before Friday the 26th in order to avoid moving on the Sabbath (Saturday). Would that have constituted “leaving early”? Are there a significant number of New Orleans Jews who are “shomre Shabbes” enough to change their schedules in that way? Absent any such effect, I’d figure such rumors to originate in nothing more than the usual “the Jews are to blame/profiting/unfairly benefiting” background noise that certain ignorant people generate whenever something bad happens. (After all, even if Jews or any other group **did** evacuate early, wouldn’t that be a **good** thing? Less crowding for everybody else during the more critical evacuation period.) ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weird-rumor-n-o-jews-got-out-sooner-than-most/320087/6 "2005-09-04T20:46:29Z")
This proves 1: Jews aren’t idiots and 2: (usually) have enough money to make arrangements to get out of town Oddly I’d didn’t notice many Episcopalians in harms way either… coincidence?\* I think not! \* They’ve got money, weather radios and cars too. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weird-rumor-n-o-jews-got-out-sooner-than-most/320087/7 "2005-09-04T20:46:30Z")
No doubt it’s the usual crap. However, it would be possible to misuse statistics to ‘prove’ something - I’d presume that few of the overwhelmingly-black crowd in the Superdome were Jewish. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weird-rumor-n-o-jews-got-out-sooner-than-most/320087/8 "2005-09-04T20:51:00Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Only thing I can think of is that some observant Jews who were planning to evacuate might have left on or before Friday the 26th in order to avoid moving on the Sabbath (Saturday). Would that have constituted “leaving early”? Are there a significant number of New Orleans Jews who are “shomre Shabbes” enough to change their schedules in that way? > … AFAIK travel as part of an evacution from a hurricane is a perfectly acceptly reason to violate Sabbath restrictions. Wouldn’t most Jews in NO be in the upper and middle classes and have better access to transportation? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weird-rumor-n-o-jews-got-out-sooner-than-most/320087/9 "2005-09-04T20:52:12Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > AFAIK travel as part of an evacution from a hurricane is a perfectly acceptly reason to violate Sabbath restrictions. Wouldn’t most Jews in NO be in the upper and middle classes and have better access to transportation? That sounds like a better guess to me. What a weird rumor. There may be some truth to it, but I feel like it may have grown out of the Sept. 11 urban legend all the same. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weird-rumor-n-o-jews-got-out-sooner-than-most/320087/10 "2005-09-04T20:56:39Z")
> [@alphaboi](#): > > AFAIK travel as part of an evacution from a hurricane is a perfectly acceptly reason to violate Sabbath restrictions. Yeah, I know, but I thought some observant Jews might figure that if they had the choice, they’d rather get out of town early and keep the Sabbath as they prefer. And I tend to agree that most evacuating Jews probably just had a socioeconomic class advantage over poorer residents. And anything more sinister-sounding in rumors of Jews “getting out sooner” is most likely just born of low-level antisemitism. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weird-rumor-n-o-jews-got-out-sooner-than-most/320087/11 "2005-09-04T23:07:13Z")
One of the threads on this board actually had an assertion that one particular community of N.O. Jews chose to stay. I have found nothing on Google News and do not know what prompted that remark. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weird-rumor-n-o-jews-got-out-sooner-than-most/320087/12 "2005-09-05T00:31:38Z")
> [@astro](#): > > This proves > > 1: Jews aren’t idiots and > 2: (usually) have enough money to make arrangements to get out of town > > Oddly I’d didn’t notice many Episcopalians in harms way either… coincidence?\* I think not! \* They’ve got money, weather radios and cars too. Sure, smear the Episcopalians. Of course they got out early. After all, if they hadn’t, all the good places for Sunday brunch in other places might have already had reservations. Do you want to face an angry Episcopalian who has no where to go for Sunday brunch? I thought so! ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weird-rumor-n-o-jews-got-out-sooner-than-most/320087/13 "2005-09-05T00:42:26Z")
> [@swampbear](#): > > Sure, smear the Episcopalians. Of course they got out early. After all, if they hadn’t, all the good places for Sunday brunch in other places might have already had reservations. Do you want to face an angry Episcopalian who has no where to go for Sunday brunch? I thought so! I can barely type I’m laughing so hard 😛 . ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weird-rumor-n-o-jews-got-out-sooner-than-most/320087/14 "2005-09-05T01:26:38Z")
This is simply a joke from the old 9/11 Jewish conspiracy rumors, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weird-rumor-n-o-jews-got-out-sooner-than-most/320087/15 "2005-09-05T04:03:23Z")
Actually, if there was some Israeli-orchestrated evacuation, they did a [pretty bad job](http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=89202) ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weird-rumor-n-o-jews-got-out-sooner-than-most/320087/16 "2005-09-05T04:19:41Z")
The Unitarians are probably still debating their evacuation plans. They’ll probably leave when the coffee runs out. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weird-rumor-n-o-jews-got-out-sooner-than-most/320087/17 "2005-09-05T16:57:16Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > The Unitarians are probably still debating their evacuation plans. They’ll probably leave when the coffee runs out. But first, they’ll hold a potluck vegetarian brunch. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weird-rumor-n-o-jews-got-out-sooner-than-most/320087/18 "2005-09-05T17:35:00Z")
I didn’t mean there was anything confirming the vision story or my friend’s joke about Jewish conspiracy theory, but just that a good amount of the NO Jewish community got out quite soon. Incidentally, the Christian site I read the discussion on & the lady talking to my friend were not promoting this as a conspiracy theory but as a sign that the Jews were particularly blessed. (For all the complaints about C’tian Zionism not caring about them except as pawns in the End Times drama, there does exist among many Fundist C’tians a near-superstitious awe & favor towards them.) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weird-rumor-n-o-jews-got-out-sooner-than-most/320087/19 "2005-09-05T17:36:42Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > (For all the complaints about C’tian Zionism not caring about them except as pawns in the End Times drama, there does exist among many Fundist C’tians a near-superstitious awe & favor towards them.) The OT, or tradition, or both, does say that they are the chosen people. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weird-rumor-n-o-jews-got-out-sooner-than-most/320087/20 "2005-09-05T18:03:06Z")
The pagans are probably still there arguing over which way is East and who’s got the corkscrew for the ceremonial mead… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weird-rumor-n-o-jews-got-out-sooner-than-most/320087.md?page=2)