Okay, am I the only one who thinks that this site, and especially this page is hysterically funny? (Or this photo?) And please note that this site is not only for Ashkenazi Jews! (despite the Yiddish-influenced English transliteration of terms like “chassan” instead of “chattan” (groom)).



About a month ago I had a long conversation with an Israeli friend, who is doing his grad studies at a university in the USA, about the huge cultural gap between Israeli and non-Israeli Jews (in his case, American Jews). We agreed that there there was sufficient material there for a doctoral dissertation in sociology. And no, I will not go into a long-winded analysis of this issue now – or perhaps ever – because it's vampire time now and my brain is a bit soft.



But I'll provide two little illustrative anecdotes (discuss amongst yourselves):

1. I once told an American friend – a Jewish New Yorker – that “Seinfeld” is very popular in Israel. Really? he asked earnestly, Are Israelis able to understand all the subtleties of the humour in that show?
2. Many years ago, when I lived briefly in Jerusalem, I went to see a Woody Allen movie at a cinema – can't remember the name of the film (or the cinema), but it was the one where the protagonist (played by Woody, of course) contemplates converting to Christianity. In one scene, he unpacks a paper bag of objects he purchased – things he thinks he'll need for the conversion process. Out of the bag comes a wooden crucifix, a copy of the New Testament and…a jar of Hellman's mayonnaise. And I was the only person in the audience who laughed.

And yes, there is a connection between the first paragraph of this entry and what follows – but I'll leave that open for interpretation.