Sunday, February 17, 2008

New York and Florida: How Different Are We? Part 2

I'm not sure how many "parts" this will end up being, until I run out of things to say I guess. Anyways, back to topic. I was actually talking about the whole thing with my mother on shabbos about how different schools are in NY as compared to Florida, specifically South Florida. The girls' schools all have a much broader...range? of girls than any NY Bais Yaakov.As for the boys' schools, I can't really say because I don't have that much idea, I just know what my brother tells me and he's not exactly un-biased. Neither am I....but that is neither here nor there. I think that the major difference between the communities is how much the central community varies. While down here we have several shuls all within two to three blocks of one another, we still count the community as a whole, no matter which shul you go to. Ok, I just re-read that last sentence, and I'm not sure that I'm getting myself across very clearly...gah. How do I say this? The actual level of frumkeit within the community varies from ultra-orthodox to very modern orthodox, which is why you won't see some of the issues that are in NY down here. Take the tznius issues for example that has everyone up in such a fuss. (Not that I'm not upset by it too) but down here it doesn't have quite so much of an effect, maybe because Miami is a bit more relaxed. I know that when some New Yorkers come down for winter they wear things they would not wear in NY, and that they don't feel so closed in. All right, I'm not sure that I'm making sense anymore, so I'll just post this now, and continue when I'm more sane. Again, please feel free to tell me if I have things wrong.

2 comments:

Jacob Da Jew said...

Basically, the old "out-of-towners" are more chilled out kinda thing.

There is some truth in what you are saying but the three parts are giving off the same message.

However, you are approaching a level of comparison that is stereotyping.

Careful, my friend.

MAK said...

I really appreciate your comment. I wasn't trying to sterotype anyone, I was just going on my own observations, but some does not equal all, so I guess I should observe some more, huh?