Why would a young Jewish man ask others if they were Jewish? please see details?

He’s looking for a wife, or
He’s an anti-semite in disguise looking to stem the birth of Jews, or
He’s just another wierd guy.

He was asking because it is currently the Jewish Holiday of Sukkot, and the green thing was a Lulav.

@ezraglenn: is it customary to seek out other Jews on this holiday? i skimmed the article you provided but wondered if you might just have the quick answer.

@ezraglenn that’s very interesting. Thanks for posting. @Cat I guess he was about to invite you to be his guest.

I get similarly questioned fairly often in NYC. I always assumed they were orthodox recruiters.

I put the same blinders up to them that i do with the homeless, the greenpeace people, the PETA kids, the Children’s Fund, The Comedy Club Discount Coupon People, and the people that sell coupons to salons.

For another article on Sukkot and the Four Pieces, visit JewFAQ

He was probably from Chabad, trying to get Jews to just participate in the holiday. He was by no means a “recruiter,” after all, he wasn’t Catholic (ha ha), and Judaism doesnt believe in missionaries. It’s a faith based on choice. Like abortionism. Anyway, they like to get people involved, kind of renewing their Jewish awareness or whatever.

its the holiday sukkot (the harvest season) and one thing that we do is shake a lulav, the combination of 3 branches that he was holding. i guess he thinks that every jew should follow this holiday and is reminding them that they should do it, and lets them do it with his lulav.

@zack – now that makes the most sense when I read the other answers here as well. I know some of the custom and I do know that Jews do not proselytize as a rule. I LIKE the idea that he was perhaps inviting them or reminding them. I wish I had been invited. I wish I had taken the time to ask him more. I am a practicing Christian, yet I know full well that my Christianity has it’s roots in Judiasm. I think the lulav is to indicate that God is everywhere? In all corners of the world?
I would have participated. Thanks :-)

If you want one original view of Sukkoth, see Ushpizin, an award-winning Israeli movie shown in 2004.
The writer was an Orthodox Jew; he and his wife played the leads.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0426155/

Some tidbits: “Shuli Rand retired from acting after becoming religious. He returned to acting just to make this film.

…Rand had two conditions for making this movie, both were met. The first was that his real-life wife, Michal Bat-Sheva Rand, would play his wife in the film. The second is that in Israel the film would not be screened on the Jewish sabbath.”

@gailcalled

Thank you! I’ve made a note of your suggestion.

Erzglenn is correct. It is somewhat common for members of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement to do this on shabbat and other holidays (of course with shabbat candles, tefilin, and other “Jewish stuff” as appropriate for the holiday in question).

Here is some good info about the lulav, it sounded like you were interested in that.

I LOVE that movie, Gail!!!! It’s the first movie I ever bought on DVD!

I literally laughed out loud reading your question just thinking about how bewildering that must have been for you! Good thing there’s fluther, right?

@La chicha: the satire about the value of a lemon during Succoth – the produce merchant checking it out with a jeweler’s loup still makes me laugh.

And i loved the idea of the beauty of the leading lady – plump, kerchiefed and subservient (sometimes) stunned me. No plastic surgery, no botox, no implants.A little masterpiece.

Hi, Cat,
I do not mean this in any disrespectful way, but I find it really interesting that you knew the name of the “tallit kattan,” but you were not familiar with the lulav. How did you learn about the tallit kattan?
Thanks!

gail, you know that an etrog is not the same thing as a lemon right? etrog is ”lemon’s pulpy cousin”, in fact. I also love the heroine of the story! She is such a great character – a masterpiece, as you said.

@La chica: I did not know that. We always celebrated a suburban Sukkoth at the Larchmont (NY) Temple with suburban lemons. I love to start my day by learning something new. Thanks.

Now I can face the first killing frost of last night that turned my garden into wet, brown, drippy things.

I’m Jewish and don’t know what tallit kattan means. I can surmise that tallit is another way of pronouncing tallis. Somewhere along the way the “s” sound changed into “t” or “th.”

@gail
Tallit and tallis are the same thing. The “t” sound is the Ashkenazic pronunciation, while the “s” sound is Sephardic. A talit katan is the same thing as tzitzit (or tzitzis). Talit katan literally means “small talit.” Traditionally, men wear the talit kattan under their clothing all day long. It is a four-cornered garment with fringes on the corners. (Some let the fringes hang out, while others keep them tucked in.) The talit (or talis) is the big prayer shawl that you may have seen people wear in synagogue. I hope that helps!

Gail, I had never heard the word “katan” before I read this post, either!

For some rituals and ceremonies, there must be a certain number of Jewish men present. When I was in graduate school I lived near a Jewish student center, and frequently on Friday on the way home from class I’d be asked by an obviously Orthodox man if I were Jewish, presumably so they could get the minyan together.

Cwilbur, that’s not what was going on here. You only need one person for Sukkot rituals, not a minyan. The Lubavitcher-Chabad movement is known for trying to encourage other Jews to be more observant by “taking it to the street” with tefillin, shabbat candles, and other rituals. Neither the two I mentioned nor the sukkot rituals require a minyan.

Ten men formerly and formally for an Orthodox minyan. Today in more conservative and reform kinds of Judaism, like Reconstructionism, women may at last be included.

Ooops, In my answer above, I meant to say that the Ashkenazic pronunciation is the “s”, while the Sephardic is the “t.” Sorry for any confusion!

I wat wondering. Thit it clearer. Is hat been confuting. I am so badly educated that I didn’t want to take issue. Thanks for clarifying. Gail

Here’s the new transliteration of part of the Kaddish’;
Yitbarakh v’yishtabbach v’yitpaʼar v’yitromam

I grew up saying,” Yisbarakh v’yishtabbach v’yispa’ar v’yisromam.

Yup, you were right. My typing fingers were quicker than my brain!

well the guy was not jewish really he was from 300 year old religion called hasidism.

chabad is one sect of this new religion and its main thing is to recruit actual jews. they have this pic of their guru named mendel who died in 1994 which they often wave around.

watch one jewish guy deal with a chabad recruiter in union sq nyc

Slather, your answer is accurate. Hasidism is a type of Judaism and it is not “new.”

EDIT to my ABOVE post: I meant to say that his answer is inaccurate. In addition, I think that he is referring to Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.