Tuesday, August 18, 2009

prison minyan

They say Jews and Italians are very similar. We're both obsessed with good food, we both put a lot of emphasis on family, and we both spend a lot of time Upstate. And by Upstate, I mean Woodbourne. As in the Correctional Facility.

I'm totally generalizing here.

Not all Italians are criminals.

But in the Jewish community, it seems like pulling a 'Bernie' is the latest fad, and has been for some time.

In Crooklyn, they say that if you actually have to sweat for your money, you're doing something wrong. If you actually have to work for your money, you're an idiot. Why work when you can work the system?

No one in Boro Park pays for food anymore. There's no need when the government gives out free food stamps. No one's married legally anymore - why bother when single mothers get nice fat cheques in the mail from old Uncle Sam.

I hate ranting.

But whatever happened to being embarrassed about serving time?

I'm sure you all heard about that Chassidish guy who had Shweky perform at his son's bar mitzvah... the one held inside of the prison cafeteria.

It's like jails have replaced country clubs as THE place to be for frum men. And apparently membership is a lot cheaper. Woodbourne practically has all the same amenities as a Kosher Pesach hotel - various outdoor and indoor sports activities, gym equipment, daily minyans, chavrusahs, glatt kosher gourmet meals. And best of all - THE MOST kosher mechitzah in the world.

And why shouldn't all this exist in Upstate New York? Especially when our men are encouraged not to go to college, encouraged to stay in kollel for as long as possible and convinced that certain jobs are 'beneath them'... all the while being encouraged to marry young and have large families, pressured to have gorgeous homes and luxury cars and expected to keep up appearances... even if that includes an orange prison uniform.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Orange is the new black!

SuperRaizy said...

"single mothers get nice fat cheques in the mail from old Uncle Sam"-
Where did you get that idea from? Neither I nor any of the other single mothers I know have ever gotten a government check.

Ookamikun said...

SR, that's because you're not from buripark.

My cousin works as a prison guard in CO. I was talking to him and he was so amazed at the number of Jews serving. I told him it's nothing surprising.

You know what's even worse? It's all the frummies who are calling for people to say tehillim for these criminals and saying how wrong it is that they got caught.

Anonymous said...

SuperRaizy, then clearly you're just not doing it right.

Lion of Zion said...

"And best of all - THE MOST kosher mechitzah in the world."

LOL

Anonymous said...

What happened to the ten commandments and working for what you have? Why all of a sudden do none of these people have any midos? It's just disgusting. It's like they've forgotten everything there is to truly being a Yid and a mensch. It's all really sad.

Proud MO said...

They try to justify it by saying that the laws aren't Jewish laws. They don't believe in dina d'malchusa.
When they're caught, they just cry anti-semitism.

Ookamikun said...

Well...the 2 guys caught stealing mail from people's mailboxes, that's Jewish law too.

Cheryl said...

I never knew anyone like what you are all describing until I moved to Chicago. I guess it's second to NY in this respect. Truly embarassing that the norm is to be a sheister with a big house to brag of.
Truly a shame that ppl grow up thinking this is normal and acceptable!

RaggedyNephew said...

I think the whole Shwekey thing was rediculous....I'm glad the city caught on.. it's our taxes at work.
I think sometimes people think they can get away with certain actions- think homowack and new skver...
new skver is an amazing community that does alot of chesed- but felt like they can get away with violations.

Single And Jewish said...

i live abroad and when i read these stuff my heart bleeds

Anonymous said...

Whenever I hear about these cheaters, it really gets my blood boiling. But then I thought about it. Have I ever seen the statistics for frum criminals? No. Do I personally know anyone who cheats on their taxes? No. So how do I know that "everyone" in BP is doing that?
I live in BP. Most of my family is here. Most of my friends are from here. NONE of them cheat on their taxes. (Ok, I'll admit that I don't know what people could be doing secretly, but I promise you that all my BP friends and family work hard- really hard to make a decent living) So why do I and everybody else have this impression that EVERY 'frummie' cheats?