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Tuesday, April 1, 2008

In Which a Jewish Mother—Your Jewish Mother?—Emails Us Seeking Help.

posted by on April 1 at 8:40 AM

Oy. Being Jewish in Seattle is one thing. But being Jewish and newish in Seattle and having no place to go for Passover? It’s enough to make a mother write an email to The Stranger! Any of you comment mensches want to help?

From: XXXX@XXXXXX.XXX

Sent: Monday, March 31, 2008 11:27pm

To: editor@thestranger.com

Subject: Jewish Australian in Seattle


To Whom It May Concern,

I am a ‘Yiddishe Mother’ of a 33 year Jewish Australian girl working in Seattle. She has been there for a year now, working in the IT industry. Although not ‘frum,’ she did go to a Jewish co-educational school for 12 years, i.e. elementary and high school. We, as a non-kosher keeping family, have always celebrated Pesach and Rosh Hashanah and I’d like my daughter to have somewhere to go this Pesach. She lives in Capitol Hill.

Is there a community Seder [she doesn’t keep Kosher] or some sort of social venue applicable for her? She hasn’t met any Jewish people in Seattle, except for one Israeli at work. Of course, she doesn’t know that I’m sending this email.

Thanking you in anticipation and Chag Sameach for Pesach.

RSS icon Comments

1

Issur would know.

Posted by Mr. Poe | April 1, 2008 8:46 AM
2

Oy Vey.

Posted by Rotten666 | April 1, 2008 8:48 AM
3

issur bailed on slog. too much ridicule, i guess. but we all miss him. can the stranger put out a general call on the internets to invite him back?

Posted by ellarosa | April 1, 2008 8:51 AM
4

Issur is do doubt going to his Momma's house for for a super-duper extra-kosher seder (rounds 1 & 2).

Come you lame-ass Seattle yids! Put down the bongs, step up, be a mensch (or menschette), and invite the Girl from Oz to your seder. Geez, how 'bout a little community, eh! Don't make me fly out there!

Posted by Providence | April 1, 2008 8:51 AM
5

Awww.

Admittedly, I'd kind of like to know as well. None of my friends are Jewish and I miss seders now that I can't go home for spring break.

Posted by Abby | April 1, 2008 8:51 AM
6

Jewish-Australian? That's hot.

Posted by Hernandez | April 1, 2008 8:52 AM
7

Hillel UW has a community Seder that I used to attend that is open to people outside of the university. Try planitjewish.com for some more ideas...

Posted by Jewritto | April 1, 2008 8:53 AM
8

Ah the Seattle Chill. As a fellow newcomer, I also know it well.

Posted by Justin | April 1, 2008 8:54 AM
9

Chag Sameach for Pesach?

I voted for Chag Sameach in the last Pesachential Election so don't look at me. I hate Bush.

Posted by Captain Sensitive | April 1, 2008 8:59 AM
10

... the daughter probably thought that she could escape her pushy mother by moving to the other side of the planet. the internet wins again.

Posted by josh | April 1, 2008 9:02 AM
11

if she's hot, she can totally come to my seder :)

Posted by meks | April 1, 2008 9:10 AM
12

Ahhh. what a cute email! I love Jewish mothers! :)

Posted by Kristin Bell | April 1, 2008 9:15 AM
13

Local Unitarian Universalist churches may also be running seders -- every one of them I've ever attended has had one.

Posted by Sweeney Agonistes | April 1, 2008 9:16 AM
14
Posted by I (heart) Hebrews | April 1, 2008 9:18 AM
15

Ah, the poor kid is finding out that 10,000 miles of separation is only a minor detail to a Jewish mother. Even going to the moon wouldn't slow her down, sweetheart, sorry.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty | April 1, 2008 9:19 AM
16

This and the thread where everyone tries to translate the Hebrew t-shirt are among my favorites.

Posted by NapoleonXIV | April 1, 2008 9:23 AM
17

Unitarians are weird.

Posted by Bellevue Ave | April 1, 2008 9:23 AM
18

Any Jewish princesses in Chicago who need a place to seder can contact me directly.

Posted by Banna | April 1, 2008 9:24 AM
19

If she'd like a fun seder, UW Hillel will have one. They'll also hook her up with families for the second night. If she'd like a fucking long seder, tell her to call Chabad.

Posted by Gitai | April 1, 2008 9:25 AM
20

@ 11: IF she's hot? Like 6 says, how can an austrailian jew broad not be hot?

Eli, you gotta track down this chick and verify hotness.

Posted by Mike in MO | April 1, 2008 9:28 AM
21

I think it should be celebrated with a nice pork roast or some beef strogganoff! Yummy!! And make the strogganoff with veal so you really are dining on a young calf cooked in it's mothers milk!!! DELICIOUS!!!

Posted by Andrew | April 1, 2008 9:43 AM
22

There's a fairly large Jewish community in the Ravenna area. Might be some options for meeting people there. What a sweet mother!

Posted by Gabriel | April 1, 2008 9:43 AM
23

Jewish Voice for Peace is doing a community seder. It should be smallish and nice.

Posted by carney | April 1, 2008 9:45 AM
24

Of course, if she hasn't met any Jewish people in Seattle, it might be that she isn't looking too hard, Mom.

Posted by NapoleonXIV | April 1, 2008 9:49 AM
25

@24, you're probably on to something. As a former Jewish communal professional, I used to receive these sorts of calls and letters from parents all the time. I actually had one father buy tickets to Fiddler on the Roof and he wanted me to ask his son if he wanted to go with me. That's where I drew the line. If I followed through to see what their kid was up to, sometimes the kid was actually happy to hear from me; other times, not so much.

I'd invite Australian girl to my sedarim, but they are of the 'frum' variety, i.e., long and draining. She'd probably convert the next day.

I hope she finds something, if that's what she wants to be doing.

Posted by ahava | April 1, 2008 10:12 AM
26

Being in IT you'd think she knows how to work the Google. She just not that into it.

Posted by elenchos | April 1, 2008 10:22 AM
27

Exactly. Being in IT, in Seattle for a year, and 33 years old, she's either 1) not looking; or 2) not telling Mom, if she is.

And if it's 2), I can certainly see why...

Posted by NapoleonXIV | April 1, 2008 10:26 AM
28

I'd check out the Jewish Agnositic circle, they're pretty nice.

Posted by Will in Seattle | April 1, 2008 10:40 AM
29

My family's half Methodist-Agnostic, and half Southern Baptist-Agnostic.

Posted by NapoleonXIV | April 1, 2008 10:44 AM
30

The tension during the holidays is palpable.

Posted by NapoleonXIV | April 1, 2008 11:11 AM
31

Uh, Mike (#20), Eli is probably not the guy you want to declare if a woman's hot or not. If she had a brother, however ...

Posted by Cathy Selden | April 1, 2008 11:15 AM
32

Great story on your blog, Eli. Thanks for including the link.

Posted by robynh | April 1, 2008 11:18 AM
33

Another vote for UW Hillel. I went a few times (this was quite a few years ago). It truly was fun, and the food was terrific, which you wouldn't have expected given the sheer numbers of people involved.

Posted by Ex-Seattleite | April 1, 2008 3:22 PM

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