Claudette
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2010
- Messages
- 1,630
- Reaction score
- 243
I have two thoughts on this:
I think there is no way we can understand the history that makes this community distrust outsiders so much. I would hope the amazing response of the police department would reach out to the community at large. It may also be that the police are comfortable historically with the way the community works.
From what I know and have observed from my friends, part of it is that but a lot of it is the level of religion in their life. For some of them it consumes all of their time. Children study INSANELY for their coming-of-age event, the Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. In comparison, I am Catholic and yeah, I studied about stuff but my life would probably not have been altered had I not made my Confirmation. In fact my family would probably have forgotten about it at this point. The Jewish kids have to recite an entire book by memory at their celebration. I can't even imagine how stressful it is for the Orthodox or the Hasidic Jews.
Of course this all depends on how strictly you follow the religion. My Jewish friends in high school's families were not too strict. They went to public schools. Anyone that was went to strictly Jewish schools.
I still today learn things about this religion that blow me away or surprise me through one of my mom's closest friends. Some of them I have difficulty understanding but it is not my place to try to or judge. For example, a menstruating woman cannot touch a man (that might be a little over simplifying it but this is how it was explained to me).
This is all of course based on my experiences of friends that live in Skokie, a suburb of Chicago. It is also where the Illinois Holocaust Center is located.
Sorry, I kind of went off topic there!