Invite for Almighty April 2004 MAGIC Party
Password is: At the Westchester County Fair (please sing jingle)
Why is
this MAGIC GARDEN different from all other MAGIC GARDENS? Why, it's the
first night of Passover, you heathen. While it's true that many of our
natives will be with their families and friends - eating bitter herbs
and hiding matzoh - for the early part of the night, in the later hours
we invite them to come to the MAGIC GARDEN to celebrate the beautiful,
diverse culture that this fine city has nurtured. All non-Seder attending
people, please come by at 7ish, to drink, dance and eagerly await the
arrival of the Seder-attending Jews.
All concerned
Seder-goers, please read this personal note:
What, bubbulah, you don't want to be a mentsch and come to the party,
so you can kvetch about all the mishigas from your Pesach dinner? You
have some schmutz on your face. And change out of that schmattah. Come,
we'll discuss what's wrong with the world with all these goyem shmendriks
running the country. And we'll drink Maneschewitz.
And after
the MAGIC GARDEN, "Everyone come join the fun, at the Westchester
County Fair. Rides and attractions. Non-stop action. Folks, animals, fireworks
too. It's the single most fun thing you can do."
While
the TV commercial attempting to lure unsuspecting NYC kids to Westchester
was fun and memorable, I don't know a soul who went to this fair. Do you?
I took school trips to Great Adventure in NJ, and waited on 2 hour lines
to ride Lightning Loops, but nary a trip to see the prize hogs and hens
in Westchester. If you have proof of attending the fair, you'll get a
free drink.
Westchester.
The county fair in Yonkers. Hmmm. Ella Fitzgerald was from Yonkers. Also
Elisha Graves Otis, who invented the safety elevator, Edwin Armstrong
- the FM radio, Leo Baekeland - "bakelite," and Charles T. Harvey
- the first elevated train. Yonkers is home the second oldest annual marathon
in the country (Boston is the oldest). Samuel Tilden, former Governor
of NY and resident of Yonkers, was the first presidential candidate to
win the popular vote but lose the electoral vote (in 1876, against Rutherford
B. Hayes) - hmmm, sound familiar? To celebrate the election of Governor
Samuel Tilden, a bartender at the Manhattan Club invented the Manhattan,
a mixture of bourbon or blended whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters with
crushed ice.
Westchester is also
filled with Jewish people about 129,000. The population of Jews
in Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk counties increased by 24% in the last
decade (221,000 Jews in Nassau, 90,000 in Suffolk), while NYC's Jewish
population dropped by about 5%. For the first time in over a century,
the number of Jews in NYC has fallen below one million; there are currently
972,000 Jews that's 12% of the city's 8 million people. 50 years
ago NYC had 2 million Jews 25% of the population. If it were up
to Mel Gibson, there would be no Jews left. The current borough breakdown
of the Jewish population goes a little something like this: Brooklyn
456,000; Manhattan 243,000; Queens 186,000; Bronx 45,000;
Staten Island 42,000
But joyfully, this
year marks the 350th anniversary of the establishment of a Jewish community
in the US of A. In 1654, 23 Jews arrived in New Amsterdam from Pernambuco,
Brazil a region that had been under Dutch rule since 1633. When
the Portuguese conquered Pernambuco, the Protestant and Jewish citizens
traveled to the nearest Dutch colony in the New World right here
in good ole NYC. The Jews were initially denied residence by the Dutch
governor Peter Stuyvesant (if he only knew how many Jews went to Stuyvesant
High School), but the Dutch West India Company ordered him to allow Jewish
settlement. Ha ha. These Jews formed a congregation - "Shearith Israel,"
or "The Remnants of Israel." In 1730 Congregation Shearith Israel
built its first synagogue on Mill St. near Wall Street - and today
that congregation continues at Central Park West and 70th Street, known
as Congregation Shearith Israel, The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue.
In 1825 the second Jewish synagogue, B'nai Jeshuron, was erected and became
the forerunner of all the Ashkenazi shuls. Temples and synagogues in the
city.
Religion
About 25% of New York Jews say they have "no religion." The
Orthodox are the fastest growing segment of the Jewish population, growing
from 13% in 1991 to 19% in 2003. The Conservative and Reform movements
are losing members as people move to the suburbs or to other states. Don't
go. Please.
Holidays
While the number of Jews in NYC has consistently been decreasing, Jewish
observance has been on the rise. In 2002, 72% of NYC Jews fasted on Yom
Kippur, compared to 66% in 1991. Lighting Shabbos candles went up from
43 to 53%, and keeping kosher from 25 to 28%. As for Passover, 77% always
attend a Passover seder, 15% sometimes and about 8% never.
Intermarriage
The overall intermarriage rate is 51% (51% percent of the 505,000 Jews
who got married within the last decade married spouses who were avowedly
not Jewish). 40% married a Jewish spouse and 9% married someone who had
converted. Of those who married before 1965, 89% married a Jewish spouse.
At least a third of all American Jews who are married are married to a
non-Jew.
Poverty
Jewish poverty in NYC has doubled from 10.5% in 1991 to 21.2% as of 2002.
Oy! 244,000 people live in poor Jewish households; 91% of Russian-speaking
seniors report poverty level incomes. One in five Jewish households in
NYC are poor, compared to one in 10 in 1991. This is generally attributed
to the influx of Russian immigrants who tend to be poor, especially in
the first years after their arrival.
Politics
Many "experts" predict that the departure of the Jewish population
from the city will result in a weakening of the Jewish community's political
influence. Edward Koch believes that the decline in the number of Jews
will push the city's politically liberal outlook to the right. He says
that Jews from the former Soviet Union, having suffered under communism,
are politically more conservative than the older generations of Jewish
immigrants.
The 12 countries
with the largest Jewish population:
USA 5,800,000
Israel 4,847,000
France 600,000
Russia 550,000
Ukraine 400,000
Canada 360,000
United Kingdom 300,000
Argentina 250,000
Brazil 130,000
South Africa 106,000
Australia 100,000
The cities with
the largest Jewish population:
NYC 1,750,000
Miami 535,000
Los Angeles 490,000
Paris 350,000
Philadelphia 254,000
Chicago 248,000
San Francisco 210,000
Boston 208,000
London 200,000
Moscow 200,000
Buenos Aires 180,000
Toronto 175,000
Washington DC 165,000
Kiev, Ukraine 110,000
Montreal 100,000
St. Petersburg, Russia 100,000
Here are a few people
you may not have known were Jewish:
Emma Lazarus (writer of "The New Colossus," the poem at the
base of the Statue of Liberty "Give me your tired, you poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free ...")
Krusty the Clown
Jesus
Judy Blume
Linda McCartney (originally from Scarsdale)
Donating
The MAGIC GARDEN is now in its 2nd month of the monthly voluntary "be
nice" campaign, by supporting a different cause/charity/fund. Upon
entering the party, you will have the opportunity, if you so desire, to
donate to the monthly cause.
If you have a cause
that is of personal significance to you and would like to be the monthly
recipient of the MAGIC GARDEN's voluntary donation, please email me the
details.
So check your leavening
at the door, and come to the MAGIC GARDEN.
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