{"id":158,"date":"2006-10-26T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-10-26T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/virtualtalmud\/2006\/10\/mcmansions-and-orthodox-bashing.html"},"modified":"2006-10-26T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-10-26T10:00:00","slug":"mcmansions-and-orthodox-bashing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/virtualtalmud\/2006\/10\/mcmansions-and-orthodox-bashing.html","title":{"rendered":"McMansions and Orthodox Bashing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>All too many times the \u201cMcMansion\u201d issue is just a socially acceptable form of Orthodox bashing. \u201cWhy do these Jews have to destroy our communities?\u201d \u201cThe Orthodox have no respect for our aesthetic.\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t they have any shame?\u201d These are only a few of the comments lurking not so deep beneath some Conservative or Reform Jews&#8217; Sunday afternoon observation of \u201cOh my God&#8211;look at that disgusting, gauche brick thing that they put up on what used to be the Cohen\u2019s lawn!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The bottom line is Orthodox Jews have figured out how to earn a little bit of gelt, and when you have seven kids, anything less than a mansion can get a little bit tight. Granted, I find most Orthodox Jews in the &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/longisland.about.com\/od\/aboutlongisland\/g\/five_towns.htm\">Five Towns<\/a>&#8221; of Long Island and other locales guilty of overindulging in a nouveau-riche aesthetic that makes even the most polite blush.<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, many Orthodox Jews may have a Mercedes in the driveway and spend Passover in luxury hotels in Florida but can\u2019t afford to pay up their synagogue membership dues. (It took close to 15 years for one Long Island synagogue known for its so-called wealthy congregants with mega-McMansion homes to raise enough funds for a synagogue-rebuilding project).<\/p>\n<p>And yes, I am sorry to say but many Orthodox Jews in the Five Towns, Teaneck, New Jersey, and Brooklyn, New York, have little respect or notion of a public aesthetic that\u2019s tasteful, modest, and respectful of a community&#8217;s history. That said, when you have a lot of kids, what is most important is not looks but space. Kids require space, Shabbat company requires space, and <span style=\"font-style: italic\">hachnasat orchim<\/span> (welcoming guests) requires space.<\/p>\n<p>Its not Orthodox Jews who have a problem: it\u2019s the rest of the Jewish community that gawk at the mansions of celebrities and take vacations to Newport, Rhode Island, to admire the palaces that were built by wealthy WASPs.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, people who find the need to have <a href=\"http:\/\/www.time.com\/time\/nation\/article\/0,8599,1449150,00.html\">mikvahs (ritual baths) built into their homes<\/a> are pathetic, but let\u2019s be fair and honest: Are they any more pathetic than the rest of America that dreams about having a pool in their backyard?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All too many times the \u201cMcMansion\u201d issue is just a socially acceptable form of Orthodox bashing. \u201cWhy do these Jews have to destroy our communities?\u201d \u201cThe Orthodox have no respect for our aesthetic.\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t they have any shame?\u201d These are only a few of the comments lurking not so deep beneath some Conservative or Reform&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - 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