Walking down the street, I was passed by a well-dressed frum man with a trim beard who looked at me and smiled in a friendly manner. I knew instantly, that he wasn't Israeli and probably wasn't a New Yorker. New Yorkers tend to ignore you as if you didn't exist. And Israeli men give you a look of death as if they want to kill you.
Being curious, I asked and sure enough he was from Melbourne, Australia. He's been in SSOI for three decades but hasn't lost Australian social sensibilities, at least not that one.
I recall other interactions in my life. A gentile man smiled at me in a rent a car parking lot in Ohio. In Jersey City, a man stepped back to allow me to enter the Fed. Ex place first, and did the same as I approached the front desk after stopping to pick up a form. I listened when it was his turn at the desk. He had a Southern accent.
You get a different since of life when people are friendly and are not ignoring you or staring you down. The nerves relax and the world seems to be a kinder place.
You won't get that in Israel. You don't really get it in New York either, but I'll take New York over Israel any day.
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