'I grew up in Brooklyn': Sharing our bagel bona fides
It’s honestly one of my favorite things about the newsletter.
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When your name is Sean Keeley, you get very used to having to explain your Jewish bona fides.
When I was 12 or so, I boarded a bus for a Temple youth group trip and a chaperone started reading attendance roll call off a clipboard. With each name, he’d note the kid raising their hand or saying “here” and then move on.
“Adam Rosenfeld…”
“Danny Edelstein…”
“Steven Sandberg…”
“Sean…….Kee….ley?” he said, turning my name into a question.
It wasn’t unheard of for a gentile kid to sneak their way onto one of these trips, especially if it involved girls, so I immediately felt the need to justify my entire existence. I assured this strange adult that I was indeed Jewish and would be happy to recite some Hebrew as needed (I was deep in Bar Mitzvah studies at the time). It wasn’t ultimately necessary but he remained slightly suspect.
All of which is to say that I completely understand the need that so many of us have to immediately justify our bagel bona fides up top when meeting one another here.
Imagine how I feel as a guy with the most Irish name possible trying to convince you I know a good bagel. So it doesn’t surprise me that just about every interaction that I have with a reader or subscriber begins with them letting me know that they’re also capable of discussing the finer details of Jewish deli food because of where they were born or used to live.
It’s honestly one of my favorite things about the newsletter. I’ve come to fully expect it every time I see a new comment or email I’m going to find out the person in question grew up in Brooklyn or spent 20 years living in North Jersey. It’s truly delightful.
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