Houston

Houston is a lovely place, efficient and fun, and the people are sweethearts. They are social and polite and respectful. We have had dozens of warm and friendly encounters. I feel so much better about life when I'm around people like this. I find that I really do like humans. I like people and that's part of what has been so painful living in NY and Israel. I am surprised that I haven't spotted hardly any police. In New Jersey, you see them every time you get in the car. 

I am surprised also by how much greenery there is here. My image of Texas was built on old movies I suppose. I imagined sage brush and dusty flatland. Actually, it's fairly hilly here and there's trees and grass all over. I also imagined general stores with creaky doors where grain bags could be bought along with coke in a bottle. Rather, this place is quite affluent with huge stores and modern buildings everywhere. We went into a sporting goods store that seemed to be the size of a basketball arena. It certainly was bigger than all of Ulam Sport in Beit Shemesh. Yes, the store was bigger than the Ulam Sport facility, much bigger. And everybody is friendly. There's little security. It's all so casual.

And then I got to the Jewish neighborhood. The locals are pretty good, not quite as easy going as the gentiles, but not bad. Then there's the NY transplants. They stand out like a sore thumb, like the elderly Haredi man in the black suit and grey beard who was scolding restaurant workers for his food not being ready. He certainly was not from around these parts. Nobody around here acts like that.

The Young Israel is a huge building on a street where we spotted numerous seminary women in long skirts walking together. It could have been Monsey. It's pretty frum. Like the grumpy Haredi man, the YI contrasts from the rest of Houston because it is surrounded by a locked fence. The Jewish paranoia begins. You need the code to enter or somebody has to let you in. They do without saying hello. Once you get inside, you see lots of yeshivish men in black and white. Many are 'learning.' There was unfortunately a New York vibe.  People staring at you. I was reminded how painful it has been to have lived in New York and Israeli Jewish communities all these decades. I felt myself tense up and my mind became cynical again.  

I'm going to try the Chabad houses next, and maybe some of the Modern synagogues. Hopefully, they'll have more of that local feel. I will keep my expectations low.

Update:

So I went to the main Chabad center, a huge building with a gan and day school. Totally different vibe from the YI. Friendly people. It felt like Texas, a Jewish Texas. One of the rabbis, a Texas boy, gave us a tour. I found out that indeed the YI is full of NY transplants. My radar was working correctly. I can spot the NYers anywhere. The pit in my stomach gives them away.