Jewlicious � This Just In: Southampton Chabadniks �Not Martians�

Jewlicious � This Just In: Southampton Chabadniks �Not Martians�
(Cross-posted from My Urban Kvetch)

That’s right. A lesson so important, it’s worth repeating and using text emphasis: Chabadniks (Lubavitch Jews) are not, I repeat, NOT, Martians.

According to this feature in New York Magazine, a few years ago, a family of Chabad Chasidim moved to Southampton, a beachside bastion of WASPishness.

…you can imagine the consternation when, in the summer of 1999, two doors down from the Catholic church on Hill Street—the widest, most conspicuous thoroughfare in Southampton, dividing the wildly expensive properties of Shinnecock Hills and North Sea from the stratospherically expensive beachfront estates of Meadow and Gin Lanes—a family arrived that clearly hadn’t seen the membership brochure. The man who bought the place had a bird’s nest of a beard and wore dark suits all summer long. He and his wife, who dressed demurely even by Southampton standards, were young but had a bevy of children—two at first, five before long. They invited guests on Saturday mornings—dozens of them—and the visitors parked their SUVs and sports cars on the edge of neighbors’ lawns. They sang songs. They cooked meals that produced strange odors. “The smells coming out of there!” says Ron Grimaldi, who until recently lived across the street. “I don’t know how people live next door.” It gets worse: They renovated—the ground level was gutted to make additional room for guests—and they took out ads in Dan’s Papers promoting the gatherings.