If you’re wondering what I’ve been up to while I’ve been not posting stories about life from Ze Mother Country, I’ve been scheming.
There are no Jews in DC. Or, at least, none that my Jewdar picked up on. My Jewdar is pretty weak, much like a lower-end GPS model. I should really get that thing upgraded.
Frustrated by the sense of isolation from the Jewish community in Washington DC and also because I was jealous of the Tel Aviv Beer TweetUp, I decided to see if there was interest in having a Jewish tweetup around here. At first, I thought it was pretty gimmicky, because social media in general seems pretty gimmicky to me. However, at the risk of sounding like I’ve been drinking the Twitter Kool-Aid, I really think that it’s the only thing that’s been helpful for me in connecting directly to Jews.
@Awapy felt exactly the same, and, being in marketing, went to work. While I had the vision, she created a bunch of press releases and tirelessly reached out to Jewish organizations. She was the Weizmann to my Herzl. Also, ck created a fabulous poster for us to promote it.
@Awapy decided to put the hashtag on her back…in case anyone got lost.
@HeebinDc and his friend, Kel-Kel.
@Awapy and @16thstreetj. He had free swag, so we liked him right away.
And then, @BuberZionist showed up. He’s a pretty nice guy. We didn’t talk a lot about politics, surprisingly. Also, by this time, I was well into my first drink.
We look like we’re having a pretty ok time.
Oh yeah, then there was that. It says We Love Jewlicious. But not because we’re suckups or anything.
Next time, you should come.
Gah?
5/24/2009
Yo there are thousands of Jews in D.C.
You just gotta check out the upper Northwest region of the city. One neighborhood up there back in the, erm, ghetto day, used to be called “Hannukah Hill” and now is known, at least in the local colloquial of the city’s youth, as Lafayetteland after a noted Elementary School named for the Famous Frenchman himself. D.C. East of the Park and South of Downtown is more or less devoid of Jews, but the region I’m talking about, where I grew and, in a way, am still growing up, is chock-full of synagogues and places to purchase righteous bagels and lox. Thomas Friedman, fervent Zionist, lives near this neighborhood just across the D.C. border in Bethesda, Maryland.
vicki
5/25/2009
Yeah I know there are lots of Jews in DC, I just had trouble fitting into a community after being in Hillel in college, something lots of Jews my age have expressed issues with, as well. Twitter gave me an instant way to connect without seeming weird. Thomas Friedman might live in Bethesda, but how can I ever connect with him? And once I go to these neighborhoods, outside of joining a synagogue, how do I connect with people 20-35?
Rabbi Yonah
5/27/2009
Yo VICKI
About how many came to the Tweet up?
vicki
5/28/2009
Yo Rabbi Yonah! I’d say we had around 15-20 people.