New York and Sioux Falls

It is often said by outsiders, “I love to visit New York but I wouldn’t want to live there.”  

I grew up in New York City.  I lived on Fulton Avenue and Gates Place near Moshulu Parkway in the Bronx.  But when I was eighteen, I left.   My brother has lived in the City all his life and I have visited him there many times since went away.

My wife and I visited New York this past weekend.  I saw and hugged my brother; we stayed in a comfortable hotel, ate at Barbuto, a Jonathan Waxman restaurant, went to a Broadway show, toured MOMA, made our way to Strand, a massive book store, had wonderful thin pizza many times, did some serious downtown walking, endured hectic cab and subway rides. 

 New York City, particularly the Times Square area, is an exciting, noisy, diverse, complicated, crowded, explosive, adventurous, crazy place.  While in New York we saw a five-hour parade on Fifth Avenue celebrating the 70^th anniversary of the State of Israel.   There were thousands of Jews marching in the street singing raucous Hebrew songs in support of the Jewish state.  It is fun to go back and experience the city.

But it is not home for me.  After leaving New York, the Air Force took me to the upper Midwest where I fell in love with the peacefulness and beauty of the place.  For a long time now, I have lived in Sioux Falls, content with its slower and saner pace of life.

As I sit here writing, I think of this small city as relatively quiet, safe, conservative, pretty with trees and an increasing beautiful downtown and of course, the namesake “Falls.”  Our restaurants are not as sophisticated as NYC, but we have wonderful bagels, fine Chinese food, and a growing diversity of eateries. We have several HY-Vees, the Sioux Falls Canaries, the Sioux Falls Storm and Augustana University. 

For all that, I remain fond of New York City, I still have my New York accent, maintain duel loyalty to the Twins and the Yankees, miss the fine Jewish delis, remember my times growing up there, and miss the Jewish presence. 

But, I will tell you something you may find surprising, being Jewish in Sioux Falls means being aware and conscious of being Jewish.  You can’t just blend in.  There are so few of us here that we have learned to care and pay attention to being Jewish. It matters!  So, I like to go back and remember New York, but I am home in Sioux Falls.