trading spouses on TV now- Jews with Christians

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 9:05pm

I'm watching it now. They have an Orthodox Jewish family trading with a Kentucky Christian family. Discuss!
Updated On: 10/20/06 at 09:05 PM

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 9:53pm

It's very interesting. It's funny because I grew up in Tennessee in a town that borders Kentucky. Now I live in a town that borders Lakewood, NJ. The common ground that the Christian grandmother found with the Jewish mother was very nice. I was beginning to think they were just going to peg the southern family as unaccepting of anything. It was a breath of fresh air. Calling the family generally uneducated in the end was pretty rude.

Updated On: 10/20/06 at 09:53 PM

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 9:58pm

We are not the kind of people who have debt! We have money in the bank!

Well then, they should have no problem getting a line of credit to pay for the tuition that they are so mad about not getting.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 9:59pm

What? Who insulted whom? Someone fill in the blanks, please!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 10:04pm

I hate the whole concept of putting people together like that strictly for the sake of creating "drama."

Why would anyone subject themself to it?

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 10:23pm

The Christian woman gave the Jewish family:
~5k to pay off debt. We aren't the kind of people who have debt. We have money in the bank!
~1k for the girls to shop. (The dad just looked angry and shook his head.)
~5k to paint the interior of the house. (They don't feel it needs painting.)
~5k for new carpet. We don't need carpet in here.
~1k for new bed linens. (They didn't want it. I will take it. I am a linen snob.)
~20k for a new car. What's wrong with the old car???
Not sure where the other 3k went.
They were really insulted and wanted to pay for tuition for their 4 children.

The Jewish woman gave the Christians:
~10k for bills. (The mother was hoping for more for bills.)
~10k for home improvements. (She didn't think her house needed improvements.)
~10k to take the family on a cruise. (They thought that was wasteful.)
I don't remember what the other 20k was for.

It was pretty much okay until the mothers met at the end. The Jewish mother told the Christian mother that she had accidentally hurt the teen son's feelings by suggesting he get a tutor. Then she said something about how education was important to her, but she realized that it wasn't to people where they lived because most are so uneducated. Then the Christian mother told the Jewish mother that she was sheltering her children and teaching them nothing about the real world. She told her that she layed down so many rules that the kids wouldn't talk to her when something important came up. The Jewish mother disagreed and then the Christian mother told her that her son was drinking and had friends that smoked pot. The son is still has bus tracks on his back. It was pretty much a bust.

Updated On: 10/20/06 at 10:23 PM

[StageManager2]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 10:51pm

Wait, did the Jewish son confide in the Christian mother, or was she making assumptions about him?

BTW: Thanks for the brief synopsis.

Updated On: 10/20/06 at 10:51 PM

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 11:09pm

Yeah, the Jewish son "confided" in the Christian mother (she basically asked him), but you have to realize he is 20 years old, and therefore a legal adult who has friends who can legally drink and smoke (not pot, but still).

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 11:13pm

I thought the Jewish parents came off like they had their heads buried in the sand, as far as their children were concerned. They acted like, if they didn't speak about issues, then there were none.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 11:31pm

It just seemed to me that the Jewish family fed into the stereotypes. I don't want to sound racist, but I don't know any Orthodox families personally, so I may come off that way. A friend told me that many Orthodox families don't care about upkeep of their homes or cars. If it is functional, it works just fine for them. Then 75% of the cash they got was for home improvements and a new car. I wonder if the producers made any suggestions about the way the money was distributed.

Are they required to use the money as the other mom suggested?

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 11:40pm

I don't really know the show. I think this was only the second or third time I watched it. But, I think that is the catch, they only get the money if it is spent as recommended, by the other spouse.

[Yawper]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 11:46pm

adamgreer I imagine most participants subject themselves to it because ultimately they want the money.

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 11:55pm

"A friend told me that many Orthodox families don't care about upkeep of their homes or cars. If it is functional, it works just fine for them."

Oh boy. Your friend told you that so...it's true? Maybe many of them don't care, but more of them do.

I'd say that many families in general don't care about upkeep of their homes or cars.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 10/20/06 at 11:57pm

That's true, Jane2. That describes me to a T and I'm not Jewish. Maybe I should convert to Christianity.

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/21/06 at 12:00am

Then will you care about the upkeep of your house, sm2?

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 10/21/06 at 12:02am

No Jane, that doesn't make it true. I said it was a stereotype.

I have no idea. I grew up in a town with one Jewish family in a population of 100,000.

Updated On: 10/21/06 at 12:02 AM

[StageManager2]

Posted: 10/21/06 at 12:02am

That's the theory.

Updated On: 10/21/06 at 12:02 AM

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/21/06 at 12:05am

" I don't want to sound racist, but I don't know any Orthodox families personally, so I may come off that way. A friend told me that many Orthodox families don't care about upkeep of their homes or cars. If it is functional, it works just fine for them."

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/21/06 at 12:07am

"I have no idea"

You sure don't

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/21/06 at 12:08am

"That's the theory."

LOL-I'd better turn to Christianity too-I think I hear the board of health at my door!

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 10/21/06 at 12:14am

And the first line that I said was, "It just seemed to me that the Jewish family fed into stereotypes."

It's a stereotype that I was told. Stereotypes are rarely ever acurate. The show almost always seems to feed into those and I am sure it is intentional. The only episodes I have seen are with INSANE christians, crying hippies, snotty Manhattan socialites, pageant mothers and now this one. I was wondering if the producers have anything to do with the way money is given. There is no reason to be rude to me.

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/21/06 at 12:24am

I don't think you're aware of how someone might be offended by what you've said. I pmd you.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 10/21/06 at 12:41am

And I responded. I am truly sorry if anyone was offended by what I said, I was just trying to comment on the buttons the show tries to push. I guess it's late and I didn't come across as I intended. I don't believe what I was told to be true. It was just something I was told. Like I said in the PM, I lived in the south for most of 30 years. I have seen yards with three cars up on blocks while the front porch of the house was falling down. Rednecks corner that market.

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/21/06 at 12:45am

It's all good-I'm sensitive to a few things-and that's one of them. The air is cleared now!

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 10/21/06 at 12:47am

:)