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Buy Nothing Groups Make Me Nostalgic for the Orthodox Community Sharing Centers of My Youth

JL;DR SUMMARY Ruthie Hollander reflects on how modern Buy Nothing groups on platforms like Facebook remind her of the gemachs of her Orthodox Jewish upbringing. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish CultureFacebookNostalgiaOrthodox CommunitySocial CapitalCommunity BuildingGemachMutual AidBuy Nothing GroupsSharing Economy

Places mentioned

Monsey, New York, United States
"proliferate in Monsey, a large community of Haredi Jews in New York, with a variety of offerings: feeding tubes, blue lights (to aid with sleepless nights), wedding dresses, baby formula, space heaters, maternity clothing, gowns for brides and family members, school supplies, skin healing and tablecloths."
Oak Park, Michigan, United States
"I grew up in Oak Park, Michigan, a small city adjacent to Detroit."
Upper East Side, New York, United States
"These days, I dont frequent a gemach, but the Upper East Side Buy Nothing group, my current haunt, has over 21,000 members."

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This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 47023
Cairo Source ID 33
Retrieved 2025-03-20 05:30:57 UTC
Curated 2025-03-20 08:30:56 UTC