Orit Arfa writes a fascinating and heartfelt blog post on a recent debate at Stephen S. Wise temple:
“Hi Patti,” I said as I approached her. “My colleague at the Jewish Journal once interviewed you, and I thought I’d introduce myself….”
“Thanks,” she said curtly with no smile, looking tense, barely looking me in the eye. She dashed off to the stage.
What a bitch! I thought. I would have preferred something like: “I can’t talk now because I’m about to go up, but thank you for saying hello.”
…At the end of the evening, girls flocked to Stanger’s book signing table to say “hi”, and I decided to give my my “hi” one more try while offering my business card, even though at that point I wondered if I would still want to be her client. I took her cold shoulder less personally when I noticed she treated most every other girl there with curt, smile-less one-liners bereft of sincere eye contact, unless they brought a copy of the book to sign. She could have had a bad day, but still. Meanwhile, Boteach greeted every person with warmth and chit-chat. Then again, his table was relatively empty, which in and of itself may offer commentary on what women really want.
It’s always nice when people more famous and powerful than you take the time to talk to you nicely. People in this category who come to my mind include Rabbi Boteach, Dennis Prager, Steve Young and Mike Adamle.
