The World of Intercultural Relations

The world of intercultural relations is an interesting one. The inherit problems created by mixing two completely different cultures are like atoms of an atom bomb. Alone they are harmless, but by putting so many together at once, the results could become devastating. There is various stereotyping that is done about different cultures, but not without good reason. Let me tell you about a story of two families that moved to America in search of a new life. One family was from Spain with the family name Penticello and one was from Israel with the last name Secher. The whole thing started when Mrs. Penticello and Mr. Secher were looking for an apartment to rent out and they bumped into each other in Queens while looking at the same apartment.
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"Lo siento senior," Mrs. Penticello began apologizing. "Yo no puedo proporcionar este apartamento. Es mucho demasiado costoso." An elegant English gentleman roughly translated that Mrs. Penticello told the agent who was trying to rent her the apartment that she could not afford the apartment because of its cost.
"Well then I simply cannot rent you this apartment Mrs. Pentikayo" the apartment owner explained as he tried to pronounce Mrs. Penticello's name. "I can't do less than $500 a month; no one in Queens can."

*Knock, Knock* "Shalom! Sleechah, aval ani Shlomo Secher ve-ani shamaty et mah she-amart ve-ani hoshev she-anachnoo yecholim le-asot mashehoo."

The translator said "Okay, enough! The Spanish was one thing, but I am not going to start translating some Middle-Eastern language for you guys. I'm leaving. Good-bye!" He closed his suitcase and walked out the door. Mr. Secher then explained that he overheard the conversation and that he was looking forward to making a deal with the young woman about having their families live in this small, cramped up apartment together because he does not have enough money to rent out an apartment either.
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There is much unloading to do about this scene in context to intercultural friction. First one should explore the characteristics of these people and how their culture has affected what they do in this scene. It is no surprise that immigrants, such as the Penticellos or the Sechers, do not have enough money to rent out an apartment because most immigrants do not come in to this country with much money. In fact, the majority of the immigrants that have come to the United States of America over the years have come looking to get jobs in order to make more money.

Notice how the laid back Mr. Secher, the Israeli, is immediately interested in working out a deal with Mrs. Penticello. But this is not where the friction first occurs. It begins with the translator becoming infuriated with all the different culture being stuffed into one small room. The man that was paid to try to destroy the cultural barriers between these people and connect them was the first to see how terribly wrong all of this was going. He saw the chemicals of an explosion being put together and he was not going to get caught in the middle of it. He foreshadows how this story will inevitably end.
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Several days have passed and both families have gotten settled in. They seemed to have enjoyed the common cultural aspects they have, such as having a rest in the middle of the day - a time where everyone can forget about their worries, stop working, and simply sleep. Besides the fact that they were robbed in the middle of the day of the little belongings they did actually own, more problems were created as well. The Penticellos' believe that having a rest such as this once daily ought to be more than enough to be kept rested, while the Sechers' have Shabbat as well.

"What you mean you want me not work on end of week too!" Mr. Penticello yelled in broken English. "You and your people with your resting! Once every day no enough? "

"You can't turn on the lighties either" the little Israeli boy, Menachem, added.

Mrs. Penticellos daughter, Mercedes, replied "Yea, I can! You're not the boss of me. I do what mi mama y papa tell me to do. I no listen to any other persons."

"Me siento, I am sorry Mr. Secher," Mrs. Pentecillo began apologizingly, "pero, but, no can listen to your rules."

"Ahah!" Mr. Secher blurted out, "I have an idea. We make deal, again, yes? You work, whenever you want you work. You can do all of that. All we want is just one thing from you. Don't make us break our rules. We will bend them little for our friendship. We let you work and do what you need even though you live in the same house as us. But, ehhh, we need little help from you too. Do not turn on or off the lights on our Shabbat so we don't break mitzvoth Adonai, commandments from God. Okay?
"Mr. Secher, I think everything going to be ok with us if we don't have no more problems after dis" Mrs. Penticello said agreeingly.

However, it seems very obvious that the problems could not possibly seize to exist after this single incident. More incidents like this occurred over the period of the next few months very frequently.
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One day Mr. Penticello brought home a very large fish for the two families to feast on. However, though his intentions were clearly nice, trying to provide enough additional food so that the Sechers' could enjoy as well, the fish was not kosher and the Sechers' do not allow food that is not kosher into their home.

"Ehhhhh, mah ata osehm - may I ask what you are doing?" Mr. Secher asked politely.

"Que es wrong now?" Mr. Penticello replied. "What do you want from my life now? I brought home some fish; we can eat together."

"Ehhhhhh, you know that we keep kosher in this house, right?"

"Si, si I know all about all your little kosher stuff. That is why I brought fish, not meat from the butcher that can't make kosher meat, but fish so that you will be happy."

"Ken, ken aval, but, some fish not kosher too."

"Oooooooo, dis all you worried about? No need worry, you no need do this. No, no you're not starting more of this. You told me about the whole scale thing and I made sure lots of scales." Mr. Penticello points at the scales as he says "Look! Tu see all those scales. Lots of scales just for you."

"Ehhhhhhhh, I am sorry, but there are no fins. For the fish to be kosher, not only scales must be there, but also fins."

Mr. Penticello starts asking hysterically "Quieres quiere fins? Why would anyone want fins on their fish? They want to eat the fish, not the fins, no? We cut off the fins anyway when we have fins. I don't need any fins. Why do you need fins?" He looks at his family and starts swearing all sorts of Spanish curses, stomping on the ground, and starts yelling. From all his stomping and yelling a glass falls from the cabinet onto the counter, breaks, and a piece of it flies right into Menachem's left arm.
Even though it is Shabbat, both families drove to the hospital and the Sechers' were willing to let any medical procedures be taken in order to help Menachem, even though they would violate the holy Shabbat. While Menachem is in the emergency room, both families are standing around in the waiting room as Mr. Penticello gives a long heart-felt apology to the Secher family, "… de bottom of mi corazon, I am so sorry."

Thanks to the medical procedures taken by not following their old culture, the medical procedures taken by the doctors on Menachem had apparently saved his life. The glass was very close to the wrist and a major blood vessel, which if broken, would have surely killed Menachem.
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Mrs. Penticello begins a conversation with Mrs. Secher, saying "Sarah, I bought this beautiful machine that works very well. It makes the clothing for me easily. It is almost like magic. I put the edges through here and it does everything for me. You really do need to try it, I insist.

"Alright, I will try your magical machine." Mrs. Secher picked up the two pieces of cloth, brought the edges close together and simply moved them through the sewing machine as it stitched everything together quite efficiently and well. "Brilliant! That was simply amazing. Thank you. This will help me so much while I am trying to make clothes for my boys.
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Slowly, these families began to understand that the cultural barriers that they have with society are huge problems. The only way for them to resolve this problem is simply to do away with their culture and assimilate into the culture around them. Only through finding common cultural characteristics by assimilating to their surroundings and Americanizing themselves could they coexist and live peacefully together in an American society. Later that day, while everyone was asleep for their nap time, the recently placed alarm sounded.