SophieBeylisson moved from Tashkent Uzbekistan to New York in 1993.CandyEngel moved from Johannesburg South Africa to Montreal Canada in 2001. Chava Dunner grew up in Antwerp Belgium and moved to Lakewood New Jersey via England and Israel in 2004.TamiaTaussky moved from Basel Switzerland to Montreal Canada in 2002. 

Getting to Know You  When I meet an acquaintance let’s say Larissa from Russia and I ask her “How are you?” I am prepared to listen for the next half hour while she describes in detail how Aunt Genya is how Uncle Boris fell and hurt his head and how she can’t seem to get past her cold and then she’ll list every remedy she’s tried. It took me a while to get used to my American acquaintances asking “How are you?” and expecting a one-word answer: “Fine.” —SophieBeylisson 

The Jewish community in South Africa is Lithuanian — we were all brought up similarly and we’re all close. All our shuls get together for different events. In Montreal there’s this great divide — Sephardic chassidish Ashkenazic. People are friendly here but at arm’s length; they’re nice to each other but they don’t mix. It’s hard for me to understand this segregation.—CandyEngel 

When I first moved here I would meet acquaintances on the street and they would enthusiastically say “I will call you.” I waited all week for that call that never came. In Europe — at least when I was growing up — that would never happen.Many women work here which was not the case in Belgium at the time. They are more rushed — they have no time to just call and shmooze for 20 minutes. But it took me a while to understand that mentality. On the other hand once you get to know somebody here they’re much more willing to be open with you about their personal lives.—Chava Dunner