“Tradition is very important in this family.”
Jackson, NJ, September 14 – This past weekend saw the yearly pilgrimage of a local clan to the hallowed, ancient ground where many of its traditional practices developed, and where each summer they return to leave round, shiny objects within and beneath several altars of gaming in the various entertainment temples at the site.
The DiAngelo family upheld its annual devotional trip to Six Flags Great Adventure in this central New Jersey township this past weekend, maintaining an unbroken chain of the practice that began in the mists of the patriarch Joseph’s youth when his own parents, the late Carmine and Marie, took their four children to the park at least once each summer, and one non-summer weekend as well. The sacred pilgrimage has always entailed leaving an offering of some sort, in in its most recent manifestation, that offering consisted in the main of gaming tokens inserted into the slots of beeping, flashing altars, and a token number of tokens dropped by accident and kicked or rolling on their own to inaccessible places underneath the various pieces of equipment and games in the venue.
“Tradition is very important in this family,” explained Joseph’s wife Victoria. “We want to transmit to our children the same values that we grew up with. I didn’t grow up in the area, so my traditions were a little different, but we had very similar ones. We were a Busch Gardens family, since we lived in Virginia. But I converted for the sake of the children. And the two traditions are really strikingly alike.”
Victoria noted several parallels and differences, but called the latter cosmetic. “The size and color of the gaming coins are obviously different,” she acknowledged. “But the devotional aspect is the same. Over the years both traditions have evolved from cash-based to token-based, and we understand the need for change, even as we cling to the immutable values behind the tradition itself.”
“Some of the differences we see are the other families,” she continued. “Back in the day, at Busch Gardens, you wouldn’t see nearly as many visibly Jewish folks. I think that’s more a function of geography than spirituality; Great Adventure is practically nextdoor to Lakewood, where there are tons of religious Jews. But no matter how they dress or what they eat, we’re all engaged in the same pilgrimage and dedication to what we all value.”
A visitor to the park from Lakewood affirmed the sentiment. “The Talmud says there are three measures of a person’s character,” stated Rabbi Fischel Applebaum, herding some of his nine children through the park as one might lead sacrificial animals to the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. “Kiso, koso, kaaso – his purse, meaning what he spends money on; his cup, meaning how he drinks and how he acts when intoxicated; and his anger, meaning how easily he gets angry and how he shows it. So yeah, this is what we spend our money on.”
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