Last January I went to World Spa, in Midwood.

The clientele is a funny mix. Really people of all kinds. But of course Midwood being what it is, there are enough Jews for a stereotypical Jewish joke to play out in real life.

I went out of one of the saunas after a good sweat and over to the cold plunge. Lingering to the side of it was a truly nebbishy young chusid.

I went into the freezing cold water. Really nice and cold, properly cold unlike many you find around.

I got out about 30 seconds later, and the chusid, still lingering, said “Wow you just went right in. Where are you from?”

“Manhattan” I told him.

“No but what’s your ancestry, your nationality.”

“Ashkenazi. Jewish.” I said.

“No, no. But are you Russian? German? Or What?”

“Mostly from the Russian empire and Hungary.”

“Ah that explains it. You have the thick blood to handle the cold.”

“What about you? Where are you from?”

“Brooklyn,” he replied nonchalantly– no follow up.

I shrugged mentally and sat down on the bench, where he continued the conversation.

“You know a lot of people talk about this stuff, some say it’s good for you, some say it’s bad”

“I’m pretty sure there are health benefits to sauna,” I said.

“No, no, but going from the hot and then to the cold”

“Oh, okay.”

“You know Rambam? Maimonedes? He said something about this actually.”

“Oh yeah? That’s interesting, did he say it was good or that it was bad?”

Without no irony at all he answered, “I don’t know– but he did say something about it.”