I'm minding my own business, strolling home after doing some afternoon life-maintenance errands.

Two young, presumably Orthodox Jewish men (based on dress and hair), stop me on Markham St., just south of Bloor. "Excuse me: Are you Jewish?" one of them asked.

"No, not me," I replied, probably looking somewhat befuddled, as the question has never come up before.

"OK then," the questioner said, with his buddy adding, "have a nice day."

My reporter's instincts are clearly in decline, because I didn't turn around, chase them down, and ask them why they wanted to know.

Either that, or I just wanted to get home.

You decide. :)

Afterward

I got an off-blog e-mail from a reader suggesting this book might give some answers: The Rebbe's Army: Inside the World of Chabad-Lubovitch

An excerpt from the Amazon.ca page linked to above:

“Excuse me, are you Jewish?” With these words, the relentlessly cheerful, ideologically driven emissaries of Chabad-Lubavitch approach perfect strangers on street corners throughout the world in their ongoing efforts to persuade their fellow Jews to live religiously observant lives. In The Rebbe’s Army, award-winning journalist Sue Fishkoff gives us the first behind-the-scenes look at this small Brooklyn-based group of Hasidim and the extraordinary lengths to which they take their mission of outreach.

Who knew?

That's why I love the blogosphere!