By Clinton Martin
The Amish would never do that, right? Visitors to Lancaster County’s Amish Country often wrestle with the “how” and “why” of the Amish. Prolific author of numerous books about the Amish, Donald Kraybill, titled one of his works, The Riddle of Amish Culture. Indeed, to many “outsiders” the Amish way of life does seem full of question marks… Sometimes, visitors are searching for hard and fast “always” and “never” definitions to how the Amish live.
The Amish never get their picture taken, right?
The Amish never fly by plane, right?
Well, not so fast. I personally know an Amish person who wanted to travel to Europe, on a “pilgrimage” of sorts to visit the places in Switzerland and Germany that were pivotal in the origin of the Anabaptist movement, to discover the history of his community. To travel to Europe, an American needs a passport. To get a passport, you must have your picture taken. So, he went and got his picture taken, got his passport, and did indeed go to Europe on his intended trip. Did he face censure from church leadership? No. They understood the reasoning behind “why” he needed his picture taken. He did not, however, fly to Europe. Rather, he sailed transatlantic on the Queen Mary 2, a ship that sails between New York and England, making the voyage over the course of 8 nights at sea.
It is true that Amish people do not normally fly on planes. However, again I personally know an Amish person who did indeed fly out to the American southwest to be treated by an expert for a health issue that he was suffering from. There was an urgent medical need for him to be seen by this doctor, so his family booked him a flight, short notice, and got him out there with haste to receive treatment. Did he receive censure from Amish church leadership for flying? No. They understood the reasoning behind the ”why” of his flight.
These two examples suggest I should know better than to say “always” or “never” with the Amish. Yet, even I am reminded sometimes of how always – changing the Amish community is. Thus was the case when I heard that a young Amish couple had started a YouTube channel, and were singing contemporary, upbeat country songs, on camera, for their social media audience. I thought to myself, the Amish would never do that! Then I looked, and lo it appears yes, at least two Amish people would!
Meet Ben and Rose. They are of the Old Order Amish. They live in Lancaster County. They are members of the church in good standing. They are a married couple who play instruments, such as guitar, and sing. Their channel can be found at www.youtube.com/@BenRose-music. Conventional wisdom would have said they would not play instruments (other than maybe a harmonica) once they joined the church. Additionally, conventional wisdom would have said they’d not be filming themselves, or allowing themselves to be filmed, to go on the internet once they joined the church. But that’s just the thing about “always” and “never” around the Amish. The community that seems quite rule-bound to the outside world actually has some latitude when it comes to the “how” and “why.”
For those of you who would rather see Ben and Rose appear in person, rather than by viewing them online, you can sometimes catch them performing at Corner Coffee Shop, right on the “square” of the Lancaster County village of Intercourse PA. The coffee shop typically has “live” (amateur) entertainment on Friday and Saturday nights. Ben and Rose were known to play there. For the cost of a cup of coffee from the shop, and maybe a buck or two for the couple’s tip jar, you can hear the country music stylings of an Old Order Amish couple.
Never say Never with the Amish.