please clarify what you mean when you say New York because where I live which IS part of nyc and is not bklyn and most ppl do say gs to each other, the only time one does not is when a teenage girl is passing a teenage boy- and thats because of tznius and if s/o doesnt say gs they at least nod in your direction and smile! can i point out though that in bklyn i was walking one shabbos with my aunt and the only people who said gud shabbos back to us were two israeli girls who were dressed just barely on the guidlines of tznuis- that made our day! in bklyn i have a rule of not saying gud shabbos at all unless I’m with s/o else- u have to follow minhag hamakom- no? 🙂 and i def. dont say to the oppisite gender either BUT you def. should smile at the ppl who pass you in the street or in a store whether they are jewish or not it is a big kiddush HASHEM- i always met this lady walking home from school and i always smiled at her on my way- one day i was running late and when i walked by she wasn’t there- which was normal cuz it was a bus stop but the next day when i walked by on time- she smiled back at me and asked- is everything ok? you weren’t here yestereday- i then realized that ppl notice what you do and how u act even your facial expressions- i assured her everything was fine and then she proceeded to tell me how she takes the bus to visit her mother who is really sick and my smile everyday gives her the courage to go on and believe everything will be ok- moral of the story- u never know who you will affect so even if you dont want to say gs at least acknowledge the person!!! the greatest gedolim did- so dont think ur such a tzaddik for not talking to women- if the gedolim acknowledged that other ppl matter- u can too!
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