Birth Season Theory Divides Summer and Winter

The segment followed last week's rains, which, the outlet said, split the public between those who said "wow, what fun" and those who said "wow, this is awful." To get to the bottom of the divide, host Moshe invited Gutthelf into the studio to play a comic version of a weather researcher.

Gutthelf left no room for doubt, opening with: "I'm a summer person." Moshe, who was born in the Hebrew month of Nisan, described himself as liking "both," and unwittingly became one of the test subjects.

Gutthelf said he had set out on "a very large and comprehensive study." His starting premise was that people born in winter love winter, people born in summer love summer, and people born in autumn either love spring, love both, or connect with neither season. He reported "100% success for the theory with all the subjects we tested," including people in his office.

"It's a first-of-its-kind study, groundbreaking. No one has ever done a study like this."

He admitted there had been a moment of crisis. "Two days ago I had a small moment of worry that maybe this theory had gone down the drain," he said. He had been testing more colleagues and the answers were lining up, until Ariel Sharfer announced: "I was born in May and I love winter." Gutthelf, who was also born in May, is a summer lover, so the answer threatened to bring the whole theory down.

Then came an idea: check which year Sharfer was born. The answer was 1980. Gutthelf said he asked a chatbot what the weather had been like in May 1980 and was told it was an unusual month, with storms, hail and strong winds. His conclusion was that the theory is alive and correct, "as of now." He invited viewers to leave suggestions in the comments to help keep testing it.

Moshe said Gutthelf looked like a true researcher, wearing a summery shirt with a winter vest over it. Gutthelf said he bought the vest in a store in the United States because it looked stylish and was a good price. Since then, he said, he has found there are about two days a year when the weather justifies wearing it.

"Of all the days of the year, it sits in the closet for almost all of them."

He said the day of filming was exactly that kind of day, a little cooler in the shade and a little warmer in the sun. As for why the vest makes sense in other countries, he said, "It warms the areas you most want to warm up." He added that there is research on that too, "but the research isn't finished yet."

At that point Moshe objected on behalf of "winter people," saying he loves winter, the cold, skiing, cuddling up and rain. Gutthelf asked him not to make a joke of the subject: "It's a topic close to my heart."

"There's no such thing as winter people. There are people who claim they love winter. Nobody really loves winter."

Moshe admitted that in the years when he was "more depressive," he loved winter precisely because of curling up indoors. Gutthelf seized on this, arguing that what people love is the coziness, home, the duvet, the blanket and the tea, not the weather itself. "There's almost no person who enjoys being outside and enjoys winter weather. He enjoys the things that come along with winter."

In summer, he argued, it is the other way around: 35 degrees, a swimsuit, blazing sun, and people enjoy it. "People are happier, smile more, go outside more."

Moshe held firm and leaned on skiing. Gutthelf replied that no one would enjoy it without the suit, the coat and the sport itself. Moshe tried the reverse argument with surfing, done without snow when it is hot outside. Gutthelf said snow changes how cold feels because it reflects the sun, and concluded: "Check it out, that's another study."

Moshe warned that Gutthelf was about to become a headline and take "a lot of hate." Gutthelf replied: "I don't care."

"The happy people are the summer people, and it's time to say it."

Gutthelf then addressed winter people directly, saying they are "always terribly philosophical," with their matcha tea, blankets and thoughts about life. "It's not cool, it's not pretty, it doesn't make you smarter," he said, describing them as "depressive, with a gloomy mood that looks like your weather."

Moshe closed by introducing Gutthelf as "the storm researcher," whose study, he said, is headed for peer review and publication "in very famous magazines," and promised viewers they would keep following it. Gutthelf thanked him and wished viewers a good week.

The interview is a humorous segment from Kikar HaShabbat's "Dvar HaShavua," and the "study" and "field of expertise" are part of the joke.