Strange Tales of Hassidic Jews

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god willing, it'll fall even quicker.

I would hope so, but I talked to a kid in Milwaukee who had just gotten back from studying in Manhattan for a couple of years and when I started talking about my NYC experiences, it sounded like he hadn't really been outside of the yeshiva (or perhaps he just couldn't admit to it in front of his parents).

wtf does that mean

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a "shul bus" maybe?

(ps. I AM JEWISH)

Hahah Slocki do you live in my street! :) I have: a Rabbincal college 3 doors up in my street, several synagogues, and various Jewish schools about. I love it, I really do. I especially love Fridays when I walk to the shops and there are Hasid (or maybe Lubavicht) guys on the footpath with a card table with teffilim on them, handing them out. Whats that about, I'm curious! I mean I know what they are, but why do they stand around handing them out like christians do pamphlets?

Its interesting because unlike xianity where they always try and convert anyone, I suppose you cant do that in Jewish faith, so I wonder what the "sales pitch" is all about.

Hassidic = more specific term referring to the folk that wear black coats, black hats, long curly sideburns, fringed clothing etc.

For example, there's such a thing as "modern orthodox" -- people who might wear Yarmulkahs, not drive on sabbath, keep strictly kosher, but don't necessarily live as isolated from the rest of the world, wear modern clothing.

It's tricky though, and the lines get blurred all the time. Some of the girls at my gf's office wear fashionable clothing, but just don't show much skin, for example.

and trayce, what they're trying to do (most likely) is get non-observant jews to follow the laws.

the "sales pitch" is convincing people like me (ie, less crazy Jews) that I'm betraying my cultural traditions by shaking hands with unmarried women, etc. Seriously, the proseletyzing is so horribly sanctimonious and condescending, its part of why I have such a visceral negative reaction.

Right, that's what I was getting at. My mum pointed to some Hassidim when I was a kid and said "They don't consider us real jews, to them we're no better than if we went to church". !!!

OK, a religious minority.

I'm a Jew myself.

you're not a Hasidic Jew. I suppose it would be like a Catholic discussing the strange ways of Presbyterians.

ah whatever. I think this thread is more "strange religous groups and their strange ways" rather than "HURRR HURRR HURRR".

Otherwise, I guess it's a bit like the Amish -- just a community of people who choose to isolate themselves somewhat and lead a radically differnet lifestyle, and I'm not against that in itself.

they're interesting, though, in that they don't go off and live in isolated rural communities but actively live in Babylon cheek by jowl with the infidel.

anyway, i've been approached several times by lubavichers -- maybe i look jewish?!?

I will say, however, that I never feel as cool and street as when I'm dealing with Hassidic Jews, so I'm sure there's a good deal of condescension on my part as well.

anyway, i'm not really pissed off about, live and let live, they pretty much never talk to me so i have no reason to be upset, and i could care less if they think i'm a "real jew" or not.

an article about kiryas joel, NY

A pro of the Hassidic community: it is good for my mom, who suffers from severe bipolar disorder and they are obligated to take care of her, basically. I think the incredibly strict structure is good for her as well, as irritating as I find it.

Hasids came to my house twice as a teenager. One time my mom answered the door and they recoiled in shock when she almost touched them welcoming them into our house, saying they couldn't touch her because she was "unclean". My mom was livid.

The Hassids also rallied heavily against any municipal Christmas displays, insisting that Jewish symbols be given equal time. This amounted to a gaudy, completely unnecessary giant electrical menorah going up on the main street in town. I assume it was modeled on the giant electrical menorah that the Hassidic Rabbi had attached to the top of his station wagon. All this did was exacerbate tensions between the Jewish and Christian communities, and the Jewish and Hassidic communities (most of the Reform congregation are not big on ostentatious public displays of either Judaism OR Christianity).

this is just the tip of the iceberg.

I guess you didn't see the episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm where this custom was reviewed.

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a briss in brisk...

And I have some half-remembered thing in a far corner of my brain suggesting that it's a gender thing, that if Hasidic men see a woman improperly attired or otherwise err, what's the equivalent of treyf for social conduct? not-frum? anyway, that they'll ignore a woman because to appear to notice or otherwise be drawn into something not-frum would be contrary to the law. I know women don't have the same responsibilities in worship/observance that men do, don't know if that has anything to do with public social behavior.

I'm not asking you or anyone to draw any conclusions, per se, just wondering if there's a known basis for the weirdness.

http://photos1.blogger.com/img/21/2176/1024/hasidic.jpg

Can someone deindex this thread before it gets ugly?

Anyway. To underline my previous point - until I moved to melbourne, I cant say I had ever met or seen an orthodox Jewish person such as a Hasid... I had no idea of any of the sub-faiths until only a few years ago. Want to call me ignorant? Please don't. I merely grew up in a city that honest to goodness has probbaly a .001% Jewish population. It is something I never knew much about til I moved to a very Hasidic neighbourhood in another city. And I find it really interesting, actually.

I'm not religious though, so of course I dont agree with any of it in that sense. But eh.

http://www.heebmagazine.com/images/magazine/issue9.jpg

re Cheskies (omg black-and-white cookies and poppyseed croissants1)
My friend Kyla used to work there (maybe Charlotte replaced her - who knows?). Not Jewish. Although there were varying degrees of weirdness from the clientele, she had only the warmest things to say about Mr Cheskie. Among the Hasids I've been exposed to, I find it very interest the extreme variance of attitudes toward gentiles and non-frum Jews. Normal people are weird, rude, kind, etc., but among the ultraorthodox community there's (what appears to me as) exaggerated versions of these behaviours. Ultraambivalent is much more striking than just-plain-ambivalent, ditto for generosity and rudeness and awkwardness. So I notice(d) it a lot.

Recently, one of our neighbors said that he didn't want to rent to 2 black dudes even though they passed a credit check, etc.

i knew it was true!

but shvartzers make LOUSY landlords!

hahahahahahahaha

Today I got approached by one of those Chabad sukkot guys. I was kind of rushing to class and really not trying to be a dick or anything, but he was persistent, and I kept saying, "Sorry, I'm running late," and the guy goes, "But don't you want to just hold it? Just hold it!"