Results tagged “hasidic”

With Yom Kippur coming up this Monday, South Williamsburg will be the stage for many a sacrificial chicken slaughter on Sunday. The Jewish ritual known as kapparot raises eyebrows each year, and now Dr. Allan Kornberg, Executive Director for Farm Sanctuary, has released a statement.

Typically you hear stories of the Hasids in Williamsburg revolting against the hipster bicyclists, especially those wearing skimpy clothing. But now The Forward reports on a sign that popped up in the neighborhood this month that could bridge the gap between the groups; "On it is a large Star of David constructed out of 50 or so rubber chickens. In the middle of the star, Yiddish text offers a free bike loan to any of the Yiddish-speaking Satmar Hasidim who live in the area." Baruch Herzfeld (himself a Sabbath-observant Modern Orthodox Jew, with two rabbi brothers) is the man behind the sign, and he hopes his efforts will help the Hasids understand their cycling neighbors. The 37-year-old Herzfeld is described as a "neighborhood gadfly/clown/activist/businessman who owns a small bicycle repair shop below the offices of his cell phone company" (it's noted that he loaned out the 1st floor space to Time's Up). He's already had some takers, and he "just received 500 used bikes from Japan that will allow him to expand his program." He says, “The goal is just to make it acceptable. I’m not doing it because I want to change the world—I just think it would be a healthy thing for the whole city if some of these guys got on bicycles."

Though some bloggers have shrugged off Monday's allegedly rough arrest of a woman who was carrying her pug through the subway as "breathtakingly minor," the incident's certainly major enough to have gotten the attention of New York's top cop. Or, at least a reporter was able to ask NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly whether officer Joel Witriol used excessive force and made sexist remarks while arresting Chrissie Brodigan, who was trying to carry her sick pug out of the subway station.

A bystander who witnessed the arrest Monday of a woman carrying her sick pug in the subway says the dog owner made anti-Semitic remarks toward the arresting officer, who happens to be the city's first Hasidic cop. Yesterday the pug-owner, Chrissie Brodigan, told us (and a second witness corroborated) that when she became upset during the incident, Officer Joel Witriol said, "If you're going to act like a woman I'm going to treat you like a woman."

       

Yesterday dozens of Amish residents from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania caused plenty of confusion as they toured a predominantly Hasidic neighborhood in Brooklyn's Crown Heights; the Amish beards and black hats had workers in a matzoh factory convinced they were Jews visiting from Uzbekistan. Amish visitors John and Priscilla Lapp explained to the AP that, "In some things we are alike, like our clothing and our traditional beliefs. And in some things we are not. The biggest thing is that Jesus is our savior." (That, and the Lubavitchers have yet to be immortalized by Randy Quaid.)

Look, we try not to pepper these Hasidic stories with cliche Yiddish catchphrases, but if ever an Oy Vey was in order... Just as one Hasidic man pleads guilty to charges of rape, sodomy and child endangerment, another's been indicted on charges of sexually abusing a teenage boy for years. Yesterday David Silverman entered a guilty plea to end his trial, which stemmed from charges that he used MySpace to lure teenage girls from Westchester to a nightclub-style porn set near the Javits Center, where he'd get them drunk and videotape the sex.

23-year-old David Silverman (pictured) is due in court today in Manhattan to seek bail after being charged with child pornography and statutory rape. Prosecutors say Silverman was raised in a Hasidic family upstate but left home in his teens, shaved his hair, tattooed his body, pierced his ears, and, in the Post's words, immersed himself in "the sex and drug-drenched rave and trance music scene." Then in 2007 he allegedly started trolling MySpace for underage girls in Westchester and luring them to a nightclub-style porn set near the Javits Center, where he'd get them drunk and videotape the sex. In case that wasn't TMI enough for your Monday morning, also note that Silverman called himself "King Dingling" on his Facebook page. But now the King says he's abdicated the throne and rejoined the Hasidic fold, so he can't possibly discuss the charges or look at the evidence "for religious reasons," according to his lawyer. That's all we've got on the case of the alleged Hasidic MySpace porno predator for now...stay tuned for more creepy updates later in the week.

Hasidim chafing at the increasing number of bike lanes on three consecutive roads through South Williamsburg are making good on their promise to block traffic in protest. According to the Post, someone has posted an unauthorized detour sign on private property by the intersection of Broadway and Kent Avenue, where the newest bike lane has sparked a backlash from the ultra-Orthodox Satmar community, as well as business owners who say neither customers nor delivery trucks can find parking.

Obama won big in Brooklyn (79%–20%) November 4th, but not in South Williamsburg, where the largely Hasidic population voted overwhelmingly for John McCain. The Brooklyn Paper reports that the three election districts populated by Satmar Hasidim voted for McCain over Obama by 84% to 16%—while nationwide Obama won 77% of the Jewish vote. What's up, Hasidim? Reporter Zeke Faux finds the landslide "ironic" because the Satmars believe the Messiah will only come after Israel falls, and McCain surrogates portrayed Obama as anti-Israel. But McCain voter Shlomo Friedman says, "Israel wasn’t a big issue. It’s more people here are not going to go with someone [Obama] who’s not so stable." Another insisted that McCain would be better "running the economy." Faux also theorizes that the McCain support could be explained by an inclination among Hasidim to respect elders.

Somehow, race relations in Crown Heights, Brooklyn have taken a huge hop, skip, and a jump back to the 1980s, when tensions between African Americans and the Jewish community kept the city on tenterhooks. In recent weeks, attacks on young people, both black and Jewish, have driven people to protest in the streets. The Post headlines its article on a neighborhood protest "Jewish Blood Is Not Cheap," echoing the sentiment of one of approximately 300 protestors calling for justice after a 16-year-old young man was beaten and robbed yesterday.