My First Bus Ride/Psychological Adventures with Hasids

So I am babysitting for this super awesome family this week, the mom is a makeup artist to models and the like. They live in Crown Heights, which is not very far geographically from our place in Williamsburg but I found out today is really hard to get to by train. I have not had to take more than two trains to get anywhere, but to get to their place (which is also in Brooklyn)--I had to take the L into Midtown Manhattan, tranfer to the Q which goes over the Manhattan Bridge and back out to Brooklyn, then transfer trains again in Brooklyn to get to their neighborhood. By the time I got there, I was ready for a nap. The dad, who works behind the scenes on Lipstick Jungle, suggested I take the bus back, as he frequently travels through Williamsburg himself for work. "It takes half the time," he insisted and showed me where to wait. It's very humbling to feel like you've got the subway thing down and the cab thing down, and then you get on the bus and there's an entirely different set of rules and you feel like a foreigner. I basically just took the bus north until the guy kicked me off, then tried to navigate my way back with the map I had with me. The last stop happened to be smack dab in the middle of the Hasidic Jewish neighborhood in Williamburg.

When you first start walking through their neighborhood, you feel like at any moment they all might burst into song and synchronized dancing in the streets, like Fiddler on the Roof. Literally everyone is dressed the same--the men in long jackets and big black hats, the women in long skirts and scarves around their head, and all men and even little boys have the signature curls down the sides of their face, which they do because it is against the rules of their religion to shave their sideburns. It's refreshing in a way to be a minority--I didn't see anyone else who "looked like me" for probably ten minutes--which is funny because as a white woman, I have never experienced being the only person like me on the street. Although, after the reality sunk in that no one was going to burst into song, I started to feel a bit self-conscious. I was wearing red pants and a fairly modest short sleeved shirt, but I noticed the women all wore long sleeved shirts and long skirts in dark colors (indeed, looking at customs of dress on wikipedia, it says they look down on people who wear red--whoops!) and I began to wonder as I passed groups of women if they were gossiping about me and my uncouth wardrobe choices (Judging from HasidicNews.com--"In general, the Hasidic attitude towards non-Jews is one of contempt and disinterest. Children, especially, are taught how 'bad' and sinful non-Jews" are--I would say they were, although we'll never know for sure since they were speaking Yiddish.) The children playing on the sidewalks were speaking Yiddish too! I saw a baby that was sitting out in some sort of cage-like covering over a 4th story window, with no adults around. It was really super strange.

After doing a little more research I found out the following info. on our Williams-
burg neighbors: "It seems that the Jews of South Williamsburg are a sect known as Satmars. They are Hungarian in origin, and the community began just after WWII, comprised mainly of newly-arrived Holocaust survivors. The sect stresses re-population of their decimated ranks... There are about 200,000 Satmar worldwide, and about a third of that number lives in this little area in South Williamsburg. Due to the high birthrate, this community doubles in size every decade." Every decade? The average family here has 7.9 children. That's a lot of babies!


With those stats, it's no surprise the Satmars also seem to have a strong penchant for minivans. And the women (who marry through arranged marriages)aren't allowed to drive, so you see caravans of minivans scooting down the street all being driven by men with long beards and dark hats. Except for the minivans and the occasional Hasid you see on their cell phone (although apparently they don't watch tv), you really feel like you've stepped through a time warp into the 1880's. How did such an old-fashioned group of folks who won't fraternize with outsiders end up creating this large and self-sustaining community that has lasted for generations in the middle of modern New York City?! I kept wondering what it must be like for them to go to another part of the city and see scantily clad women or other non-hasidic type things. Do they have pets? I didn't see any. Who do they vote for in elections, if they vote? Does anyone ever leave? How have they managed to be so xenophobic while sharing a zip code and subways with the Polish, Puerto Ricans, and well, white girls who wear red pants? I may have to do some more research and get back to you.