By Bari Weiss for the Wall Street Journal
In Brooklyn, a gentle clash over unkosher food and bike lanes.
WILLIAMSBURG — Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is home to two of New York's most devout, and sometimes conflicting, religious sects. Inhabiting the South section of the neighborhood are the Hasidim. Often referred to as simply the Satmars, the name of their particular religious sect (which began in Hungary), they represent one of the largest communities of ultra-Orthodox Jews in New York. Their modest dress—black pants, white shirts, fur streimel hats even in the summer—is straight out of 18th-century Eastern Europe. The men keep sidecurls, the women cover their hair, and everybody prays. Yiddish is spoken; knishes are eaten.
Hasids vs. Hipsters: A Williamsburg Story
By Bari Weiss for the Wall Street Journal
In Brooklyn, a gentle clash over unkosher food and bike lanes.
WILLIAMSBURG — Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is home to two of New York’s most devout, and sometimes conflicting, religious sects. Inhabiting the South section of the neighborhood are the Hasidim. Often referred to as simply the Satmars, the name of their particular religious sect (which began in Hungary), they represent one of the largest communities of ultra-Orthodox Jews in New York. Their modest dress—black pants, white shirts, fur streimel hats even in the summer—is straight out of 18th-century Eastern Europe. The men keep sidecurls, the women cover their hair, and everybody prays. Yiddish is spoken; knishes are eaten.
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