Williamsburg, an anti-Israel Jewish enclave in the heart of New York

With a collapsed face, and with features that mixed feelings of sadness and joy, the young Jewish woman, "Estey", sat in front of the mirror looking at herself and the razor shaving her hair according to the Jewish traditions that every bride goes through before her marriage contract.

Despite the joy that wedding preparations are supposed to reflect, the surrounding atmosphere was gloomy and suffocating, and unworthy of a girl about to get married in New York, the world's most open city.

Here is the "Williamsburg" neighborhood, where the houses are dominated by darkness, the clothes are dominated by blackness, and the smile rarely appears, while people are similar in dress, shape and ideas, as they all belong to a sect of Orthodox Jews that clung to ideas dating back centuries, and therefore I found "Estey" Ultimately responding to the desire she inherited from her mother to seek freedom, she fled her husband and her Jewish religious sect and traveled to Germany.

These previous events take place within the episodes of the series "Unorthodox", which highlights the Jewish "Hasidim" sect, which has settled in a part of "New York" since the beginning of the twentieth century, and imposed its authority on some of its neighborhoods and enclaves, the most famous of which is the "Williamsburg" neighborhood, which, although The series revealed some of its secrets, as many of these secrets remain unknown and the cameras did not explore them enough.

towards a non-kosher destination

Historical accounts differ about the roots of Hasidic Judaism. Some sources mention that the first appearance of this sect dates back to the nineteenth century AD among the poor Jews in northeastern Hungary.

This religious style came as a form of opposition to the Jews of the Hungarian capital, Budapest, and the major cities who had integrated into their society. There was a desire on the part of the rest of the Jews to show their adherence to their traditions and re-dust them.

On the other hand, there are other sources that attribute the first appearance of this sect to Ukraine, not Hungary, and for the same reasons mentioned previously, and it was founded by Rabbi "Isroel Ben Eliezer," known as "Baal Shem Tov."

Historians did not mention much about the biography of this rabbi, but it was reported that his charisma was tyrannical, and that he used his remarkable presence to revive the Orthodox Jewish tradition.

Baal Shem Tov traveled, and was able to gain many followers with a radically different religious discourse than the rest of the rabbis who contemporaneously with him.

After his death in 1760, his teachings and ideas spread a little more widely, and the Hasidic practices were clearly different from the Judaism in use at the time, but were confined to narrow circles of "scholars" and "devout" Jews.

At the end of the eighteenth century AD, Hasidic Judaism continued to expand despite the opposition of other Jewish currents that saw it as inconsistent with the teachings of the Talmud, but the opposing currents were not strong enough to limit the spread of Hasidism.

Hundreds of Hasidic Jewish groups began to spread in eastern Europe before World War II, especially in small towns and villages, and the most famous of these groups were "Popov", "Jane" and "Satmar", which later became famous in New York.

The Hasidim Jews were affected by Nazism, like millions of Jews, as their outward appearance made it difficult for them to hide from the eyes of Hitler's men, so the only solution was to escape.

As for the destination, it was either to join the settlement project in Palestine, which was invaded by Zionist gangs before the declaration of the establishment of the occupying state, or the United States, which also opened its cities to Jews fleeing from Nazi Germany.

Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneerson, who fled with some of his followers from Poland towards the United States.

Hasidic migrations continued during this period.

(communication Web-sites)

The beginning of Hasidim immigration to the United States dates back to 1880, when they found a significant community of religious Jews, including a minority that followed their same religious line.

The immigrant Jewish community suffered from great difficulties in applying the teachings of their religion, because the open lifestyle in America did not match the religious life they wanted.

Moreover, this community did not easily find institutions to educate its children according to its beliefs, as until 1917 there were only five Jewish schools in the entire United States.

This contributed to the spread of "Westernization" among Jewish youth, especially the second generation of immigrants, who moved away with time from the Jewish fundamentalist view or the conservative trend.

At the end of the 1930s there were only between a quarter and a third of the Jews in the country enrolled in a particular synagogue, and the majority of them were of advanced age.

These difficult factors were not lost on the minds of the rabbis in Eastern Europe, and therefore some of them discouraged their followers from traveling to America as a destination that is not "kosher" (halal).

But soon the situation changed because of World War II and the spread of fascism and Nazism in Europe, which forced the rabbis themselves to flee, so the beginning was from Rabbi "Joseph Yitzchok Schneerson," who fled with some of his followers from Poland towards the United States.

Hasidic migrations continued during this period, and the fugitives settled in 3 neighborhoods: "Crown Heights", "Borough Park" and "Williamsburg", all located in Brooklyn, New York City.

More Jewish.. and older than Tel Aviv

Hasidic Jews walk to a synagogue on Shabbat in the Williamsburg neighborhood.

(Shutterstock)

With the advent of the twenties, Orthodox Jews began to settle in the Williamsburg neighborhood, and over the years, a kind of change occurred in the type of Jews in this region, mainly from Russia and Poland, as their religious practices became more fundamentalist.

With the arrival of immigrants fleeing World War II, the majority of whom were from Hungary and Romania, the Hasidic model began to expand more and more, until the number of Jews of this sect reached 1,500 people in 1948, forming a nucleus that attracted other numbers of seekers of religious safety in America, then it reached about 12 thousand people in 1959, 35 thousand at the beginning of the seventies, then 40 thousand at the end of the twentieth century.

Unlike many immigrant Jews, the Hasidim did not succumb to the open social reality, and soon began establishing schools, baths, and other facilities by purchasing a number of abandoned buildings in the neighborhood, taking advantage at the same time of the migration of "moderate" Jews from these places.

Over time, the neighborhood became a piece of 19th-century Eastern Europe, eclipsed by the appearance of Jewish men in uniform, women in traditional clothes, and children who were miniature versions of their parents with their hair borrowed.

Shops selling everything consumed by this religious sect spread, from clothes, kosher food, books, etc., and the Yiddish language appeared alongside English in butchers, bakeries, and small restaurants.

Hasidic families began moving to Kyrias Joel in 1974, as the first families in the area came, feeling very happy to be out of the bustling and diverse heart of New York.

(Reuters)

With the expansion of control over the neighborhood and other areas of Brooklyn, a sense of miscegenation began to grow in Hasidic circles, as authors Nathaniel Deutch and Michael Casper point out in Fortress in Brooklyn: Race, Real Estate, and the Genesis of the Hasidic Quarter in Williamsburg.

The two writers said in an interview with the newspaper "The Times of Israel" that the various human gatherings have always been a major threat to the Hasidim, since since they settled in their current strongholds, including the Williamsburg neighborhood, they found themselves in the neighborhood of African Americans and Latin communities.

In a second phase, a number of newly graduated artists and young people looking for work began to settle in neighborhoods that were, until recently, the monopoly of the Jews. The Hasidim considered that these young people, with their liberal lifestyle, were a danger to their children.

This fear of strangers is not new to the Hasidim, nor is it strange to the Jews, who often lived in isolated neighborhoods called "ghettos".

Therefore, settling in the heart of New York was not a final step for many of them. With the beginning of the seventies, the Hasidim Jews began to establish a residential complex 80 kilometers from New York in the “Kyrias Joel” area, with the aim of protecting themselves from crime and drugs spread in the region, without forgetting another factor. No less important is the search for wider areas that can withstand the rapid demographic growth in these milieu.

Hasidic families began moving to Kyrias Joel in 1974, when the first families in the area came and were very happy to be out of the bustling and diverse heart of New York.

They are not just enemies of Israel

The Hasidim Jews did not hesitate to declare their decisive position on the Israeli occupation state, as they expressed their open hostility to it even before its establishment, as they attacked the political Zionist sect, and considered that the establishment of a Jewish state on the Holy Land is a revolution against God, because the establishment of any state for the Jews according to their belief will not It can only be done by God's choice, and by the faithful "Messiah" who will descend to earth to establish the Law of Moses.

Rabbi "Joel Teitelbaum" led this battle with political Zionism from his place of residence in Hungary, and waged war against some Zionist political parties that worked to spread their ideology in Jewish circles.

The Israeli government is aware of the great popularity enjoyed by the leaders of Orthodoxy, which was evident during the visit of one of the most famous Hasidic rabbis, "Zalman Teitelbaum", to the occupation state in 2019, where thousands were waiting for him.

(Shutterstock)

With the end of the World War, a number of rabbis began to review their positions towards the nascent occupying state that promised to protect the Jews of the world, but the Hasidim Jews, led by the "Satmar" group (the most famous among the rest of the groups), did not change their position on the occupying state.

On February 11, 2001, the Rabbinical Congress of the United States and Canada, comprising 150 Hasidic groups, published a communiqué in the New York Times titled "Why We Are Against the Israeli Government and Its Wars?" In which they explained the religious and political reasons why their community opposes the occupation government.

On February 12, 2002, the same council organized a demonstration against Israel in front of the occupying power's consulate in New York.

Opposition to the occupying power among the Hasidim is not limited to denunciations, rhetoric, and demonstrations, but rather extends to creating spheres of influence within the Orthodox community in the occupied Palestinian territories, as the "Satmar" group provides material support to a number of religious congregations inside Israel, so that it can maintain the independence of all its educational institutions. And religious away from the Israeli government, such as its donation of $5 million in 2019 to non-Zionist Jewish religious institutions.

Aaron Teitelbaum, the sect's current rabbi, stood up in June 2018, warning his followers not to admire the occupying state and its army under the influence of its alleged "achievements," and said: "We have to shout 'Gevalt, Gevalt!'

(Oh my God in Yiddish) Where have we come from? We have nothing to do with Zionism, nothing to do with their wars, nothing to do with the State of Israel."

For its part, the Israeli government does not feel comfortable with this religious influence, but it is aware of the great popularity enjoyed by the leaders of Orthodoxy outside and inside the occupying country, which was evident during the visit of one of the most famous Hasidic rabbis, "Zalman Teitelbaum", to the occupying country in November 2019, Where thousands of religious Jews were waiting for him.

political presence in America

"Those who use WhatsApp are turning away from the Torah, hence Trumpism."

(Jewish Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum)

Aaron Teitelbaum, the sect's current rabbi, stood up in June 2018, warning his followers not to admire Israel and its army under the influence of its alleged "achievements".

(Reuters)

The Hasidic Jews of the Williamsburg neighborhood are not only interested in Jewish politics and opposition to Israel, but also in the United States and its politics.

Relations between the sect and American politicians began in the early fifties, but the real test of this relationship came in 1991 when the streets of Brooklyn turned into arenas of confrontation between Jews on the one hand and people of African descent on the other.

Because of the old tense relationship between the two parties due to the preferential treatment that the Hasidim receive from the police compared to the Africans.

Two years after this incident, the Jews of Brooklyn rallied around "Rudy Giuliani," the Republican candidate for mayor of the city, in the face of the Democratic mayor, "David Dinkins," who did not move to end the confrontations and problems in the neighborhood.

Hasidic Jews vote as a united bloc on all electoral occasions.

Until recently, the choice was mostly democratic, but starting in 2016, the sect's leanings became closer to the Republican Party due to the disagreement with the Democratic Party on a number of issues in which the Democrats approached from the left.

The sect is considered an important electoral treasure in New York, and everyone tries to get close to it because it is able to influence the course of the results. It also sometimes contributes to supporting this or that candidate financially, and opens closed doors for him such as internal media platforms and religious schools to promote himself.

And on election days, candidates try through their cars and their megaphones to spread messages in Yiddish calling on the Hasidim to choose them.

Like other "lobbies", the Hasidic community takes advantage of this advantage to obtain the greatest possible political gains, foremost of which is immunizing its religious institutions, internal laws, and schools from interference or restrictions.

Paradoxically, the Hasidim prefer non-Jewish politicians over Jewish candidates, and the reason goes back to the old hostility between Hasidic Jews and the rest of the Jews in the United States, which is a religious and ideological dissonance that prompted Hasidim children to describe Jews who do not belong to the sect as "Shgotzim", which is a liturgical description that means that they Non-Jews.

Moreover, the anti-Zionist trend of the Hasidim differs radically with the majority of the Jews of the United States, most of whom support the Israeli occupation state and its tendencies, which the Hasidim consider a real danger that pushes them to ally with anyone else, provided that he is not a Zionist Jew or a supporter of Zionism.

Quietly, then, the members of the Hasidic sect retreat into their own pockets, exercising their soft influence, while maintaining the secrecy of their private community, which seems to remain so for a long time to come.