Brooklyn – The Chassidic Satmar community in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., is tired of tourists treating them like “animals” in a zoo by flocking to their communities to take pictures of them, the New York Post reported.
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“People snap pictures of you like you’re on some sort of display—like you’re in a zoo. We are people, not animals to be photographed,” said Chaim, 42, from the Satmar community.
Sightseeing groups head into Williamsburg and the nearby neighborhood of Crown Heights, home of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, several times a week.
In fact, three bus companies offer “contrast” tours of various cultural communities across the boroughs. The tours have been taking place for years, though Max Hauer, 41, said “lately, they’re out there every day by the hundreds, and it’s become a ‘must see’ for tourists.” He credits the recent cultural obsession with Orthodox Judaism to Netflix’s documentary “One of Us” and the Israeli cable-TV series “Shtisel.”
The tours also boost outdated stereotypes about the ultra-Orthodox community, which upsets locals.
Hauer said “I’ve tried to engage with these visitors, but they aren’t interested to learn more about us. They see me as a freak. They see us as people from another world, [and] if you’re not seen as human, then they think it’s OK to take photos and stare.”
Both Jewish communities date back to Eastern European shtetl life and the roots of Chassidism.
Hauer is often photographed without his consent and said tourists get most excited coming to the community on Saturdays, on Shabbat, to see local men wear large fur hats called shtreimels.
“Whenever I go to synagogue … they’ll all start snapping photos in front of my face,” he said.
(JNS)
That’s life being a Jew behave accordingly so they will have something nice to say when they leave back to wherever they came from
The Amish have a system, why not the Williamsburg Chassidim?
I agree 100% with Archy; I wouldn’t like anybody shoving a camera in my face, and treating me that way. Would those idiotic tourists also do that in Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant? If so, they would get the you know what kicked out of them, by the local population. Incidentally, if they tried that in Mea Shearim, I don’t think that they would survive, as that community would throw rocks at them, and beat them.
The best thing would be if they did that to somebody who speaks English very very very well WITHOUT THE CHASIDISHE LISP and talk to them in a language they can understand.
i’ll be like a scene out of The Frisco Kid, “Pardon me, but dost thou speak English?”
Just love the preceding comments with their subtle and not so subtle racism (including the Chillul Hashem comments about our brethren).
People also photograph the Amish
Unfortunately Chassidim are so alienated from everyday American people outside of their insular communities, that they are considered as ‘unusual’. This isolation leads to ‘otherness’ and then hate. Its also understood that Chassidim feel superior to other Yidden and of course, to goyim. Oy.
To be fair, it seems a lot of things upset these folks.
The Chassidim don’t need tourists for income. In some of the Amish communities tourism is the primary income.
We don’t need this tourism in Williamsburg it became out of hand, and for those who don’t live here please don’t comment. Its ugly not comfortable and very well said we are not Animal. This busses has to STOP one way or the other. And finally someone wrote in the NYP it’s not enough.
I wish we can make some kind of a campaign or give a hard time for this tourist busses so it will not be worth while to come to Williamsburg
The Hassidim are a proud people and know that they are different . Why are pictures so bad , unless they are very close up? This is a respectful question .
It’s intrusive invasive and obnoxious. Period. And just plain rude. I sympathize completely but not sure what the remedy would be.
Maybe the city needs to pass a law that one cannot photograph people closer than a specified distance without their permission .
I happen to live in the ‘insular’ Williamsburg community and proud of it.
To all you out there hating chasidim, I dont wish your stuck in a few foot of snow in Harlem but in Williamsburg where we took the driver to our home and gave him all delicacies and a bed to sleep. So much for being a “insular chasid”. So in our “insular” community we do chesed and care for “goyim” too.
These folks are a different story. They land in the middle of nowhere, on Shabos and are free to punch their cameras into men with prayer shawls. For all intents and purposes, I just watched one of them, happened to be a woman, from a very up close angleshooting a photo of a man from a hugongous camera. The guy said nothing and peacefully walked away. I was stunned. To me it was enfringement of basic humanity.
So instead of bashing Chasidim, I wonder how you would like it. Its horrible and theyre not stopping.
Star nails. Every erev Shabbos, cover the perimeter streets with star nails.
Look it up.
In mesh shearim they are smart. They make use of tourism by having shops of Judaica type things on sale. If Chasidim of Willy would be smart they would open a block with a row of tourism stores. Some tourist may be secular Jews who could be drawn closer to yiddishkeit. Tourism is a gold mine. And this baloney that Chasidim don’t need the money is untrue. The Amish don’t need the money as they own farms and breed horses. Chasidim need money badly. Most are poor. Use tourism as an income. It’s easy to do.
Star nails, friends. On every erev Shabbos and Yom Tov, spread star nails on all perimeter streets/street corners.
Look it up.
why must they wear talleisim in the street? in a ‘goyish’ country. don’t they know they live in a ‘goyish’ country? they don’t like it – move to Israel.
All around, the most ridiculous and silly series of posts I’ve seen here in a long time.
We take pride in our differences and in our dress…and we live in a free country where showing our outward differences is safe generally and in most places. another side of the same coin is that in this free country others are free to be intrigued by us and are free to come take pictures of us.
So what in HaShem’s name is the Problem?!
If I am supposed to shrug off your silly ad hominim name calling, we can shrug off their giggles…or are you so thin skinned you’d outlaw the giggles?
A bunch of foolish statements. Unfortunately, it’s a problem without a solution. If people are rude & clueless, there’s not much that can be done. Does anyone know the % of tourists that are from the United States & how many are foreigners? Only think that I can think of is that brochures should be mandatory on these tours, describing the Chassidic way of life; & explaining how rude & offensive it is to do what they’re doing to the residents.