Waiting for the Messiah in Brooklyn

Christian branches include those who have gone bat$hit crazy over abortion and in self-righteous piety over gay marriage. I forgot to mention no women as clergy branches. We know there are Muslim groups in the U.S. with strict and crazy rules about how women are to dress and other nonsense. The press does not discuss much Hasidism, Jews who live by an ultra strict moral code while waiting for the real messiah. Needless to say Jesus was not it.

A new book reviews the history of how Hasidic Jews ended up in the U.S. and have been able to build an invisible wall around their cult in the midst of gigantic cities. Unlike the relatively isolated areas of the Amish, etc., these people are face to face with secular society every day.

This branch of Jewish people people survived the Holocaust. They did not fit in in Israel, however, because they dislike Zionism. They are different from Orthodox Jews. Their leader found what he liked in an area of Brooklyn, NYC. 

These Hasidic Jews survive, not by opposing government, but by exploiting it. They live on so little they can survive on welfare payments and Social Security. Large numbers of children have kept the group with adequate numbers. They mostly eschew education except for what is needed to make a meager living and keep house. This, by itself, limits exposure to the temptations of the outside world.

As with all religions, however, the smart phone and internet has had an impact. While it has been possible to keep the faith "pure" while waiting for the REAL messiah, the net has been more troublesome. 

Another problem in the sect is income inequality. Some owned real estate early on. They became quite wealthy and continuing to hold the idealistic view of poverty was, for some, a bridge too far. Then, there is the setting in Brooklyn. The founding Rabi Teitelbaum liked the crime infested neighborhood of Williamsburg because the black and Hispanic areas that surrounded the Hasidic Jews acted as a wall of separation. Now secular young people like the area and are moving in rupturing the wall of purity.

In so many ways, Hasidic Jews operate in the same way as fundamentalist Christians and Muslims. Have lots of children, keep believers isolated and tamp down what people learn and think. 

Good luck waiting for the Messiah, Hasidic Jews. Two thousand years and nothing but thunderstorms to show for it is not a record to hang your hats on.