Report on Leaving Hasidic Life on Rock Center

[Bethella]

There was a segment on Hasidic Jews and leaving the community tonight on the series finale of Rock Center. (I hadn't realized that it had been canceled until tonight.) The segment wasn't particularly in depth, but there were interviews with a few people who left the community. I missed the exact quote and it doesn't appear to be in the clips online, but there was a Rabbi talking about how people raised in the community should be grateful for what their families gave them (i.e. a protected life) instead of being upset about what they weren’t given (i.e. freedom and education).

http://rockcenter.nbcnews.com/_news/201 ... rts-slowly

[GolightlyGrrl]

There was a segment on Hasidic Jews and leaving the community tonight on the series finale of Rock Center. (I hadn't realized that it had been canceled until tonight.) The segment wasn't particularly in depth, but there were interviews with a few people who left the community. I missed the exact quote and it doesn't appear to be in the clips online, but there was a Rabbi talking about how people raised in the community should be grateful for what their families gave them (i.e. a protected life) instead of being upset about what they weren’t given (i.e. freedom and education).

http://rockcenter.nbcnews.com/_news/201 ... rts-slowly

I saw this last night and I found it fascinating. I do wish Rock Center would have devoted a whole show to this topic. While watching this segment I couldn't help but compare the Hasidic community to the fundies we discuss here at FJ, especially when the young people who left the community discussed words that were banned-"dinosaur," "gymnasium."

[Rachel333]

I've become really fascinated by Hasidic Jews lately. I think it's so interesting that, unlike the fundies I'm familiar with who tend to isolate themselves from the world by living in rural areas, they can be so insular while living in the middle of one of the biggest cities on earth. I also get the impression that in a way, even though it's based on traditions thousands of years old, much of the culture is really quite new.

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

The tone of that piece got on my tits just a tad. Hasidic Jews are not some new alien subculture. They've lived in the United States for a long time.

As far as how they keep isolated within urban settings - partially it's practice, IMO. European Jews lived in ghettos for centuries. There is a very well-established culture of maintaining an insular community within a larger Gentile culture.