Orthodox Jews: Can I Please Wear Your Big Fuzzy Hat?

I want to do one thing before this episode that I’ve never done before, issue a little but of a disclaimer. This episode is about the Orthodox Jews of the United States. I wanted to tell their story because they are a fascinating and complex group, they live in stark contrast to much of contemporary American life while also being some of the largest and most interesting examples of how the rubber meets the road on issues like Immigration and Freedom of Religion.

My original plan was to cover Orthodox Jews as a whole but while I was writing it was clear the story was too complex and too diverse to tell any kind of accurate story in the usual time frame. While writing I decided I wanted to use the Satmar, the famous round fuzzy hat Orthodox of Brooklyn as an example of Orthodox Jews in America. But as I recorded and edited the episode I realized we had drifted away from the topic of Orthodox Jews as a whole and I wasn’t telling the Orthodox story in general, but the Satmar in specific. However the overwhelming majority of Orthodox Jewish groups don’t live like the Satmar, they are usually much smaller, much less powerful and often less conservative. The Satmar are a unique group among American Orthodox Jews, and I don’t want all you drunken children thinking that the way the Satmar live is universal among Orthodox Jews. Similarly it can be very hard to nail down the exact line you want to take when talking about issues like this. It can be really easy to just be vague and non-comittal to avoid offense, but it can also be easy to lean on sterotypes and common misconceptions that are as inaccurate as they are hurtful. The Satmar are very much in that gray area, they are a small, religious, ethnic and cultural minority that mostly wants to be left alone to live as they see fit. They have been subject to persecution in the United States up to and including targeted murders, including one just last year. But at the same time they are a very patriarchal society, have no problem with taking advantage of the various systems, and don’t always play nice with their neighbors. They are a living example of the gray areas created by a free society, and that is the exact reason I wanted to do this podcast, to give people a better understanding of the complexity of life. But I’m going to lean on the fact that I think our audience is smart enough to understand.
So don’t @ me cause I don’t care.
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