a gentile from Boro Park


I live in Boro Park and as a gentile I find the Ultra-Orthodox culture and traditions mysterious. I always get a sense that they go out of the way to avoid anyone not like themselves as much as possible to a point they come off as being socially aloof and at times rude. But if you go to another part of Brooklyn, Avenue J, you'll find the Jews there are more friendlier and polite. Well they are Orthodox, not Ultra-Orthodox so I don't know that has something to do with it. Some days I look outside my window and I often see the Chassids having a special day to celebrate, so I envy them for their tight-knit community. But there are always the darker half in any kind of community, religious or secular. I can see a Sonia in both the women and men in Boro Park. My husband's friend who is a limo driver had a sexual affair with a married Chassid woman. Like Sonia, she wanted to be treated like a woman. This her husband can not offer. One time I was approached by a married Chassid man who pestered me for a date. He thought I was a hooker. I had no idea what gave him that idea. I was in baggy clothes. Last month an elderly man well into his 70s asked for my phone number. He thought I was a naive 16 year old, but I am 32.

If there are any Ultra-Orthodox or just Orthodox Jews from Brooklyn, I'd like to listen to your opinion about gentiles and what parts of the movie are true for you.

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[deleted]

I was once in a large class about Religious Ethics, taught by a Conservative rabbi. I was one of only a few Gentile class members. Someone told him about an incident of a Jew doing something unethical to another Jew. He denounced that and said it was a sin. I said it ought to also be termed a sin if it had been done by a Jew to a non-Jew.
He merely said to the class, "she says it should also be a sin if it had been done to a non-Jew."
Then he went on with the lecture.
Draw your own conclusions. I found it very disappointing.

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I was once in a large class about Religious Ethics, taught by a Conservative rabbi. I was one of only a few Gentile class members. Someone told him about an incident of a Jew doing something unethical to another Jew. He denounced that and said it was a sin. I said it ought to also be termed a sin if it had been done by a Jew to a non-Jew.
He merely said to the class, "she says it should also be a sin if it had been done to a non-Jew."
Then he went on with the lecture.
Draw your own conclusions. I found it very disappointing.
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Not only was the rabbi rude by talking about you in the third person ("She says..."); he was not a very good "teacher" to not allow further discussion. Sorry you were exposed to someone getting paid while not earning his paycheck.

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