New York, NY – On the map showing the dozens of bike-share stations that will soon freckle northwestern Brooklyn, there is just one neighborhood-size void in the network: the ultra-Orthodox Jewish enclave of South Williamsburg.
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It won’t be the first time religious residents in the area, many of whom are members of the Satmar Hasidic movement, have won exemption from citywide bicycle infrastructure. This time, according to interviews with residents, community leaders and city officials, deference to local sensitivities came without the shouting matches, pedaling protests and arrests that marked a 2009 battle over a bike lane bisecting the neighborhood.
Publicly, at least, South Williamsburg became a bike-share-free zone with hardly a peep from religious leaders.
For planners at the city’s Department of Transportation, the Hasidic hole on the bike-share map indicates the successful solicitation of public feedback.
“I think it’s really important that the stations meet the needs of the communities,” the city’s transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan, said in an interview. “We’re not really looking to put them where there isn’t a lot of demand.”
Yet an absence of bike-share stations also underscores the lingering tensions separating secular cyclists and their religious neighbors in this corner of Brooklyn.
“The women come through on bikes, and they’re not dressed properly,” said Joel Weiser, a Hasidic musician who lives in the area, echoing complaints heard during the backlash that forced the removal of a painted bike lane on Bedford Avenue. “They’re more naked than clothed.”
Joel Weiser”Halt dich dooz oigen baei dir”
At first glance you want to make fun of the Satmar guy and remind him that he lives in America. But letzanus aside, let’s remember that 50 years ago we were a more moral society. Societal norms demonstrated a semblance of modesty. Today’s normal would have been shunned by yesteryear’s progressives. Put aside the legalities of the day and remember the only real wrong hear is the moral decay of society which necessitates these actions.
This is how 99.9% of New Yorkers dress. The 99.9% don’t have to accommodate people that dress in circa 1800 Polisha garb.
What kind of meshugaas is this? Who says the Satmar don’t ride bikes….there were articles here on VIN last year about a chassideshe bike club and a chassid who actually owns a bike repair shop. What possible reason under halacha could there be for not riding bikes? Sounds like some city bureaucrat must have assumed that for chassidim, everything is assur. Hopefully, they will rectify this error.
Keine hisgarus beumos– unless you need the bike lanes fixed!
Shelo Yaalu Kechomah– or on a bike!
Oni verochev al chamor– not on a bike!
Bederech hatorah nelech beish ubamayim– and in a minivan, not on a bike!
i live in queens . and i always thought the chasids were crazy with their bike tzniut appeals. After heading to brooklyn I saw a big difference between the brooklyn hipster bikers and the local folks biking near me in KGH. Also even in the city the women are more dressed on bikes on average than what I saw in brooklyn.
Another weiser guy is talking to the press,I will refresh your memories about two years ago about the bike lane issue inwilliansburg somebody with the name simon weiser was talking nonsense to the press about modesty,that’s the worst think you can say! we have a bigger issues to deal with the bikers that’s safety!! so please stay away and leave it for the professionals….
Wait a minute! How can bicycles be אסור? Even מלאכים ride them, as we say in our תפלות every morning- וחיות ואופני הקודש. Holy bikes!
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#4 , wakey, wakey.
the satmar rebbe said ”no bikes for you” to all his followers.
personally i dont understand why. biking is healthy and we can all use some good exercise
On many issues such as bikur cholim, Rabbi Teitelbaum’s has exhibited great leadership but on this matter, he is totally off-base and shows an mind-numbing insularity from the real world. He cannot take a generation of children back to the alte heim 100 years ago and put them in a cave where they don’t have TV, internet, bikes or any modern conveniences. He is dooming his followers to a life of backwardness in the name of his own misguided hashkafah.
Reply to # 13 as an older satmar chusid of rav yoel ztl, the bike issue was enforced by the menhalim of the satmar talmud torah,the rebbe agreed to it ONLY to his mosdos
50 years ago, people would dress up with suits and ties, when they flew on commercial aircraft. Today, one sees tank tops, pierced belly buttons with rings, pierced rings on lips, and bathing suit type clothing, at commercial airports . It appears that there is no more shame in public anymore. If one sees the old newsreels, people would also dress up to go to ball games, years ago. Yes, times have certainly changed.
“It appears that there is no more shame in public anymore.”
Really? There seems no shame today when it comes to Jews involved in גניבה and גזילה, defrauding the government, protecting and enabling child molesters, and about a thousand other offenses that cause חילול שם שמים ברבים.