Secret World of Hasidism

they live by the ancient laws of Judaism everything I know is always only forgotten I can get more anti-semitic attacks with this look because it's yells Jew I don't mind being considered crazy I think I'm pretty crazy but I just don't think I'm crazy because I don't believe you're gonna be matched up regardless so whether you're capable or competent or not you're gonna get a woman it's a right when a woman gets married she wants to keep her hair for her husband I was shivering I was a little in shivering I was sure that God was gonna strike me dead he try to create a seamless bridge between heaven and earth between matter and spirit between us and God this is Hassid ism in the 21st century it could be Russia or Poland in the 1800s but this is New York in the 21st century this is the inside of a Hasidic synagogue a place few outsiders see and yo is the son of the community's rabbi or spiritual leader that our considers are one of the most important things to do is to promote always joy in the Torah says that the reason why humans are punished is not they didn't serve God but if you don't serve God with joy that is the problem ha Oh the glass table cover except the people in the pantry which I got aluminium yo Lebovitz and his wife toby were introduced through a matchmaker like most her city couples most of the time a matchmaker or somebody in the community somebody knows your parents or knows you well think of something our nephew her neighbor her son's friend and will say oh I think that'll be good for someone so and she'll make the phone call generally to the parents because the girl and the boy are still young boys and girls are kept separate until they're ready for marriage to prevent premarital sex they have databases of hundreds or thousands of girls and boys they're up to date every school and every grade and then you sit together for as long as you feel and usually it's not not too long it's like a few hours because you feel uncomfortable this is this girl I've never seen in my life and okay I know so much about her it's already creepy you was 22 and Toby was 20 when they met for the first time traditionally Hasidic people have sit-ins which is like you meet in your living room and five minutes into the conversation I was like okay this is the kind of guy would marry we looked at each other and it's as if a spark like it's like two wires coming together after just 22 hours they were engaged they were married two months later I agree that it sounds crazy I thought so too like when I used to hear my teachers say oh and you marry who you know your parents know what's best for you and I would think yeah right you know that these people are not really happy those marriages don't work out and I really thought so I really really believed it until I met my husband Toby and you'll have three children a citizen averages perhaps eight per family they take the first biblical commandment to be fruitful and multiply literally yeol and toby Lebovitz are among the estimated 180,000 Hasidic Jews in the United States out of a total of six and a half million Jewish people acidic Jews live each day according to the 613 commandments in the Bible like other young Hasidic men 20-year old material who Devlin devotes 14 hours a day to prayer and study in religious texts but Mattie's yahoo is a little different he's the son of a Catholic father and a Jewish mother and he's only been a practicing Jew for two years after getting into trouble at home in Pennsylvania Matisyahu left for New York City looking for a new life I had just met a boy in Starbucks who was who was Jewish and at the time but you know I was Jewish and his boy told me because my mother was Jewish then I was Jewish so he sent me off to this place 770 so I went there actually looking for a place to sleep them for food what he found at 770 the main synagogue in Crown Heights was even more fulfilling can't really explain it but it was just something just clicked and made me realize that this is this is this is where I should be and I just had a flash just for a few moments how I saw how all these events in my life how this led to this a major part of Matityahu whose religious duties is to bring other Jews closer to their religion right now they have this whole little market so we're just kind of looking and trying to see if we can like pick out like this Jewish I didn't do it people work let's do it Jewish said yeah go to write the pillar Jewish there is totally the feeling oh great let's got to fill inside the boxes piece of parchment that has written words from the Torah that's in there and that corresponds to the heart then the one on the head it sits right before it just between your eyes in the middle and inside there also there's parchments and that corresponds to the brain and order that that should it should affect you should bring godless into your heart into your brains you know what you even hear oh yeah twice a night another night motion portable photo a long way up until two years ago Matisyahu was a normal teenager of course you're still gonna you know have that time now that we're you know you're gonna think about maybe a you know a previous girlfriend or you're gonna you just gotta think about women in general you know that you miss being around them but it really makes the you know a wedding and being married so special in just a few weeks Matisse Yahoo is making a trip home he may have the chance to finally hear what his Catholic father thinks about his choice from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday each week Hasidic Jews observe Shabbos the Jewish day of rest it's a time to spend with family and in prayer you can use any electronic devices so you can turn on the oven can turn on the car can handle money and using it turn on the fire and you also you can cook so people have to buy their food so now everyone is doing the Shabbos shopping basically from a family of Hasidic rabbis loser short for Eliza abandoned the Hasidic world two years ago it all started after I got married because before you before you're married you're living your parents house they control what you bring in the house what you take out of that control when you leave and you come when you go so you have no freedom everything that says in the Bible and in the Talmud and in every commentary in every book written in Hebrew is true its fact it's indisputable this is me actually a Shiva learning loser started doubting God when he was seventeen and at yeshiva but there are certain things that he can question you can't think outside of the box you can't question the fact that God created the world I mean I'm being called crazy for suggesting that the world evolved for suggesting darwin's theory to a Hasidic Jew I'm considered nuts you're not supposed to smoke on Saturday on Shabbos oh and I said you know what I'm gonna smoke if God wants he can kill me if he doesn't he doesn't exist so I took out a cigarette I was shivering I was a little innie shivering I wasn't the back of my friend's house in the backyard lit it up I started smoking and I was sure that God was gonna strike me dead and it didn't happen it didn't happen when loser gave up a citizen he said goodbye to his wife his children and his entire family now at 25 years old Lutz at where Sookie is trying to decide what to do next inside this typical American home north of New York City lives a very atypical couple Yael and Toby Lebovitz and this is the bar although I'm not a real drinker but when guests come I like to entertain them and it came with the house so didn't destroy this is a mezuzah every Jewish home has it it's just a little fancy I got from Israel and has the Western Wall is prevalent and you can sit whenever you pass by now this is our marriage certificate and has my name and wife's name and it has basically the whole contract of our marriage they live by biblical rules and rituals that help them through each day it's kind of like living within a frame almost makes life because it's you can go from here till they're so skinny being guided everything is decided for them from what they eat to what they wear they live by strict dietary laws no pork or shellfish no mixing dairy with meat but some say the ancient rules were simply intended to keep people healthy now there's kosher food you don't eat anything except just natural things like fruits and vegetables but any package to process thing needs a certification so you'll notice on every product especially here in America most of the products have a little symbol that it's kosher they reject much of Western culture as shameless and dangerous being aesthetic in 2011 is probably harder than being acidic ever was because we really want to protect our children from the dangers of you know internet and other media there's no filter and TV so you can't filter out the women singing that Amadas dressing so it has been banned many years ago modesty is probably more the most important things in Orthodox Jewish life especially in ascetic life because modesty is basically what secures us all it secures us and it secures others when a Hasidic woman doesn't want to attract attention so she's careful about that not wearing for a few ministry it's not making noise with your shoes you know not having huge earrings she should look beautiful she should look like a princess but not like a jewelry showcase do you think a little guy I wonder all married Hasidic women must cover their hair either with a scarf or wig or both even at home in case of an unexpected male visitor here was the crowning glory of a woman so when a woman gets married she wants to keep her hair for her husband yo accepts the strong reactions to his clothing sidelocks and beard when you go out in the world people respect me more and people look up which is nice and beautiful and at the same time I can get more anti-semitic attacks with this look because it's a yells Jew it's nice sometimes to you know show yes I'm drew and fully Jewish twenty-four-year-old faggy mayor gave up being an acid several months ago she never felt comfortable in the community you know you're gonna be matched up regardless so whether you're capable or competent or not you're gonna get a woman it's it's alright but it's an entitlement and Sonia this is the serious challenge for people even you know here it's a battle um this is my living room this is my nice TV I just should have sit on the chair around the bench here on the floor and watch TV after leaving his family loser spent months sleeping on Friends sofas and even living in his car he finally landed his own apartment with help from a hissy takfir end oh this is my little bedroom so when I when I got this apartment I went to buy furniture I I would I had a mind to have a girl over and if you're gonna have a girl over you need a big bed this is my little bathroom I love these slippers you know why because no hostility would ever wear orange I think it's so cool to wear something as crazy as this it just reminds you these little things remind me of my free time getting a red power I mean no self-respecting considered you will use a red power or wear aren't slippers most Hasidic men stick to dark suits and white shirts they also have side locks or pay us you should have you should you shouldn't cut the five corners of your head which is basically here here here here and here so I mean I really want to get rid of them really badly but many reasons I don't number one I don't have the balls just don't have the balls to cut them off so I'll leave them see I don't make them every day I just put them behind my ear mess them up but like this III feel very Jewish I just had my own version of Judaism I do my over in or Judaism loser has a girlfriend now but it's been a lonely road the thing I miss most is the sense of belonging you know I have a people have a community know I have a support group who's know look after me if I'm in danger family Jen no one that doesn't have the Hasidic community you always looked after people worrying for you their people caring for you all the time twenty-six-year-old Mendel Jakob s'en believes that hazards have isolated themselves too much and he wants to change that what it means to be a classic is not just taking anything for granted this is how it's supposed to be life is supposed to be this way you're supposed to keep Shabbat eat kosher be kind believe in God study but a hustle is trying to infuse all of that with a soul the spirit you try to create a seamless bridge between what we would call physicality and spirituality between body and soul between heaven and earth between matter and spirit between us and God he is a rabbi at a synagogue in Soho a fashionable neighborhood in lower Manhattan no I would not call myself a typical closet the entire message of facism is not to be typical to be typically don't need a citizen or some tough came because Judaism was becoming typical the closet is supposed to go beyond the letter of the wall letter of the law says do this do that don't do this don't do that closet takes one step further and says why what's the purpose Muslim mengel's big influence is his father a highly regarded author and scholar in the Hasidic world rabbi Simon Jakob s'en I think like all movements but people people become very much protective over their way and they forget the soul which is that God created us all on this earth and we have responsibility for each other so I have no problem with different cultures everyone has their own so-called private rituals but the lack of openness and an embracing everybody and I'm not and that I'm the only one that's right and everyone else is wrong I think it goes counter to the philosophy of co-citizens in Eastern Europe 250 years ago a teacher known as the Bao Shem Tov created a new movement within Judaism it was called a citizen respecting every individual's unique soul regardless of background education or experience it soon had thousands of followers two centuries later the annihilation of European Jews in World War two would decimate the Hasidic community some of the survivors rebuilt their lives in Brooklyn New York many were careful to keep themselves apart from the rest of the world there are custom who have that attitude that the world is an enemy I'm in the secular world and we have to do everything possible to shut out that enemy which means not have televisions and not even going to the Internet and so on so Fred frankly personally I don't think it's in the spirit of Kosilek teachings that we have to live in that type of defensive mode the citizen really was a way of embracing the world but at the same time recognizing that our job is to spiritualize the material because there is a fundamental tension between matter and spirit and between the inner and the outer between let's call it survival and self-interest and serving a higher purpose and you have to find a way to integrate the two the night mango will soon be following in the footsteps of generations before him in a week you'll be getting married as a newcomer to the community 20 year-old Matisyahu Devlin has lived in the Hasidic neighborhood of Crown Heights for nearly two years everything that a religious Jew might want you can get to the clothing store hat store and kosher food stores in kosher restaurants and the fish store in the food stand everything we need is here you'd only have to walk a few blocks so it's very great you're living with with a very large Jewish community so to be here is not just you're not just living with other Jews you're part of a very big family and everyone's here are you doing solve our sandbox all right yeah it was great it's how they come take a look it has nearly all of the Hasidic men in Crown Heights wear black hats Jewish law states that covering your head is honoring God as a new member of the community Matisyahu wants the best hat he can afford when we pray we were add when we go to see the rabbi go the Hat a yarmulke a plain Kosciuszko cap does not do it for us who usually carried a hat Hannah's up underneath and when we pray we were ahead over the time from Matisyahu wearing the right hat is a symbol of his deeper transformation into a member of the Hasidic community I took this out one of the most sacred events for a young Hasid is getting married and today Mendel Jakob s'en is hours away from the single most important moment of his life his wedding to Devorah small oh yeah I feel great okay so I feel at peace which is interesting actually we just flew it from New York City we're just laughing I'm only the wedding ceremony it's a great flight because we roll and now we're heading to the hotel they have not seen or spoken to one another in a week a custom in their community it's about creating eternity you know marriage today has become somewhat like a party you know you hear it's about really sanctity it's about eternity it's about knowing the moment of truth at last forever I'm already willing up just thinking about the bride is in a separate room where she receives congratulations from her female guests who also hope to get her blessing on this day the bride is considered almost holy the women are in a special room and that's where everyone goes to the bride for a blessing the bride has a tremendous honor and responsibility that she's thinking about the entire Jewish community look from the Kaaba the law shortly before his wedding Mendel follows tradition by going before the other men of the community to speak about the mysticism of marriage there's also City you might have something of concern without and then at a certain point after I'm done repeating the specific discourse explaining they're so Tareq and mystical meanings of the whole event the whole wedding will be a procession and I will cede the world for the first time in a week when I entered the room that she's in for modesty Mendel covers his Brides face with an opaque veil Hey don't it's accustomed to have it under the stars even if it's stars aren't out yet it's so technically everything that is done has meaning behind it nothing is superfluous nothing is just like a theme to traditions with number of hundreds of years in some cases thousands of years Oh I need Tara subsidies different smell root of negative and the rebel signature English translation by the grace of a sham and they to continue a ring in that eternal golden chains of Jewish continuity and eternity today a deliciously does the couple are swept off to a room where they will be alone together for the first time as a married couple but they're privately with each other as a husband and wife I'll be there a few minutes and then they will go out probably take some pictures and then read their guests and the party begins Oh so we'll see actually at the wedding ceremony men and women are separate even husbands and wives was it celebrating solar you don't want to focus on the body you want to focus on the soil unit Oh the reason is just great celebrations because it's literally like the creation of the world it's two opposites coming together to create a new whole marriage Devorah completes me so it's very difficult for me to even imagine life any other way today Matisyahu is leaving for a big trip home a visit to his family in York Pennsylvania where he and his ten siblings were raised Catholic so grow my life in the Catholic school church on Sundays his mother was Jewish but not very observant throughout high school my friends would always make these you know comes to me like I was such a Jew or things like this even though I didn't see no no I was Jewish everyone knew my mother was Jewish so my friends you know they're you know they make common smell that is such a Jew and to stop being a Jew Matt you know so once becoming religious now you know they were like and you really are you the only thing Jewish they observed at home was Chanukah the festival of lights commemorating an ancient victory over the Greeks who tried to force Jews to assimilate Matityahu is planning to celebrate this Chanukah with his family for the first time as a acid it's a four-hour drive back to York Pennsylvania and Matisyahu doesn't get there very often as for our people feel about what I'm doing I think at first my family maybe I was a little different but now everyone just seems mostly very supportive but he has never spoken about it with his father he's a religious man in Catholicism my father's not Jewish personally don't like know what I don't like really whatever my father don't speak about it and I don't really know what his penis or don't they want to say anything Matis Yahoo finally arrives in York the place where he grew up a quiet town located in south-central Pennsylvania where Jewish people make up less than 1% of the population coming back here with the beard and with with a black hat it's definitely a little different because everyone knows I'm like this crazy religious Jew no Hey thank God how are you good good Hey another boy how are you doing great great I forgot the good that matters Yahoo is the sixth out of 11 children good to see ya if you thought maybe I might stay later my coded I might maybe go to Lancaster for Shabbos and instead where there's effort yeah it's I'm gonna make my dick my dick here I got ya okay with me yeah leave it wait a few minutes Sylvie I'm a food Matisyahu can't eat most of the food cooked in his own family's kitchen he even has his own appliances set aside in the basement I thought both my mind in my heart that this is the right thing to do as a Jew so therefore there's no reason for me to sit around and dwell and maybe this is right maybe it's wrong it's sunset and Matisyahu is getting ready to light the Chanukah menorah and celebrate check it out what you're doing what are you doing oh what a nice with my mother becoming religious has really done wonders for our relationship growing up most of my life my mother and I did not get along very well mainly sir through my own father where can we burn on the kitchen table um that has the best opinion dead well what do you think you think maybe you should guess I mean it died I don't think it gets smoked you from from I never saw get smoky but if you this is your pictures oh no no I don't mean oh it's never smoking yeah yeah yeah yeah you clear I want to if you want I don't know if you want to go no you give and resum if you want if you want to feel left out it's mode here I got go yeah here look look they look great this was a little smoke yeah everyone's gonna sing right I'm saying what we know yeah yeah of course of course our singer but I gotta know and my Hangul maritime on a shaky - on over miss face of its Yvonne olijavi - have you found a cut everybody at a time I think when he was very vulnerable you know people that were a god-fearing and loving took him in closet it could have turned out differently yo it's plenty yo oh my gosh why is it called that know what doesn't what he's just seemed so settled and so much more I didn't want to use a word happy because that's that's not the right word like peaceful and he just seemed so much better and you're always Catholic well once you've been baptized it's a yeah theologically it's a it's an indelible mark on you and you can walk away from it but you still have that you know more he has necessary said well I love what you're doing but he never spoke against it he sees his son who was doing something he's religious and he's following God and and I think for him that's the it's it's good friend you know you come into New York like a large city with so many millions of people uh you know it feels very lonely you know you go through the streets you know everyone knows where they belong it's overwhelming you know when you see like couples walking in the street and holding hands it kind of heartwarming in a way in an odd way um you know uh people being free to express their feelings you know to express their emotions to expect that to express their passion about each other you know for now luta has no plans to return to his old life but he can't say he'll never go back it's inevitable you know I was raised so certain that is the right thing to do there's no way it wouldn't cross my mind that maybe I'm wrong and that's a very tough thing to deal with dealing with regret was a very tough thing I mean I don't live my life and regret but it does cross my mind every every once in a while Simon Jakob s'en believes her citizen must find a balance between tradition and a fast changing contemporary world and welcome you all that are here and as well as online audience means my god so I think there's going to be some pain involved because they're going to be pursued and we're gonna so to speak fall out of the system it's inevitable but at the same time I think there'll be some that will become real facility of the 21st century who know how to embrace the developments of this world and actually bring godliness into it instead of running the other way and I believe and firmly believe that these teachings will spread and it will change the world that's the ultimate future of Chris's back in Brooklyn Matisyahu has resumed his studies Ashby's I live one way for 18 years and then all of a sudden I decide should be a religious Jew I know both my mind in my heart that this is the right thing to do as a Jew God exists and he runs the show that I'm a Jew and I have to be proud of that what did you does this is what I have to do for y'all and Toby Lebovitz it's all about faith and family but the corner there's a house with a big beer and a blue dreidel tonight they celebrate a traditional Hasidic Chanukah commemorating a time when a tiny nation defeated the ancient Greeks well every holiday is really very important this one specifically I think the Greeks weren't going to kill the Jews they just wanted to assimilate us that's a mighty Laska it's a lot about the family it's a lot about the women and children ah our children takes pride in the fact that we are different and we're holding on to something that's so ancient and so special putting other than our line may left or you love ha ha so I think that citizen in core is a beautiful thing and I just wish that everyone who has a facet and even who is not a facet to to be able to see the light and feel the joy of feel facilities and indulge in it and live a beautiful happy life with

Channel: OhYeahRememberThat

Views: 2,116,951

Rating: 4.4334493 out of 5

Keywords: Judaism, Hasidism, Haredi, Kosher, Jewish Life, Jewish religion, Jesus Jewish, Kosher food, Hasidic Judaism (Idea), Luzer Twersky, Simon Jacobson, Chabad Hasidic, Yosef Yitzchak Jacobson, Rabbi Shmuley, Laws of Kashrut, Yeshiva, Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardic Jews, talmud, Torah, Talmudic studying, American Jews, Judaism in America, Star of David, Abraham, Jewish Bible, Baal Shem Tov, Sabbatai Zevi, Synagogue, Jewish wedding, Orthodox Judaism

Id: SMoFQhOG_Ok

Length: 38min 1sec (2281 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 31 2013

Reddit Comments

[u/Djs3634]

My buddy was visiting me from Ohio it was his first time in NYC, he says to me "why are Amish people driving cars!?" It was adorable.

[u/Mistoku]

Almost half as crazy as ISIS.

[u/zmije1kw]

Looks like that veil would make for some awful wedding photos.

[u/[deleted]]

At the end does it sound to anyone else like they're singing the tune of Weezer's 'Surf Wax America'?