How does Satmar feel about Frieda Vizel's tours?

33055

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 7:41 am

chanchy123 wrote:

Hey, I can give a similar tour of the settlements in Judea and Samaria - we can work together.

We need to recruit vaping 19 year old drivers each with a wife, a kid, and another in the way. We can give them the whole Williamsburg experience by letting them tour a pitzy apartment with the crib in the hallway. The wife can serve chulent and kugel. The booze needs to bigger hidden though.

youngishbear

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 8:27 am

Squishy wrote:

Or perhaps walking tours are most appropriate in the place where half the adult population doesn't drive.

33055

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 8:35 am

youngishbear wrote:

Or perhaps walking tours are most appropriate in the place where half the adult population doesn't drive.

I think this could be a great business for someone. I am way too busy on Imamother, but someone could do an authentic Williamsburg experience, and the minivan is necessary to differentiate this tour from Freida's.

youngishbear

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 8:56 am

Squishy wrote:

Again, it can't be authentic for a local woman to drive a minivan. But I agree it is a great idea for a business opportunity. However I don't think the community is very concerned with outreach or public relations so it might not be viewed very positively. Anyone in the know wants to speculate about that?

amother

Pink

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 9:02 am

Her tour group isn't any different than the other tour groups you would meet in Williamsburg. She's a tour guide that never lived in Williamsburg so she has no connection to this place. Williamsburg is not Satmar like KJ. In order for one to fully understand and appreciate the diversity of this place, u needed to have grown up here. Neither does she look anything Jewish like the ppl living in Willi. She's a secular woman that had to educate herself on this history and is making a living out of it, it has nothing to do with Satmar.

33055

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 9:10 am

youngishbear wrote:

No! No! No! No women drivers!! It is a male driver in the minivan. The women are only to give the pitzy apartment tour.

This is strictly for parnosa. You could even include a gift shop like the Amish. You could sell white aprons and schpitzels, so the tourists could dress "authentic".

You could tour a donut factory or schmira matzo factory. A challah braiding experience could be included.

Maya

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 9:24 am

amother wrote:

She didn't have to educate herself on this history, she lived it. There are very few and minor differences between the lifestyles of those in KJ and those in Williamsburg.

amother

Honeydew

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 10:13 am

chanchy123 wrote:

I've never been to williamsburg, but I would love to take a tour of the neighborhood one day. I never gave it much thought until I started following this site. I have become so fascinated by it. I actually thought of joining that tour once (I didn't realize it was run by a former member of Satmar with an agenda). I didn't think it would be disrespectful. In Israel there are similar tours of mea sharim and Bnei Brak all the time.
I used to live in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, there were plenty of tourists taking pictures of us on shabbat. It was weird that they would come to the kotel Friday night to catch the tefila.

Anyway, long story short. I will be in Brooklyn in a couple of months and I would like to see Williamsburg, (on a weekday) any recommendations?

ETA I don't plan on doing much gawking, but would really like to see the sites behind all the posts here on Williamsburg it sounds like such an interesting place. I'd love to see it for myself to understand the people there better.

I'll gladly give u the tour in BP! Don't live in Wili, though most of my family does. I Know the place well but can't offer to take u around because no time erev pesach...

sweetpotato

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 10:21 am

Raisin wrote:

I want to take a tour of Williamsburg too. But I don't know if I want to spend $50. I'm sure not much of it would be new to me though.

In Crown Heights members of the community run such tours, no one minds, it's encouraged.

I sometimes see flyers for tours or Shabbatons in Crown Heights and its funny how they'll describe it as "come experience the shtetl..." I think of CH as where I go for restaurants and shopping Smile

OTOH, my husband grew up in a largely non-Jewish neighborhood and says he remembers the first time he went to visit Crown Heights with his family around 6 years old, and was so amazed to be in a neighborhood where almost every person he saw was a Jew, and it made a huge impression on him and his desire to become frum later as a teen.

So I can see a value in bringing Jews from different backgrounds to experience some of these neighborhoods in a positive way.

And in the same way, I suppose a well-run tour that would attract non-jews could end up being a kiddush hashem, but it sounds hard to pull off because of how many people would be going into it with an orientalist sort of curiosity or seeking to reinforce stereotypes they already hold. But if it were truly educational and people were coming in with an open mind...

Mama Bear

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 12:41 pm

Hey, thanks to the tip-off by a friend that my name was mentioned here Very Happy

.
I havent been here in a long time. Life is BH really busy. I'm still around though!
As for Frieda, most ppl in Willy have never heard of her and couldnt care less about her tours. There are constantly tours going on here anyway, so at least she has a knowledgeable and positive spin/view on the neighborhood.
As for her OTDness, it's sad that she does the tours on Shabbos but that's between her and haShem. And may I say, she's the most positive 'model' of an OTD person that can possibly exist. For whatever ideological reasons she does not want to keep Yiddishkeit anymore, but she does not publicly go around poking fun at her upbringing or portraying it negatively. In fact she is very nostalgic and wistful about her childhood. It's an interesting paradox.
Even more ironically, back when she started her first blog there was one particualr person who thought it was me writing it, and no matter how much I insisted that it couldnt possibly be me, that person continued posting in the comments, with my real name and my kids' real name (I had one at the time) and some personal info about me, and it was so disturbing. Very weird.
Anyway, I don't think anyone minds her tours. Even if they did, it's a free country.
Also: I don't think I'm qualified to give Chanchy a tour of Willy. I know as much about this neighborhood's history as the next 40 yr old who was born here.

amother

Mistyrose

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 12:51 pm

Mama Bear wrote:

Hey, thanks to the tip-off by a friend that my name was mentioned here Very Happy

Frida just responded to this thread on her site, she does not run tours on Shabbos or holidays. Read the rest of her response here-- http://www.visithasidim.com/bl.....tours

amother

Pink

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 12:59 pm

Maya wrote:

She didn't have to educate herself on this history, she lived it. There are very few and minor differences between the lifestyles of those in KJ and those in Williamsburg.

Having lived in both places, I can attest to the major differences of lifestyles within families and community. Diversity in KJ is looking into your same Jewish neighbors windows. How does that compare to Williamsburg where Jews of all kinds live together with non jews? I don't think these tours are just about 613 mitzvohs, what are all the other non jews guides saying on their tours? Anyways, she has license to do what she's doing. I don't know the criteria for attaining one, but I don't believe "being a non observant Satmar Jew originally from KJ" was her qualification.

chanchy123

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 1:08 pm

Mama Bear wrote:

Hey, thanks to the tip-off by a friend that my name was mentioned here Very Happy

Thanks. I don't know if this trip would be appropriate anyway, since I will be with my 12 year old DD who doesn't really understand English. But hopefully the next time I'm back in the NY area I'll have time to go on a proper tour. Maybe we will walk around though. Where should we go?

We are coming in May.

Maya

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 1:23 pm

amother wrote:

There are "Jews of all kinds" living in Williamsburg? Diversity? Mingling with non Jews?
Which Williamsburg have you lived in? Apparently not the one I lived in.

I'm sorry I don't understand the rest of your post, but this jumped out at me.