I am Satmar Chassidish AMA

amother

Indigo

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 9:57 am

amother Seagreen wrote:

I am a Satmar graduate, working at the same office for over a decade BH, and have trained multiple girls throughout. I would say that most Satmar girls have the potential to develop great language skills once they are in the corporate world. Their English might be stilted when they start out, but it is usually a short term issue. I find it surprising that you have multiple employees who do not have a decent English.
I recently worked with a graduate from another school, and was very taken aback at her very basic lack of grammar, language, and ability to express herself in English. I have never dealt with that in our office of only Satmar girls.

Satmar girls are just as smart and capable as anyone else. It is known that Jews in general are smarter... Satmar girls are Jewish just like you.

amother

Orchid

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 9:58 am

amother Sand wrote:

I thought it was pretty ironic when one of the Satmar Rebbes turned up at my friends chabad house in California and insisted on putting tefillin onto someone, he claimed that as a grandchild of the Alter Rebbe he deserved this privilege.
So I'm just confused. If he is a grandchild of the Alter Rebbe, what's the hate all about?

Which Satmar Rebbe is a grandchild of the Alter Rebbe?

amother

Seagreen

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 10:13 am

abound wrote:

So y are some ppl saying that satmer girls are not comfortable in english? is it different according to families?

I don't think any Satmar girl isn't comfortable with English as a language, especially in reading. Perhaps there are select individuals who cannot express themselves verbally as well as in Yiddish.

amother

Fuchsia

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 10:55 am

amother Seagreen wrote:

I don't think any Satmar girl isn't comfortable with English as a language, especially in reading. Perhaps there are select individuals who cannot express themselves verbally as well as in Yiddish.

As a satmar graduate, I think that reading/speaking/writing a correct English is highly dependent on the family they come from. If English is the first language at home ( which it is for a lot of the “bal batisha” oilem) ( the ones who are on Imamother 😜) then they are as fluent as anyone else. The ones that don’t speak or read English at home don’t have such a fluent English - so that’s where the stereotype stems from ( but many do get fluent once they start working..)

amother

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 11:06 am

amother Seagreen wrote:

There are those and then there are those. Since have great fluency and others are stilted. But I agree with you that with practice they all become better

amother

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 11:08 am

abound wrote:

What do girls read for pleasure reading? Most books and magazines are English...if they dont read as a first language...is that even enjoyable?

I would say 70-80% of girls read English books and magazines. 5-10% don't read at all and 15-20% read only yiddish

amother

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 11:08 am

amother Firebrick wrote:

There are definitely tons of Yiddish books and weekly magazines.

There are but I found they were mostly catered to boys

amother

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 11:10 am

amother Firebrick wrote:

How often do non-Satmar people join Satmar? Are they coming both from other Chasidish as well as from non-Chasidish (ie Yeshivish, Modern Orthodox, etc.)? Any Baal Teshuvos? Do any Geirim join Satmar?

Not very often. I personally know 2 bt's, 1 get and 1 giyores, but it's not that common

amother

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 11:10 am

amother Forestgreen wrote:

I think the reason for the stilted English is due to the fact that yiddish is the first language that most stamar families speak. So while you can be well read, and have a high vocabulary English language while reading, speaking needs fluency, which only comes through using it on a daily basis.

Many families, not most

amother

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 11:13 am

abound wrote:

So y are some ppl saying that satmer girls are not comfortable in english? is it different according to families?

Satmar is very family dependent, your background determines what is acceptable or unacceptable. Since families are b'shitta against speaking English when unnecessary and will speak only yiddish, ironically a lot of what they consider to be 'pure yiddish' is Hungarian, polish, or romanian

amother

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 11:14 am

amother Glitter wrote:

Speaking and reading are completely different. When we talk, because our first language is yiddish, our words get translated in our brain first. That's why it's more difficult to talk then when u just read a language we know well.
I never met a satmar girl that can't read well. Pronunciation is already something else, but basic reading everyone is capable of.

Never make fun of someone mispronouncing a difficult word, it means they learned it by reading

amother

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 11:15 am

amother Orchid wrote:

Which Satmar Rebbe is a grandchild of the Alter Rebbe?

I never heard of this, but if it's one it's both. They're brothers

amother

Fuchsia

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 12:26 pm

amother OP wrote:

I never heard of this, but if it's one it's both. They're brothers

The alter rebbe as in Rav Yoel? They’re both nephews of him.
He didn’t have any children that survived to adulthood

amother

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 12:33 pm

amother Fuchsia wrote:

The alter rebbe as in Rav Yoel? They’re both nephews of him.
He didn’t have any children that survived to adulthood

The Alter Rebbe as in the Ba'al HaTanya of Lubavitch

amother

Petunia

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 12:36 pm

abound wrote:

So y are some ppl saying that satmer girls are not comfortable in english? is it different according to families?

I think it depends on where they grew up. Just a personal opinion based on experience. Monroe and Williamsburg satmar graduates have a lower level grasp on the English language. Boro Park and Monsey, read and speak English fluently and many don’t read Yiddish.

amother

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 1:20 pm

amother Petunia wrote:

This is very simplistic and not necessarily the truth. I find that it depends on the family more than anything else.

clowny

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 1:33 pm

amother OP wrote:

This is very simplistic and not necessarily the truth. I find that it depends on the family more than anything else.

I think it depends on both, where you grow up and on the family. I also think it depends on the type of person you are. Talking from experience. I have 3 satmar graduate daughters. They all have great professional jobs. One of them has great writing skills, and is able to speak a very high vocabulary and professional English. My other 2 daughters are very average. We are a Yiddish speaking home, meaning Yiddish is their first language, they speak yiddish among they're friends and all other general interactions are in Yiddish too. They do read a lot of English though.

amother

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 1:42 pm

amother Firebrick wrote:

OP, based on your many comments, I think it is very clear you could be considered to be "Modern Satmar".

What is that supposed to mean?

amother

Seagreen

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 2:15 pm

amother Fuchsia wrote:

I don't think many families use English as a first language. A lot of homes are bi-lingual, but the first language, as in the language you speak to your toddlers, is primarily Yiddish, regardless of the balbatishkeit.