BTW Ive walked down Lee Ave and walked into some of the stores on Lee Ave and you can see and feel how the Satmar Looked at me and my family and no we were not dressed crazy.
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GOTCHA! Up until now, I considered you a harmless crank.
Either you are just expressing your own inadequacy and realizing you should look more like a Jew, at least when you are among Jews – or you are just lying the way the author lies.
I am sure you know the history between Chabad and Satmar (BH it is way behind us; it was a matter of miscommunication and the work of a few oisvorfen who were out to destabilize Satmar as much as they were to hurt Chabad). Anyone from Satmar can tell very easily that I am from Chabad, and I’m not Yerushalmi Chabad so my dress is nothing like that of Satmar.
I have never felt more welcomed than when I walked along Lee Avenue one Shabbos morning a few years ago on the way to the Lower East Side to daven in a friend’s shul. More people wished me git Shabbos than do at home, and I ended up being sorry I could not run into one of the shuls for tea as I am sure I would have had a good time meeting Yidden or even hearing divrei Torah on the way. They also offer us water and cookies every time we walk through Willy in groups – so much for old misunderstandings.
I had a minor car emergency on a legal holiday in 1992 and the closest frum store that was open was on Lee Ave. In 1992, there still were some bad feelings between the communities, so I was a little concerned. I parked my car, with a picture of the Lubavitcher Rebbe ZYA on the front and a giveaway bumper sticker on the back, on Lee Avenue and ran into the hardware store (the one on the same side of the street as Donath’s, for any Willyites who are reading this) to get a jug of antifreeze and some brake fluid. All that happened was that the owner asked me how we were managing after the riots, and wondered how we could live in CH after the mess.
Ever heard of Satmar Bikur Cholim? Like Reb Yoilish, whose Rebbetzin founded it, they don’t care what a Jew believes or what he (and more often she) looks like – they are there to help.