I didn’t know what to expect from this documentary but it certainly wasn’t that I would fall in love with everyone in it but I did.
Drew Binsky did an wonderful job with ‘Entering America’s Most Religious Community’. He says it took him 6 months to get permissions from Rabbis to film his forays into two Hasidic neighborhoods in Brooklyn; Williamsburg, home of the Satmar group of Hasidism and Borough Park, of the slightly less conservative Bobover group.
The New York Post calls Borough Park the “Baby Boom capital” of New York City and Williamsburg is not far behind. Both neighborhoods basically doubled their populations in the first decade of this century, tapering off to now an average of 6 children per family. They say they’re trying to replace the 6,000,000 Jews lost during the Holocaust.
Use of the internet is sharply restricted, so books are very important. Adult Satmar women shave their heads and wear head scarves.
The Hasidim are fiercely anti-Zionist.
The piece is respectful of everybody and honest and soulful and I was surprised by how moved I was and how nostalgic it made me for New York.
