New Yorker has a review of a book on the Satmar, the Hasidic sect with its own town in NY. It starts with this joke, which led me to think about the distinction between the two.
In an old joke, a secular Jew sits down on a park bench next to a man with a large black hat and a long black coat. The secular Jew turns to the darkly garbed man and says, “What’s the matter with you Hasids? This isn’t the Old Country—it’s the modern world. You people are an embarrassment to the rest of us.” The man turns around and says, “Hasid? I’m Amish.” The secular Jew immediately replies, “It’s so wonderful the way you’ve held on to your traditions!”
For some reason I have warmer feelings about the Amish than the Satmar--why?
- Amish are/were dairy farmers, therefore closer to my heart
- More generally Amish do physical work, while my understanding of the Satmar is that the culture is focused on religious study.
- Amish have been in US as long or longer than most of my ancestors while Satmar are 20th century.
- Amish are familiar, Satmar are strange.
- Amish seem to have been more withdrawn than the Satmar--to the best of my knowledge the Amish haven't used the power of numbers to seek political power, while the Satmar got their own town/city--we don't have the draft anymore so I don't know whether they'd be conscientious objectors to military service--I think the Amish were CO's. )
- I'm human, and susceptible to tribalism/othering.
