Inside Europe's biggest Hasidic community

[Tank]

Inside Europe's biggest Hasidic community

North London's Hasidic Jewish community is an intensely private world, where marriage is an integral rite of passage, strict rules must be adhered to and faith is taken seriously. Film-maker Paddy Wivell spent three months finding out what goes on behind closed doors and how an outsider is received.

"Nobody can become a 10-minute Jew," warns Hasidic scholar and Stamford Hill resident Gaby Lock. "It's so vastly away from your way of life that you would have no understanding of it whatsoever."

In Lock's front room, he talks about just a few of the 613 Commandments that govern the lives of the 20,000 orthodox Hasidic Jews who live here. It's already enough to give you a headache...

A Hasidic Guide to Love, Marriage and Finding a Bride is on BBC Two, Wednesday 18 May, 2100 BST

Looks interesting.

[Sweetdeath]

I'm surprised no one else has replied to this. Thete id a small Hassidic Jewish community in brooklyn ny. I only knew about it cuz a friend moved there. It's terrible how religious beliefs really separate people.

I need to do more research, but I hear that a Jewish woman must shave her head after marriage, so other men won't find her desirable. Wtf?  Thete is a lot of sexism, and basically a woman is just there to reproduce. The younger, the better. It's sickening.

[Tank]

Without checking I thought the exact opposite was true. But as you say a little research is probably in order.

[The Magic Pudding]

I need to do more research, but I hear that a Jewish woman must shave her head after marriage, so other men won't find her desirable. Wtf? 

So are those beards meant to serve a similar purpose, or is it just an unintended side effect?

[Gawen]

So are those beards meant to serve a similar purpose, or is it just an unintended side effect?

No, the women must be clean shaven....*chucklin*

[Sweetdeath]

everytime you comment, Magic pudding, I want pudding!

[Tank]

everytime you comment, Magic pudding, I want pudding!

But the trouble is you have to go to Australia and chase him with a spoon and a bucket of custard as bait!

[Sweetdeath]

everytime you comment, Magic pudding, I want pudding!

But the trouble is you have to go to Australia and chase him with a spoon and a bucket of custard as bait!

That seems like a lot of work :<

[Will37]

I need to do more research, but I hear that a Jewish woman must shave her head after marriage, so other men won't find her desirable. Wtf?  Thete is a lot of sexism, and basically a woman is just there to reproduce. The younger, the better. It's sickening.

Jewish women are supposed to cover their hair after marriage as an act of modesty.  The Old testament mentions her hair as a woman's 'crowning glory'.  Some women shave their head and just wear a wig rather than wear a scarf.  There are other reasons as well, but that's the religious one.  Not a lot of Jewish women do it.  Some in the Hasidic/Orthodox community do.  It's more cultural than strictly religious.