HasidicNews.com

In most instances, the zealots in Williamsburg do not attract mainstream haredi attention, let alone from the secular world. Recently, however, broadcast television and popular newspapers have been picking up on the indiscretions on the part of some elements in the ultra-haredi sector and having a field day at it.

The first incident was the photoshopped Sec. of State Hillary Clinton at an Obama cabinet meeting. Last week they took notice of a sign in Yiddish on Bedford Ave. asking women to move aside when encountering men on the street. The Parks Department was notified and had the sign removed, while the media went around soliciting reactions from indignant citizens and and politicians. In both cases the story was first reported by a small-scale blogger and was only disseminated widely once it was picked up by a major media outlet.

Is the media only interested in stories that reflect mistreatment or discrimination against women? It remains to be seen. In the meantime, other radical trends in Williamsburg, many orchestrated by a few young hotheads under the leadership of one Mr. Zimmerman, are as follows:

• Protests against assemblyman Dov Hikind on account of him being a Zionist. While most of Satmar congregants have long moved past their obsession with everything Zionist, those hidebound purists are holding their ground.
• On Wallabout street (in an area known as "New Williamsburg"), they are protesting and attempting to undermine the operations of a kids' apparel store that has a show window (gasp!).
• Also on Wallabout street the Yaffa firm has recently opened a wig store, absent until now in Williamsburg. The radicals have distributed flyers (known as "pashkevillen") against them. It is estimaed hat only about 15% of married women in Williamsburg wear wigs. The remainder cover their hair with scarves or some variant.
• They are also continuing to protest against and denigrate those who carry on shabbat on the basis of the eiruv. Mr. Zimmerman is sometimes seen bawling out the shabbat-carriers from his balcony, often in the presence of puzzled tourists.

The quarrel between the two Satmar brothers Aaron and Zalmen over the new Satmar Synagogue under construction on Ross Street is intensifying. The Aaronim are determined to make life as difficult as possible for the zallis, even if they will not benefit in turn.

The battle over ownership title to the site has been raging for quite some time now. Whenever one party would get a favorable ruling from the courts, lawyers for the other party would immediately step in and get the ruling stayed or overturned. The result so far has been a stalemate in which the courts are refusing to make a ruling altogether, arguing that it's an internal matter for the congregation and its members to decide, not the court.

For a brief time, it seemed that the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) might be the ultimate arbiter of the case. If Zalmen --who holds the keys to the site by default-- can get a permit for continuing construction, then he would be able to occupy the site by default until Aaron can get the courts to actively intervene in his favor. This strategy has not worked, however. Aaron's people learned o contest the permit Zalmen is trying to finnagle out of the city on the grounds that ownership is not yet determined.

Moreover, when Zalmen then attmepted to use the unfinished site as is --such as for Sukkah use on the festival of Sukkot-- Aaron's people alerted DOB authorities that the site is "unsafe" for civilian use and noone may, therefore, occupy the site even temporarily. Witnesses say that about once a month, whenever Zalmen's people try to do something on the site, a gaggle of cops soon show up and evict the intruders.

This year, therefore, for the first time, Zalmen has been unable to use the site even on Sukkot. He was forced to build the sukkah on Rodney Street, right in front of the central synagogue. Two hoists can be seen beside the Sukkah on Rodney street, used for the construction of the heavy-duty, aluminum-paneled, high-ceiling sukkah.

What will Aaron do now? He may complain that the Rodeny St. sukkah is posing a hazard to cars and/or pedestrians passing through, since it protrudes so much into the road.