HASSIDIM CONFRONTING MODERNITY

Abstract

In the late 1960s, I knew virtually nothing about hassidic Jews when I began researching their lifestyle and community organization. But I still vividly recall how I was struck then by their distinctive presence along the Park Avenue area in the Mile End district of Montreal. Many of my peers mockingly referred to them as the ‘Park Avenue White Sox’ (after the famous Chicago White Sox baseball team) because some of the men in the community wore breeches tied below the knee, so that their white-stockinged calves were visible below their long black coats and slipper-like shoes. Those hassidim not only appeared out of place but, to my surprise, seemed untouched by the secular influences of the wider society.