London Calling

I hardly posted lately.

I needed a break after my last long vacation last year in Israel.
I needed a Hasidic breath!

Stoke Newington, London, January 2016, ©emmarubinstein

Stoke Newington, London, January 2016, ©emmarubinstein

My shul is Lubavitch, only 3 Lubavitch families are there. The rest of us is coming from different Jewish background, more or less modest and shomer. I will talk about that in another post later.

New York is not in my project, thus i chose London, and also the area of Stoke Newington and Stamford Hill.
I read some information about that: Satmar is the first community, Belz the second, then Viznitz, Bobov, Gür, Skver and Lubavitch.
On Google Map, i screenshot the streets but i didn't want to see the street views.

I have been there for a day, leaving by one of the first Eurostar and coming back by the last one.

Unfortunately, that was a rainy day!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms6xbSCDw2Y
But i knew that my Hasidim will be out to go to the shul for davening!

Stoke Newington, London, January 2016, ©emmarubinstein

I imagined an area like Williamsburg: 2 main streets with lots of Jewish stores.
The area is bigger than Williamsburg, i followed a Hasidic woman first and i lost her.

I can find my way as a solivagant and was very excited when i saw a black garb because i felt that i find a personal harmony and zenitude to see all of them.

Stoke Newington, London, January 2016, ©emmarubinstein

Black hat, Yiddish and Kosher bread, Stoke Newington, London, January 2016, ©emmarubinstein

I had the aim to find a Hasidic woman and to share a conversation with her. Many questions came to my mind. Will i find the soul of Williamsburg?

There were houses after houses, few Hasidim outside.

I saw a woman in the distance, and i had to talk to her.
I told her right away if she was Hasidic. She looked at me with her mouth agape.
I smiled and told her that i used to live in New York. I mentioned Williamsburg.
I added that i missed those areas a lot!
She was a Satmar, speaking a good English.
They speak Yiddish, not Hebrew.

The moment of grace was about Shabbes. "You should come back for Shabbes". After i asked her for visiting a shul. It was a weekday and shuls are not open for women. My curiosity to see bochurim was high. She gave me the name and the address of a hotel.

Finally, we had a stroll together. She wanted to show me where the Jewish stores were on this part of the area. She said that it will be full of men at this time.
We didn't have the same definition of a crowd. :-)
I wished i could find a bagel store. She was laughing: "That's not like in New York".
Everything is expensive in this area. I didn't have the time to ask her about the lives of the husbands: do they work, what was their main job, etc?
She has been once in New York for a wedding. She wished she could go back to see the Satmar rebbe grave.
She didn't have family in America, despite the huge Satmar families that we can encounter.
I found one of the main street with its bakery, butcher, shoes store called Lee Ave, small supermarket.

Windy beard, Dusnmure Road, Stamford Hill, London, January 2016, ©emmarubinstein

Dusnmure Road, Stamford Hill, London, January 2016, ©emmarubinstein

I enjoyed being in the bakery and look at all these Ashkenazi danishes that i can hardly find in Paris.
Paris should become more Ashkenazi!

Then, i have been in the toy store. When i was at the cashier, i had a delightful conversation with the salesman. He was a Belzer. He smiled bashfully at the beginning, then more talkative finally.
I felt the same amazement when they find someone who is interested by their life.
I told him that i left NY because i didn't feel well there but the European education from the Hasidic community helped me a lot to survive in this jungle where money is a pathology. Who can think that Hasidism was a mental and spiritual medicine for me?

In Williamsburg, despite the devotion that you can feel, you can also see a daily life with the many stores. You feel the speed of the city, they run to the shul.
In London, that's very quiet!

I bought some Jewish stuffs, some Ashkenazi danishes for my mother. I wanted her to taste them.

And i was ready to go to the other part of the road.
I met the same kind of stores. I asked a man in a supermarket for a Kosher restaurant.
They don't seem to go to restaurant. They don't have a café where you can sit. He looked at me very astonished.

I am very intrigued by their life. I will go back there more often to explore.

I felt very well and safe. Safe too because of the fear of the next attack we are waiting for now is inside us for a long time.
They seem unattainable, harmless and protected by Hashem. Because of that, i felt protected.

The redhead of the day, Dusnmure Road, Stamford Hill, London, January 2016, ©emmarubinstein