Hasidic women in Brooklyn break through the gender barrier to establish their own ambulance service

In a new documentary, the brave work of a group of rule-breaking women in an Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn is brought to light

The women of 93Queen. Photograph: Julieta Cervantes

For many years, Hasidic women in the Brooklyn neighbourhood of Borough Park had a problem.

If they were stricken by illness or accident, or suddenly went into labour, their only ambulance option was the local branch of the Hatzolah, a volunteer emergency service set up to serve Orthodox Jews.

The Hatzolah are good; the crews have a response time of one to two minutes. But the Hatzolah are also all male – a very real issue in a religion and community that orders strict separation of genders.

It meant Hasidic women needing emergency medical attention would sometimes refrain from calling for an ambulance.

“Women were too embarrassed to call for help and then didn’t call for help,” said Paula Eiselt, the director of 93Queen, a new documentary which follows the efforts of Hasidic women in Borough Park to set up their own all female, ambulance service.

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Happy Hanukkah 2013

Picture from The Muslim Times

Hanukkah began last night. Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, is a time of great festivity.  It is an eight-day Jewish observance that remembers the Jewish people's struggle for religious freedom.

This writer recalls once, when living in Sydney, coming across (with a friend) a singing, dancing, making-music group of Jewish young people in Martin Place.  They were Hasidic, I believe.  The merry making was in celebration of Hanukkah and the young  people caught my friend and I up in the festivity and dancing. A memorable interlude.

More about Hanukkah

Hanukkah candle lighting blessings

Guide to lighting Hanukkah candles

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Faith and secularism - can they co-exist?

Picture from Here

UNITED STATES

In Death of Ex-Hasid Estranged From Her Religious Children, a Mirror for Trauma of Many

A father reflects on his own efforts to stay close to his children after deciding to live a secular life

By Shulem Deen|October 2, 2013 12:00 AM|

Last Friday, Deb Tambor, a 33-year-old woman who left the Skverer Hasidic community in New York, took her own life.

Like me, Deb was part of the growing community of ex-haredim, men and women who have undertaken difficult journeys away from ultra-Orthodoxy. I do not know all the specifics in Deb’s case, but I do know that, like me, she was denied meaningful contact with her children because she chose to leave her Hasidic community.

The particulars of her situation were unusually sad: She was allowed to see her children only once a month, under supervision of a family member who remained within the community where she grew up. She was not allowed to take her children out of the Hasidic enclave where they live. The visits were frequently canceled; the children had weddings and bar mitzvahs and other events to attend, and she could always visit with them next month, she was told. She felt humiliated when they began to call her by her first name, Devorah. She wanted them to keep calling her “Mommy,” but “Mommy” was a title given to somebody else—the Hasidic woman her ex-husband married.

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