An older woman donning a smooth auburn wig, wearing a black dress under a grey cardigan with a microphone attached, sits at the end of a long wooden dining table covered with a white table cloth, looking just off to the side. She answers questions about her life with ease, effortlessly describing the logic behind the tradition that she and every other woman in her community shave their heads upon getting married, and begin wearing wigs or kerchiefs. What some people may already recognize, and what others are about to discover, is that nearly no one from outside of Williamsburg, Brooklyn would ever get the chance to speak to this woman. She is part of the ultra-secluded Satmar Hasidic community, which is tucked away in New York City, and she has agreed to a series of special interview discussions with YouTuber and ex-Hasidic Frieda Vizel.
Frieda Vizel, a YouTuber and Brooklyn-area tour guide, has put a fascinating spin on how we view the diversity of people within the Jewish faith. Her channel consists of interviews with different Jewish people, and discusses all sorts of in-depth topics with them, such as Orthodox Jewish education, history, linguistics, music, and domestic life. All of her interview guests have had vastly different experiences and interactions with their Judaism, and every one of them has had something interesting to teach about Jewish faith and culture. With her guests, Vizel works to dispel myths about Judaism, especially the more Conservative and Orthodox parts of the religion that may be unknown to others. She also reviews general media, such as TV shows and movies which feature Judaism, and assesses their accuracy.
Hasidism is an extremely orthodox sub-group of Judaism, often identified by social insularity and strict observation rules. They are significantly more conservative, not only in religious practice but in all parts of life, than most members of other Jewish sects, such as the Conservative and Reform sects. Often, members of Hasidic communities (commonly referred to as Hasidim, a term for a group of Hasidic individuals) speak Yiddish at home, and attend their own religious community schools instead of secular or public schools. Hasidism originated in Poland in the 18th century, but with mass migration, has become most common in the United States and Israel.
Vizel herself brings a unique perspective to the channel as an ex-member of the Satmar Hasidic sect of Judaism, one of the most devoutly religious and insular Jewish communities in the world. She is from the town of Kiryas Joel in New York, a primarily Yiddish-speaking Hasidic community with around 40,000 residents. Vizel often talks about her experiences with leaving the Hasidic community, one that, for the most part, rejected many modern parts of life, including technology and social media. Vizel left the community in 2009 when she was 25 years old, leaving her husband in the community and taking her son. Since discovering and acclimating to modern life, Vizel has shared the challenges that ex-Hasidim often face when they enter the modern world. Often, they are not properly equipped for modern life since their community schools are usually unaccredited, and the education system focuses mostly on religious material while putting minimal effort into academic subjects.
While her former community has changed a lot since she left, she still carries an invaluable perspective on what it means to grow up strictly Orthodox, showing channel-viewers what she learned in the community school, and sharing problems she faced as an adult member. However, Vizel doesn’t take a resentful stance against her former community. The primary goal of her channel is to simply educate others on the lives of the people they may not be aware of, and make sure they don’t fall victim to common stereotypes or misconceptions. Vizel often journeys outside of Hasidic circles for interviews, and anyone who watches Vizel will learn something new from each video.
Vizel’s channel can also be interesting to those who have never interacted with the Jewish faith before. Anyone who wants to learn more about general history, linguistics, or sociology will find something that piques their interest on Vizel’s channel, since she has explored these topics in depth through interviews on multiple occasions. Vizel does a good job of thoroughly explaining terms that are specific to Jewish communities to those who may not be familiar with them, so anyone can dive into Vizel’s videos, even with a limited preexisting knowledge of Jewish culture.
One interview Vizel did with Eddy Portnoy, senior researcher and Director of Exhibitions at YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, offers a fascinating linguistic history of the Jewish languages, especially in the Middle East. Vizel and Portnoy discussed the history and development of modern Hebrew, a Semitic language spoken primarily in Israel, as well as Yiddish, a Germanic language spoken primarily in Ashkenazi communities originating in Europe. They also discussed the fact that while the two languages use the same alphabet, they are their own distinct languages with limited mutual intelligibility.
Another interview Vizel conducted was with a current member of the Williamsburg Hasidic community named Pearl. Vizel takes a more conversational tone with Pearl, talking about common parts of life in the community and opinions on a variety of different topics including marriage and education. These conversations have turned into a series of recurring interviews, and often Vizel directs questions from channel viewers to Pearl so that channel watchers can gain an understanding of a Hasidic member’s inside perspective.
Now, on top of making videos exploring the different sides of the Jewish religion, Vizel also gives tours of Hasidic Williamsburg, another large Hasidic community in Brooklyn, where she brings tourists to Hasidic-owned stores to experience Hasidic life up close.
You can explore her website here, and her YouTube channel here.
Image Source: The Spectator