Clemence de Limburg

Satmar

Resistance to Americanization is such that although there is no physical wall to isolate them, a strong 'sociological wall' separates this group from activities that might encroach on its cultural stability. - Solomon Poll

My work explores the Satmar community of Williamsburg, New York, one of the most ultra-orthodox movements of Hasidic Judaism today. The images express how I experience the social isolation that is at the core of this insular world. The Satmars, who originated in Satu Mare, Romania, are among the more isolationist of the Hasidic sects, which are named for the Eastern European towns that gave birth to them. Since their arrival from Europe after World War II, the Hasidim have transformed their urban neighborhoods into veritable "islands in the city". Separating themselves through daily activities (including the clothes they wear, the food they eat, the places they gather, and even the language they speak among themselves) they have created a well functioning community with social controls and little or no deviation. The Hasidic leadership recognized that the greatest enemy of Hasidism is change. Today the community faces a much bigger challenge to their "shtetl" life. In recent years a real estate boom in the area has exposed the young Hasidim more than ever to secular culture, with the arrival of artist and modernist in their neighborhood.

A secular observer wonders what keeps a Satmar tethered to this restricted world. The Satmar wonders why you wonder.

The last Night of the Sukkos Holliday on Hewes Street in Williamsburg.
   
A Satmar family celebrates Purim in Williamsburg. Young men from the Satmar community ask for Charity to the head of each household they visit. Purim is the only night of the year when Hasidic men are allowed to get drunk.
   
A Hasidic man rests in his Sukkah in Williamsburg. During the Sukkos Holliday every family builds and decorates a wooden Sukkah on the street. Orthodox practice calls for men to take all their meals in the Sukkah for a week. The Sukkah symbolizes the clouds that shielded their ancestors during their exodus.
     
  
A Hasidic woman with her kids dressed up for Purim. According to the Washington Post Hasidic women have an average of eight children.
   
A Hasidic woman on the street in Williamsburg.
   
Self-portrait at "The Rose Castle" during a Satmar Wedding in Williamsburg.
     
  
A Satmar Wedding at The Rose Castle in Williamsburg.
   
Shadow of a Hasidic man on a Yiddish advertising board, on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg. The Hasidic Community has incorporated modern devices, like Yiddish advertising or bulletins, into their lives to promote and advance their own religious observance in the neighborhood.
   
Orthodox practice calls for the separation of men and women in the Synagogue. Here women watch the men, as they dance and sing at a wedding ceremony in the Satmar synagogue on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg. Hasidic women must wear skirts that cover their knees and stockings to cover their legs all year around.
     
  
Hasidic women, at a charity party, watch a documentary about Hasidic men who volunteer for the Hatzolah Ambulance Corps (private Hasidic ambulance) in Williamsburg. Orthodox practice calls for women to cover their head after marriage.
   
A couple on the corner of Bedford Avenue and Wallabout Avenue in Williamsburg.
   
The last Night of the Sukkos Holliday on Hewes Street in Williamsburg.