Sunday, August 30, 2009
Brooklyn bike loan gets Hasids and Hipsters rollin' together
An unusual sign appeared in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn in early August. On it is a large Star of David constructed out of 50 or so rubber chickens. In the middle of the star, Yiddish text offers a free bike loan to any of the Yiddish-speaking Satmar Hasidim who live in the area.
"You can come borrow a bike to ride around and have fun," the sign reads.
Baruch Herzfeld, a neighborhood gadfly/clown/activist/businessman who owns a small bicycle repair shop below the offices of his cell phone company (the shop's name: Traif Bike Geschaft), put up the sign.
Herzfeld, 37, already has sent some of his Hasidic friends down to the Brooklyn waterfront on the beat-up bikes he has in his repair shop. He just received 500 used bikes from Japan that will allow him to expand his program.
"These guys always complain to me. They say: 'Baruch, what can I do? I'm miserable. Help me out,'" Herzfeld said. "I said, come to me. I'll give you a bicycle on the side."
Herzfeld's office is smack in the middle of the divided territory of Williamsburg, a neighborhood that has long been inhabited by Satmar Hasidim but has recently become a favorite of young secular New York hipsters. These two communities have little in common, but they have been particularly divided over the past year by proposed bike lanes through the neighborhood ? which the Hasidim have opposed and the hipsters have generally supported. Herzfeld thinks that if he can get a few Hasidim riding bikes, it could ease some of the tension.
"The goal is just to make it acceptable. I'm not doing it because I want to change the world ? I just think it would be a healthy thing for the whole city if some of these guys got on bicycles," he said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1111097.html
"You can come borrow a bike to ride around and have fun," the sign reads.
Baruch Herzfeld, a neighborhood gadfly/clown/activist/businessman who owns a small bicycle repair shop below the offices of his cell phone company (the shop's name: Traif Bike Geschaft), put up the sign.
Herzfeld, 37, already has sent some of his Hasidic friends down to the Brooklyn waterfront on the beat-up bikes he has in his repair shop. He just received 500 used bikes from Japan that will allow him to expand his program.
"These guys always complain to me. They say: 'Baruch, what can I do? I'm miserable. Help me out,'" Herzfeld said. "I said, come to me. I'll give you a bicycle on the side."
Herzfeld's office is smack in the middle of the divided territory of Williamsburg, a neighborhood that has long been inhabited by Satmar Hasidim but has recently become a favorite of young secular New York hipsters. These two communities have little in common, but they have been particularly divided over the past year by proposed bike lanes through the neighborhood ? which the Hasidim have opposed and the hipsters have generally supported. Herzfeld thinks that if he can get a few Hasidim riding bikes, it could ease some of the tension.
"The goal is just to make it acceptable. I'm not doing it because I want to change the world ? I just think it would be a healthy thing for the whole city if some of these guys got on bicycles," he said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1111097.html
Comments:
Post a Comment
