Chareidim & Us
Dancing Around a Coffin: Charedim & Us by Rabbi Perry Tirschwell I travelled back 200 years in time in thirty minutes two weeks ago. My dearly departed father was a committed Conservative Jew whose best friend was a Skvira Chassid. What began as a business relationship developed into an unlikely yedidim k’nafshiim friendship. They took trips to Israel together and bought cars together. My father ordered New Square’s first New York Times subscription for him, and he left a bag of challahs and cake on our doorstep every Friday afternoon. He and his wife came to our simchas, and my parents went to the simchas of their 15 children. They are truly special people- modest, intelligent, welcoming and caring. When I got the call that this chassid’s brother died, I quickly drove (on an hour’s notice- in New Square they take kavod hameis very seriously) to New Square for the funeral. Though only thirty minutes from Teaneck, New Square is a parallel universe. There ar