In chapter 4 Goldschmidt expressed the importance of dress to Jewish identity in terms of Hasidic, Lubavitch and black Jews. They had similar mindsets of somewhat ‘defining’ themselves by their clothing but communicated these outlooks in different forms of fashion.
I found it interesting that in spite of their relatively strict rules of clothing, Lubavitch men chose to dress comparatively ‘modern’ rather than less traditionally like other Hasidim. In the eyes of a fellow Jew this may have been ‘too liberal’. Still, in the eyes of a gentile, these men are very traditional in the ‘long black coats’. Although they may have been criticized by other Hasidim for their Americanized style of clothing, I found it very interesting that Lubavitchers were still very close knit to their dress. A black man stated that a Jewish man could take out his yarmulke or cut his sideburns to blend in with society but he could not disguise the fact that he is black. A Lubavitcher, on the other hand, stated that he related with the Black man for he could not take of his yarmulke or his beard to assimilate with society. To me, a gentile, this was hard to understand at first because the Jewish man was comparing keeping his beard, which I thought was his choice, to someone keeping their skin color. Ultimately, I recognized his spiritual devotion as a way of life, due to the ‘Jewishness’ in his blood.
A Jewish person in Crown Heights was permanently associated with this form of clothing to an extent where a Hasidic man failed to recognize a black Jewish girl and later apologized for it. Goldschmidt described the confrontation between the man and the black girls as very violent, in terms of the man’s actions. An ‘innocent’ interaction between two children turned into an attack on a black Jew. The Hasidic man ‘profusely’ apologized for punching a Jewish girl, not just for punching a teenager or shoving a girl. He explained that when punching the girl, he ‘didn’t know’ that she was Jewish. What difference would this have made? Would he have dealt with it differently if he knew or if it was a most distinctive Jewish girl?
