[lbo-talk] umbrellas and hasidism

[Michael Pollak]

On Fri, 27 Mar 2009, Shag wrote:


> I live a couple of blocks from three Jewish temples and there's a large 
> Hasidic population here. It's been raining for days and I noticed: no 
> one uses an umbrella.... Anyone know the scoop?

Well, it's against Jewish law for normal orthodox Jews to use an umbrella 
on the sabbath:

http://books.google.com/books?id=XGEMTh6xCV4C&pg=PA202&lpg=PA202&dq=umbrella+jewish+law&source=bl&ots=H5HLTJdWcu&sig=oPyU_Mycv8aeR5lNAZ51PDzReds&hl=en&ei=G7bNScCbPJuclQfyprGuCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result

The whole point of Hasidism is to over-achieve.  If the normal kosher law 
says you have to test 1 pea per bag to make sure it's kosher, the Hasidim 
test 10 or 100.

So my guess -- purely a guess -- is that somewhere along the line one of 
their Rebbes (and each group has its own -- they only look the same to 
outsiders) decided that if it's not right to use an umbrella on the 
sabbath, a real apple polisher wouldn't use an umbrella every time they 
went to temple, because even these non-sabbath times are holier than 
normal times.

Just my guess.

Michael