The Secret Genius of Hasidic Fashion

JEWISH DAILY FORWARD
By Shulem Deen

'GER DRESS' bu Michael Levin

NEW YORK---“The genius of the Satmar rebbe,” Williamsburg-based artist Michael Levin said of the late Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, the post-Holocaust leader of Williamsburg’s Satmar Hasidic community, “was to say that if you wear a shtreimel and long peyes, everyone will be freaked out and hate you and stay away from you. But in the end, they’ll also respect you.' Whether or not the Satmars have gained the respect of the world is up for debate, but the Satmar Rebbe’s ideology of separatism has proven effective at preserving the Hasidic lifestyle. Hasidic garb, the subject of a new art exhibit by Levin called “Jews of Today: A Primer on Hasidic Dress,” as well as a book by the same name, has perhaps been the most important factor of that ideology. The exhibit, which opened July 20 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is at once an expression of the artist’s fascination with Hasidim as well as a recognition of his outsider status. [link]