Frieda Vizel: How the World Misunderstands Hasidic Jewry [Outreach 2/5]

In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Frieda Vizel—a formerly Satmar Jew who makes educational content about Hasidic life—about her work presenting Hasidic Williamsburg to the outside world, and vice-versa. 

In this episode we discuss:

—Why would someone who leaves the Hasidic community become something of an emissary for her previous world?
—How does Frieda serve as a “cultural translator” between Williamsburg Hasidim and the “guests” on her tours? 
—How does one convey the “essence” of a culture to visitors who might never experience its depths? 

Tune in to hear a conversation about how a community’s particularities might be precisely what makes it universally relatable. 

Intro: 0:00
Interview begins at 5:42
Outro: 1:04:46

Frieda Vizel is a blogger and tour guide of Hasidic Williamsburg. Frieda is well-known for her informational videos with an insider’s look at the customs and traditions of Hasidic life, and for her ability to effectively navigate cross-cultural contact and communication between Hasidic and non-Hasidic Jews.

References:

Take One with Liel Leibovitz

Frieda Vizel on YouTube

A Life Apart: Hasidism in America (1997)

Unorthodox (2020)

Hasidism: A New History by David Biale

A Fortress in Brooklyn by Michael Casper and Nathaniel Deutsch

Hasidic People by Jerome R. Mintz

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter

Le Ton Beau De Marot: In Praise Of The Music Of Language by Douglas R. Hofstadter

Genesis 12:3

Likutei Moharan 19

Joey Rosenfeld on Translation