{"id":59727,"date":"2014-11-05T09:48:41","date_gmt":"2014-11-05T17:48:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=59727"},"modified":"2014-11-05T09:48:41","modified_gmt":"2014-11-05T17:48:41","slug":"the-parallel-universe-of-the-hasidic-jew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=59727","title":{"rendered":"The Parallel Universe Of The Hasidic Jew"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>New York Times journalist Joseph Berger writes in his book <A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/The-Pious-Ones-Hasidim-Battles\/dp\/0062123343\">The Pious Ones: The World of Hasidim and Their Battles with America<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>In the secular realm, the laws of the Russian or Polish state persecuted Jews and barred them from whole territories or occupations, so Hasidim paid lip service to those laws, observed them in fear but, like the Sicilians did with various conquerors, ignored or broke them outright when they could because they were the oppressive laws of a powerful invader. What was paramount was the the Torah, as enforced by the rabbis and rabbinic courts, where the reckoning for transgressions was divine or in some cases could lead to communal ostracism. That history of a dual system sometimes explains, though it does not excuse, what outsiders today view as a cavalier disregard that Hasidim have for America&#8217;s tax laws, fire codes, educational standards and other manifestations of the governmental authority.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New York Times journalist Joseph Berger writes in his book The Pious Ones: The World of Hasidim and Their Battles with America: In the secular realm, the laws of the Russian or Polish state persecuted Jews and barred them from &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=59727\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hasidim","category-jews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 4.9.8 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New York Times journalist Joseph Berger writes in his book The Pious Ones: The World of Hasidim and Their Battles with America: In the secular realm, the laws of the Russian or Polish state persecuted Jews and barred them from whole territories or occupations, so Hasidim paid lip service to those laws, observed them in\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"max-image-preview:large\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Luke Ford\"\/>\n\t<meta name=\"google-site-verification\" content=\"HMjuOfLRyzTPB-5Z5FG4BHkfZ1fbEij34rmbKM3BkZ4\" \/>\n\t<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=59727\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"generator\" content=\"All in One SEO (AIOSEO) 4.9.8\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Luke Ford - No sacred cows.\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Parallel Universe Of The Hasidic Jew - Luke Ford\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New York Times journalist Joseph Berger writes in his book The Pious Ones: The World of Hasidim and Their Battles with America: In the secular realm, the laws of the Russian or Polish state persecuted Jews and barred them from whole territories or occupations, so Hasidim paid lip service to those laws, observed them in\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=59727\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/lukesanta.jpg\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image:secure_url\" content=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/lukesanta.jpg\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-11-05T17:48:41+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-11-05T17:48:41+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lukecford\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@lukeford\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"The Parallel Universe Of The Hasidic Jew - Luke Ford\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"New York Times journalist Joseph Berger writes in his book The Pious Ones: The World of Hasidim and Their Battles with America: In the secular realm, the laws of the Russian or Polish state persecuted Jews and barred them from whole territories or occupations, so Hasidim paid lip service to those laws, observed them in\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@lukeford\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/lukesanta.jpg\" \/>\n\t\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"aioseo-schema\">\n\t\t\t{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BlogPosting\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=59727#blogposting\",\"name\":\"The Parallel Universe Of The Hasidic Jew - Luke Ford\",\"headline\":\"The Parallel Universe Of The Hasidic Jew\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?author=1#author\"},\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/#person\"},\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=59727#articleImage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/litespeed\\\/avatar\\\/af8ecf5ef66099147247f500ec429b38.jpg?ver=1781785717\",\"width\":96,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"Luke Ford\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-11-05T09:48:41-08:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-11-05T09:48:41-08:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=59727#webpage\"},\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=59727#webpage\"},\"articleSection\":\"Hasidim, Jews\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=59727#breadcrumblist\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog#listItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?cat=29#listItem\",\"name\":\"Jews\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?cat=29#listItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Jews\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?cat=29\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=59727#listItem\",\"name\":\"The Parallel Universe Of The Hasidic Jew\"},\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog#listItem\",\"name\":\"Home\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=59727#listItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"The Parallel Universe Of The Hasidic Jew\",\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?cat=29#listItem\",\"name\":\"Jews\"}}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/#person\",\"name\":\"Luke Ford\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=59727#personImage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/litespeed\\\/avatar\\\/af8ecf5ef66099147247f500ec429b38.jpg?ver=1781785717\",\"width\":96,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"Luke Ford\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?author=1#author\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?author=1\",\"name\":\"Luke Ford\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=59727#authorImage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/litespeed\\\/avatar\\\/af8ecf5ef66099147247f500ec429b38.jpg?ver=1781785717\",\"width\":96,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"Luke Ford\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=59727#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=59727\",\"name\":\"The Parallel Universe Of The Hasidic Jew - Luke Ford\",\"description\":\"New York Times journalist Joseph Berger writes in his book The Pious Ones: The World of Hasidim and Their Battles with America: In the secular realm, the laws of the Russian or Polish state persecuted Jews and barred them from whole territories or occupations, so Hasidim paid lip service to those laws, observed them in\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=59727#breadcrumblist\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?author=1#author\"},\"creator\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?author=1#author\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-11-05T09:48:41-08:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-11-05T09:48:41-08:00\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Luke Ford\",\"alternateName\":\"No Sacred Cows\",\"description\":\"No sacred cows.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/#person\"}}]}\n\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO -->\n\n","aioseo_head_json":{"title":"The Parallel Universe Of The Hasidic Jew - Luke Ford","description":"New York Times journalist Joseph Berger writes in his book The Pious Ones: The World of Hasidim and Their Battles with America: In the secular realm, the laws of the Russian or Polish state persecuted Jews and barred them from whole territories or occupations, so Hasidim paid lip service to those laws, observed them in","canonical_url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=59727","robots":"max-image-preview:large","keywords":"","webmasterTools":{"google-site-verification":"HMjuOfLRyzTPB-5Z5FG4BHkfZ1fbEij34rmbKM3BkZ4","miscellaneous":""},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=59727#blogposting","name":"The Parallel Universe Of The Hasidic Jew - Luke Ford","headline":"The Parallel Universe Of The Hasidic Jew","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?author=1#author"},"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/#person"},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=59727#articleImage","url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/af8ecf5ef66099147247f500ec429b38.jpg?ver=1781785717","width":96,"height":96,"caption":"Luke Ford"},"datePublished":"2014-11-05T09:48:41-08:00","dateModified":"2014-11-05T09:48:41-08:00","inLanguage":"en-US","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=59727#webpage"},"isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=59727#webpage"},"articleSection":"Hasidim, Jews"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=59727#breadcrumblist","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog#listItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?cat=29#listItem","name":"Jews"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?cat=29#listItem","position":2,"name":"Jews","item":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?cat=29","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=59727#listItem","name":"The Parallel Universe Of The Hasidic Jew"},"previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog#listItem","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=59727#listItem","position":3,"name":"The Parallel Universe Of The Hasidic Jew","previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?cat=29#listItem","name":"Jews"}}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/#person","name":"Luke Ford","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=59727#personImage","url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/af8ecf5ef66099147247f500ec429b38.jpg?ver=1781785717","width":96,"height":96,"caption":"Luke Ford"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?author=1#author","url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?author=1","name":"Luke Ford","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=59727#authorImage","url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/af8ecf5ef66099147247f500ec429b38.jpg?ver=1781785717","width":96,"height":96,"caption":"Luke Ford"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=59727#webpage","url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=59727","name":"The Parallel Universe Of The Hasidic Jew - Luke Ford","description":"New York Times journalist Joseph Berger writes in his book The Pious Ones: The World of Hasidim and Their Battles with America: In the secular realm, the laws of the Russian or Polish state persecuted Jews and barred them from whole territories or occupations, so Hasidim paid lip service to those laws, observed them in","inLanguage":"en-US","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/#website"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=59727#breadcrumblist"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?author=1#author"},"creator":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?author=1#author"},"datePublished":"2014-11-05T09:48:41-08:00","dateModified":"2014-11-05T09:48:41-08:00"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/","name":"Luke Ford","alternateName":"No Sacred Cows","description":"No sacred cows.","inLanguage":"en-US","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/#person"}}]},"og:locale":"en_US","og:site_name":"Luke Ford - No sacred cows.","og:type":"article","og:title":"The Parallel Universe Of The Hasidic Jew - Luke Ford","og:description":"New York Times journalist Joseph Berger writes in his book The Pious Ones: The World of Hasidim and Their Battles with America: In the secular realm, the laws of the Russian or Polish state persecuted Jews and barred them from whole territories or occupations, so Hasidim paid lip service to those laws, observed them in","og:url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=59727","og:image":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/lukesanta.jpg","og:image:secure_url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/lukesanta.jpg","og:image:width":800,"og:image:height":600,"article:published_time":"2014-11-05T17:48:41+00:00","article:modified_time":"2014-11-05T17:48:41+00:00","article:publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lukecford","twitter:card":"summary_large_image","twitter:site":"@lukeford","twitter:title":"The Parallel Universe Of The Hasidic Jew - Luke Ford","twitter:description":"New York Times journalist Joseph Berger writes in his book The Pious Ones: The World of Hasidim and Their Battles with America: In the secular realm, the laws of the Russian or Polish state persecuted Jews and barred them from whole territories or occupations, so Hasidim paid lip service to those laws, observed them in","twitter:creator":"@lukeford","twitter:image":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/lukesanta.jpg"},"aioseo_meta_data":{"post_id":"59727","title":null,"description":null,"keywords":null,"keyphrases":null,"primary_term":null,"canonical_url":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"og_object_type":"default","og_image_type":"default","og_image_url":null,"og_image_width":null,"og_image_height":null,"og_image_custom_url":null,"og_image_custom_fields":null,"og_video":null,"og_custom_url":null,"og_article_section":null,"og_article_tags":null,"twitter_use_og":false,"twitter_card":"default","twitter_image_type":"default","twitter_image_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_fields":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"schema":{"blockGraphs":[],"customGraphs":[],"default":{"data":{"Article":[],"Course":[],"Dataset":[],"FAQPage":[],"Movie":[],"Person":[],"Product":[],"ProductReview":[],"Car":[],"Recipe":[],"Service":[],"SoftwareApplication":[],"WebPage":[]},"graphName":"","isEnabled":true},"graphs":[]},"schema_type":"default","schema_type_options":null,"pillar_content":false,"robots_default":true,"robots_noindex":false,"robots_noarchive":false,"robots_nosnippet":false,"robots_nofollow":false,"robots_noimageindex":false,"robots_noodp":false,"robots_notranslate":false,"robots_max_snippet":null,"robots_max_videopreview":null,"robots_max_imagepreview":"large","priority":null,"frequency":null,"local_seo":null,"breadcrumb_settings":null,"limit_modified_date":false,"ai":null,"created":"2023-05-11 13:23:00","updated":"2025-06-05 05:37:16","seo_analyzer_scan_date":null},"aioseo_breadcrumb":"<div class=\"aioseo-breadcrumbs\"><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\" title=\"Home\">Home<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?cat=29\" title=\"Jews\">Jews<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\tThe Parallel Universe Of The Hasidic Jew\n\t\t<\/span><\/div>","aioseo_breadcrumb_json":[{"label":"Home","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog"},{"label":"Jews","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?cat=29"},{"label":"The Parallel Universe Of The Hasidic Jew","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=59727"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59727"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59728,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59727\/revisions\/59728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}