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Yiddish Signs Order Women In Williamsburg To Step Aside When Men Pass
By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 4, 2011
Modified Oct 4, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 4, 2011
Modified Oct 4, 2011
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A series of colorful street signs directed at women walking on Bedford Avenue are creating controversy in the predominantly Orthodox Hasidic neighborhood of South Williamsburg. Now, it's been a while since we brushed up on our Yiddish, but we think the signs roughly translate to, "Move, bitch, get out the way." Or, as the blog Failed Messiah translates it, "Precious Jewish Daughter: Please move to the side when a man approaches!"
It's unclear exactly where in South Williamsburg the signs appear, but a tipster tells the blog that the signs "are bolted to publicly owned trees along Bedford Avenue." Of course, this isn't the first time the local Satmar community has posted their own signage—you'll recall that at the height of the great Williamsburg bike lane wars, someone erected an unauthorized detour sign on Kent Avenue instructing drivers to head one block east to avoid delays caused by Hasidic school bus drivers blocking traffic to protest the contentious Kent Avenue bike lane.
The new signage has created a predictable firestorm among the Failed Messiah commenters, with one opining, "It seems to me that the men there are so obsessed with forbidden sex that they don't have much time to think about anything else."
Tagged
brooklyn
hasidim
orthodox jews
satmar
south williamsburg
williamsburg
women
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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