Entering America’s Most Religious Community

I am a Muslim and I like family oriented communities, I respect the people who follow what they believe. I enjoyed watching

i am muslim and i was taught to hate jewish community because of israel and so on.. but now i am older and realised people have to see more of the world and build their own opinion about things and people! i have much respect to the jewish community and find them very interesting and enjoyed the video! i would love to visit.

As a child of a former Hasidic father, these people can either be the most accommodating people or the ones who will shun you the most. I find my religion to be a beautiful, amazing religion but some of them are insane 😅

Great piece! Thanks for taking the time to document this. As a Jew born in Brooklyn and growing up in Manhattan, this bring a lot of clarity and understanding to even someone who lived there.

This was a very challenging story to tell, given all of the tension and controversy, but I felt that I did the best of my ability to tell a well-rounded story, highlighting both the positives and the negatives in the community. One note about the North Korean internet comparison - I do regret keeping that part in because it is not true, and I got carried away. Thank you to those who have pointed it out. My team and I worked for 6 months to get this video edited and ready to post, and I am really proud of how it came out. Huge thanks to Abby Stein, Shloime Zionce, Beri Weber and the others who gave me their time to explain life in their community. As always, I welcome your comments, thoughts and suggestions about the Hasidics in the comments here. I will be reading them all and responding to as many as I can 🙏

A lesson we can all learn from this video: at least once a week, put the phone down and be in the moment with your family and friends. Thank you, Drew.

I might say this was one of my favorite videos you have made and I just discovered your channel about a month ago. I’ve watched a ton. This was fascinating, thanks Drew! ❤ from Tennessee!

An incredibly interesting video to watch. Thank you so much for your efforts in producing this wonderful insight in to the people within the Hasidic community. Peace to you all.

I'm not Jewish and I found this insight into the culture fascinating. It clearly shows all the efforts that went into it. Thank you for showing this to the world, I think it's brilliant

I am a 74 year old Catholic and I have always taken a special interest in Jewish history, ways and customs. This was by far, one of the most informative pieces I have ever seen and I thank you for your work and message. I found it fascinating and enlightening.

Loved your time with Shloime in particular .... very touching insight into shabat

Thank you for sharing this with the world. I loved it!

Those teenagers answers about the religion was so sincere and open minded. Such thoughtful smart kids. Seems like the community is raising good people. Something this society needs.

I'm not only not Jewish, but not religious at all. I have no idea why YouTube suggested this video to me but I'm incredibly pleased it did. I find it fascinating to learn about different peoples cultures, religions, or just their ways of life in a more general sense. You've earned a new subscriber today.

I loved this!! I lived in Williamsburg for two years and I learned more about my former neighbors from this video than from living a few blocks over from them. I have respect for this somewhat mysterious-seeming culture and I think some of their practices (like the kindness/judgement thing) are really beautiful. Anyway fantastic video!

Very Pleased & thank you for making this happen. Learned something new & interesting today.

Abby Stein was really courageous for helping with this tour. I understand the community didn't work for her, but she was neutral and even supportive about the way it works for others. I thought she made a great liaison, bridging the cultural gap. And it's also important because there is an LGBTQ population in orthodox communities which need to feel that they have a face, a voice and a choice. Many kudos and thanks to Abby for her charm and kindness in the making of this video.

I'm Roman Catholic, the part where the Jewish mother and Muslim mother together in the park, made my heart smile. Watching blessing his children made me tear up......thank you.

I grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family, a rabbi’s daughter and also exposed to Chassidic Judaism and personally drawn to it. The passionate zeal, beauty and holiness in the traditional Torah centered Chasidic way of life is so unique. I went to Beis Yaakov summer camp for girls and was blessed to go to yeshivot and even study and live in the dormitory at the women’s branch of Yeshiva University with other Rabbi’s daughters. I left that fold at age 21 to experience regular American life, many people and cultures and other religions. As for a holy and spiritual daily life, I don’t think anything else compares to Chasidic Judaism and that community life. I left it, but thankfully, it never has never left me. True love and beauty, holiness and kindness— are everlasting. I’m so grateful it’s still in me. This video is precious and yet I feel that you have to have experienced it to really take it in. I too, feel grateful that this wonderful attempt was made. ❤

As a person who grew up in Bedford-Stuyvesant ...and walked many times in Williamsburg I LOVED THIS FILM. At 70 years old this took me back to all I learned about the HASIDIC COMMUNITY and their traditions. Thank you!