"Within the matrix of security footage in my apartment building in
south Williamsburg, one camera has captured something that my doorman
insists I watch. 'It happened five minutes ago,' he says, scrolling
through the footage to 2:57 p.m. 'This is the craziest thing I have ever
seen.'…"
Kat McCue writes in the New York Times City Room blog:
In other words, this hasidic woman secretly changed into clothing identifying herself as an average non-hasidic haredi woman, a Chabad woman or a conservatively dressed Modern Orthodox woman and in that found a measure of freedom.Within the matrix of security footage in my apartment building in south Williamsburg, one camera has captured something that my doorman insists I watch. “It happened five minutes ago,” he says, scrolling through the footage to 2:57 p.m. “This is the craziest thing I have ever seen.” The camera feed shows the back entrance of my building, where tenants lock up their bikes. A white van is parked there.
On cue, a Hasidic woman hustles into the lot, alone. She takes cover behind the van. With premeditated efficiency, she undoes the scarf wrapped around her head, revealing the perfectly coifed, ubiquitous shoulder-length wig that renders all Hasidic women anonymous to a layperson like me. Next, off comes her equally anonymous ensemble, the long-sleeved black cardigan and the ankle-length black skirt.
She rolls all of her black garments into a little black ball, paying surreptitious glances about her surroundings. Underneath her modest black outfit, she’s been wearing a long-sleeved blouse and a pale pink skirt ending just at her knees.…