The “black hats”, as I have been calling them for years, or the ultra orthodox Haredim, in their uniform black suits and vests with special wide-brimmed hats. The design of the hats and position on the head depend on the particular rabbi to whom the black hat is a disciple. A few of them live in our neighborhood in Austin.
Never saw so many in one place before as on the 10 to 12-hour flights to and from Israel. Going over from Newark, NJ, they and their families made up about a third of the passengers. Coming back they were an easy majority. But, then, according to Wikipedia, there are 1.3 million of them, one of the world’s fastest-growing religious sects. They weren’t very friendly to us ordinary folks on the plane, however, considering themselves, as they do, the only true Jews and the rest of us little better than pagans.
Some secular Israelis resent them for being on government welfare, considering they make up about 12 percent of the population. Seculars call the men names like “penguins” (for their black suits with white shirts), because they deny the legitimacy of Israel and refuse to serve in the IDF. Although with their uniformly large families, none are getting rich on the dole. I imagine many of the ones on the planes were part of the new trend among Haredim “…especially in Israel, [of] flourishing in upper-management business and the diamond industry.” How else to pay the minimum per person thousand dollar round-trip plane fares?
Some of the wives were memorably beautiful, in their long sleeves, skirts and heavy stockings. The men spent most of the flights studying one volume or another of the Talmud in Hebrew. Which is a daily demand of their discipleship. Which also explains the dole. On the flight back to the States, however, their many toddlers were an ice-breaker. Everyone got to smile watching the little guys tottering up and down the aisles, noses running, grinning to beat the band.
These wildflowers on the Golan Heights this time of year remind me how much alike the Texas hill country and Israel are, because we’re approximately on the same latitude and our climates are similar. Our wildflowers also are coming out all over, and although it’s getting steadily warmer, an occasional cold front still blows through every now and then.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 