Originally Posted by
prathmann
From the article: "Leaders of South Williamsburg's Hasidic community said yesterday that bike lanes that bring scantily clad cyclists - especially sexy women - peddling through their neighborhood are definitely not kosher."
What exactly are the women accused of "peddling" (i.e. selling)? I expect to see the confusion between 'peddle' and 'pedal' in forum posts, but I'm a little surprised to see it in a newspaper article, even if it is the New York Post instead of the Times.
I missed that spelling error, but the fact that they referred to the "Hasidic" community instead of identifying the particular sect or sects further illustrates their poor journalistic quality.
The article never identified who was a leader of what group, other than one person who is a member of the Community Board (a public, secular position). For all we know, this could just be some outspoken private individuals expressing their opinion in a public forum, as is their right, with no indication of what the actual religious leaders are doing.
For what it's worth, the largest sect in Williamsburg is the Satmar sect, a group that doesn't even approve of the state of Israel (believing they need to wait for the Messiah before establishing a government in Israel). Their reputation is separatist, even from other Jewish groups, which raises my suspicions of the article, but I suppose they may be taking a more active role in local government these days.
In any event, the desire to impose your rules on other people comes in all flavors, not just religious.