Word: hasidim
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Almost a third of the workers on 47th Street are Hasidic Jews, a Yiddish-speaking, fundamentalist sect. The men let their beards and forelocks grow, as admonished by the Old Testament book of Leviticus. Deeply religious, the Hasidim from Brooklyn travel in a bus that is divided down the aisle by a curtain, segregating men and women for prayer sessions on the way to work...
...high value the Hasidim place on personal honor sets the tone for the street, where packets of diamonds worth hundreds of thousands of dollars are traded by verbal agreements. Says one dealer: "If I broke my word in a deal, the word would be passed, and I would be dead in the business. No one would talk to me. I would be shunned...
Packets of diamonds in the rough, as well as polished stones cut by the street's manufacturers, are traded in the club's nondescript 200-ft. by 200-ft. room. Reports TIME'S John Tompkins: "You get into an elevator with a crowd of Hasidim and feel them staring, wondering who you are. All the brokers know each other by sight, if not by name. A set of electrically operated bulletproof glass doors leads to the room's lobby, and another automatic door, with the legend NO VISITORS ALLOWED, and operated by a guard, leads...
...growing problem on the street is that the traditional codes revered by the Hasidim are not as deeply ingrained in what they refer to as the street's "new element." There has been an influx of younger, Middle Eastern Jews into the trade. Says one oldtime cutter: "They are aggressive, irresponsible, not steeped in tradition." Broker Pinchos Jaroslawicz, 25, made the mistake of trusting one of these new diamond workers, a young Israeli named Shlomo Tal. Jaroslawicz took along his pouch of diamonds one day in September 1977, when he went to call on Tal. The young Israeli...
Despite the problems, the street is resisting change, reluctant to move away from dealing in nods and trust and credit. On a sunny spring day, small groups of Hasidim, shaded by their wide-brimmed hats, stand on the sidewalk in front of the delis, speaking Yiddish, holding diamonds up for study and striking deals. Antwerp must have had similar scenes in 1608, when there were 104 Jewish diamond cutters in the city. On 47th Street, the old ways are still the best. They always have been in the diamond business...