December 29, 2021 The Hasidic local economy
Today I am sharing a very special video. It’s an on-the-ground exploration of part of the story of the Hasidic economy.
The story of the Hasidic economy is complex and multi-pronged. To understand how Hasidim are able to survive financially in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the world, while having large families and shunning higher education, would take many segments. A part of the story, is the Hasidic real estate story; how Hasidim became the gentrified and gentrifiers of Brooklyn; this is told in the incredible book ‘A Fortress in Brooklyn‘. Another important part of the story is that this community is able to retain a robust local economy while the rest of the world finds small businesses disappear to the larger competition.
In this video post, I visit many local Hasidic shops in Williamsburg. I show how the community’s unique needs drives the unique opportunity not only in shop-keeping, but also in distributing, manufacturing, printing, designing, and more. There is a lot to learn from a community that has been able to resist the incursion of the mega-corporation.
For more of my work on the Hasidic economy, listen to my podcast on the attention economy here.