The Peyes are stuck in the Door !

B"H

"Peyes (the side curls of Chassidim) always bother", I heard a young Israeli soldier saying to his friend. The two were sitting on the same bus with me and I overheard their rather funny sounding conversation. Although the two were soldiers in the Israeli army, both came originally for the US.

"Why is that ?" the second soldier asked his friend.
"Well, because long Peyes can get stuck everywhere. Just imagine you shut the door and uuurrgghhh. They are stuck behind you".

Personally, I have never met anyone whose Peyes got stuck in a door, in a car, in machines etc. Maybe there are such incidents, who knows.

Generally, Chassidim always get the first looks due to their different clothing style. Wearing a Streimel (traditional fur hat) or long coat (caftan) during the hot summer heat cannot be too pleasant and outsiders are wondering about that. "Who can suffer such clothes ?" they then ask.

However, nowhere in the world is tradition as important as in the chassidic world. Many Chassidim say that tradition which proved to be right 50 years ago, 100 years ago or 300 years ago, cannot be wrong today. And many Chassidim go according to the "Chatam Sofer" (Rabbi Moshe Sofer, 1762 - 1839, born in Frankfurt / Germany and died in Bratislava). In particular, the Chassidut Dushinsky is following him in detail. The Chatam Sofer fought enthusiastically against the new reform movement. "The Torah doesn't allow us any changes", Rabbi Moshe Sofer stated. However, his followers extended this ideology also into many issues concerning the private life.

Once, I was invited by a Dushinsky family where the host told me that she learned all her traditions from her mother. Not only regarding her modest clothing style but also the behaviour towards the children as well as the hairstyle of a chassidic woman.
"Of course, my children theoretically could have left the old ways and set up some changes. Anyway, I raised them this way that they wouldn't", she let me know.

Don't such views and opinions show fear of anything new in life ? And if there was anything new, would this automatically lead to changes within the whole chassidic society ? Would then society fall apart ?

I don't think so because the roots are too deep. Maybe Hundreds of rebels would have to show up in order to cause a few slow changes. But who wants to cause great changes when the old ways have mostly proven right ? And even if there were some rebels, who would endanger his own place in chassidic society ? Who would endanger good schools for his children and suitable Shidduchim ? Whoever wants changes, has to face society consequences.

Despite all the traditions, I have never heard a Chassid complaining about his Peyes being stuck in a door !!!