Hasidic Men on 7th Ave

Do a search on Lubovitch + Cult, skip the clearly racist forums and go right to the Jewish forums and web sites. I don't have the heart for this discussion.

i disagree that lubavitchers constitute a "cult," but how saying so anti-semetic?

I tried to read this thread carefully, so in case I am correct that this aspect of the question has not yet been answered:

I have never been asked for donations from any lubavitcher. What you might have mistook for a donation box were actually tefillin, which are small ebony (plastic) boxes containing pieces of sacred text, which you wear on an arm and a forehead when praying:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tefillin

During prayer, religious Jews generally abstain from commerce. Most will not even carry a wallet or pocket change to temple… not even a pen and paper, in fact, so I think it is unlikely that they were seeking donations.

Jews are prohibited from prosthletizing, which is why they seemingly shun non-Jews when striking up these conversations. To bring a secular Jew back to into the fold is a mitzvah... but to try to convert a non Jew without his or her having made the first move is considered a sin. It’s not that they don’t like you as much as it is that you don’t fit their mission. And being that most orthodox Jews don’t have extensive contact with non-Jews, perhaps their social skills are just not as (seemingly) gracious as one might expect.

As I write this, I find that I dislike writing about religion for a message board, and I am sure I unintentionally said something offensive to someone here, but here we go…

jamesburger - thanks for the explanation!

I always wondered what was with the "Are you Jewish?" question, so I've learned a lot from this discusssion.

And kosherdave - I also wondered what happened inside the sukkah, thanks for enlightening me! I had a nagging feelng something really good was happening inside and I was missing out - like being stuck at the velvet rope at the door of a cool club!