Nancy’s Story: Blondes are for Harassment
Part II
Nancy Cuevas Guzman writes,
I rented an apartment at Mazkaret Moshe 4, in Nachaloat, which is usually very cool. However, the Haraedim pass my door everyday. It was too exposed. I rented this apartment from the Haraedi conversion program; Mrs. Vorst of Ohel Sarah Imenu was in charge of it. When the attacks began I wondered if they thought I was a Christian, so I had a note written in Hebrew and taped to the side of the door. They ripped if off the door.
I tricked them by replacing the broken windows with plexy glass. I came home one night and saw the Haraedi guy waiting. He was facing the wall in the alley and would not look up when I approached. I had no choice but to go in alone. A few minutes later I heard the crash of the rock against the window again…this time it did not break!
Eventually, I had to have bars installed over the windows but they thought of other methods of harassing me, for instance, glue in my locks.
Another time I fought at the door with a huge Haraedi guy who “just walked in” right after Shabbat. He started shouting “sex, sex” in Hebrew. A Haraedi woman was watching me struggling with this huge man and screaming. She did nothing, just stood and watched, then disappeared before police came.
After these incidences I developed high blood pressure and had to take medication for it. I was in the constant stress of “high alert”. I was so jumpy the hospital prescribed valumn.
I finally cut my hair and dyed it brown. Even though I am Orthodox, dress Orthodox, go to seminary, attend synagogue, keep Shabbat and live a moral life….every pervert in the Haraedi community seemed to be aware of me. It was sickening. Even after cutting my hair and dyeing it, when I would bend over in my floor-length black skirt to feed the cat, a Haraedi pervert would sneak up behind me and rub himself against my bottom. It was scary.
Two weeks ago I went to the American Consultant, where I am known…(I have a US Military ID), and they advised me to contact an attorney and sue, just to embarrass them and also the police for not protecting me. They gave me a list of free attorneys. I have made contact with one, but the English was not good enough. I keep forgetting to pursue it.
Sometimes I feel like I am fighting a losing battle. Not a soul will back you up if you speak up against the Haraedim. Even friends will deny what they see and hear with their own eyes and ears. People here seem to deny the whole world.
I was told if I speak up things will get worst. Honestly, and forgive me for saying so….If I were a drug addict or a prostitute or some kind of a degenerate, I could understand getting attacked by gang members or pimps, other addicts, but these are Jews attacking other Jews!
My brothers would never dream of such “unmanly” behavior such as beating up a woman. I am only 4′11″ and petite. How do they blame me?
Whose fault is it to the haredim? One guess!
Nancy writes,
Really, Mrs. Vorst blames everything on my appearance. If I tell her it is the Charaedi, she says those people are not Charaedi. They are all in denial.
Most of her converts are thrown out after 3 weeks….after paying $700 US dollars! Of course, we lose the money. I am amazed I stayed so long, only because I was not part of her regular classes. She got rid of me in 2006 after 3 weeks. She just never called me back. I lost my money, too, although not as much for she never got me to move into her awful dormitory at $500 a month. I came back on a private basis after many months of school elsewhere and travel into South East Asia and to Puerto Rico for my family documents.
I know of 2 ladies who had an easy time being converted by Mrs. Vorst;
One looked just like a man (or a horse)….so sorry. I tell the truth! The other was very old.
These ladies, Mrs Vorst and her teachers have a problem with femininity and sexuality. If Mrs. Vorst sees a man coming, she will walk across the street to the other side. She wears a little black shawl around her shoulders which I was told indicates the most strict of the Haraedim and her head is always covered. All her teachers dress Ultra-ultra Orthodox, beyond anyone else I have ever seen. They kind of look like the Amish.
Earlier on Jewcy: $50 per hour to the conversion program Rabbi Nachum Eisenstein supervises if you want to convert.
Later: The violence escalates
Update: Actual address restored thanks to the agreement of Nancy
23 comments
Why was the neighborhood she rented in deleted? I think that’s kind of an important detail; It would be helpful to know which neighborhoods in Jerusalem have crazy zombie brain-eating Hareidim waiting to pray on unwitting women. Seriously.
“I finally cut my hair and dyed it brown.”
When I went to Hebrew University I had a beautiful Arab classmate who felt compelled to do the same thing. She dyed and cut her gorgeous natural blond hair, because strange Arab men on the street were unrelentingly crude.
HS
was pray a pun or a typo?
We’ll call it a typo. Truth be told, after a certain time of night my spelling and grammar choices aren’t always the most brilliant.
Mo,
What do you think of all of this thus far?
What do I think of it?
There are huge gaps in the story.
As fiction, this would be unbelievable. It sounds like something straight out of a naomi ragen novel. truth is stranger than fiction. I wasn’t planning on commenting until she finishes or I can catch a demonstrable lie.
Since when is nachlaot a charedi neighborhood?
it’s a “diverse” neighborhood.
Mohammed, HalfSours, my opinion so far: Voz a shtuss!
I’ve seen truly gorgeous frum blondes in Brooklyn; admittedly not as many as brunettes, but still.
Halfsours, this might be interesting for you: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200.....BEToHtiBIF
Sorry, DK, I really like you and what you do, but I can’t avoid the impression that you are too good-hearted for your own good at times.
Froylein,
Thanks for the link.
Sarah
ich bin ganz sicher das ist wuste lugent aber las sie ausreden, ich will ihr nicht abschrecken bis ich ken etwa uberweisen. Sorry, no umlauts.
Mo,
Care to share the translation with all?
not particularly. I wrote it in german for a reason.
Ah! Mac computers are great, with their built-in translators.
Heh, off-topic, what’s the weather like in Brooklyn these days? Still need to decide what clothes to pak.
hot hot hot. So hot. Oy. When are you coming?
Leaving 8:30am my time from Frankfurt on Thursday and, if all goes well, should be in Brooklyn around noon.
B’ezrat Hashem. I’ll make sure there’ll be somebody to ululate upon your arrival.
if the macs built in translation is anything like google translate, it’s crap. or my german is crap. which one sarah?
I had to fill in some gaps, but I got the gist Mo.
Update: Actual address restored thanks to the agreement of Nancy
I didn’t want to know her whole address, just the neighborhood. Couldn’t publishing her address just make her vulnerable to further attacks? I would take that part down, DK.
In light of Nancy’s experiences in Nachaloat I think she is courageous to come forward and expose the unpleasant truths of what really is going on behind the walls in some of these orthodox enclaves. They probably view her independence and sexuality as a sin and feel justified in intimidating and abusing her.
These are dangerous religious fanatics, the self appointed guardians of Jewish religion with their delusions of superiority who live in an environment they feel justified to control through the use of force or violence. Who in the Jewish community is controlling these fanatics? No one. So it’s hardly surprising that very few victims have the courage to speak out against this dark behavior, especially when they are part of the flock and have become immune and desensitized to the abuse. As a result when a shocking and unpleasant story like this becomes public and goes against the grain of the Jewish religion some people will have problems accepting it as the truth. But as blogger Mohammed points out, truth is stranger than fiction.
i’d like to comment on nancy’s story, if i may. i’ve lived in the same hood for a few years now. i’m as jewish as they get and i have not ever experienced people like this in my life. i know nancy and i know how she lives her life. i saw the damage done to her apt. as well, i am familiar with this hareidi organization that purports to convert people to “true judaism”. how sad that jews treat each other in such a despicable manner. this organization is an embarrassment to the jewish people and their jewish identity should be put into question. apparently, the woman who runs this place came from a christian background and feels it is her duty to express a holier than thou attitude. she doesn’t know the meaning of what it is to be a real jew. she is a busha to all jews and this organization should be shut down, permanently.
and mohammed (or moshe :-)), uv got a few mistakes in ur german. for example, there is no such word as lügent. perhaps u mean lügen? as well, according to my german friend, the whole sentence doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
nachlaot is not just a hareidi neighborhood. it’s a mixed neighborhood, and generally speaking, we all get along pretty well. i saw the marks on nancy the last time that she was attacked. a “hareidi” guy did this to her. i know who the guy is. and i saw how both hareidi men, as well, as the women, looked at nancy. it wasn’t nice. so long as we continue to (mis)treat our own, and nancy IS our own (i’ve seen the documents, and i do read spanish), we as a people will suffer for it. we shouldn’t expect mashiach too soon as long as we have “rabbonim” who choose to ignore true halacha, as well as ignore “love they neighbor as thyself”.
there are many of us who can corroborate nancy’s story, as we know her personally.
the issue, i believe, is that she isn’t some repressed woman. nancy has a lively, bubbly personality, a heart for animals (especially cats! which the hareidim do NOT), and is very open and friendly. the hareidim, much as i am grateful for those whose hearts truly are in the right place, just don’t get it. u don’t have to be some socially repressed woman who is required to dress so unattractively as to not attract attention. they have a difficult time with people who are not like them. they have some serious issues within their little communities that really need to be dealt with before it gets to a point where all hell breaks loose.
i don’t believe it’s just a matter of her being blonde and attractive, although this so-called hareidi woman has jealousy issues. the problem with this woman is that she doesn’t care about helping nancy. if she feels that she has been crossed, she’ll do what she can to make nancy’s life miserable, not to mention other peoples’ lives. she’ll use people to get money and then turn on them so that they can’t get through the bet din to the mikveh. not only is this immoral, but it’s unethical, as well.
there are so many issues among the different sects of hareidim. unfortunately, much of it is swept under the carpet because of corruption. nancy is a jew and does not need to convert. she needs to be welcomed back to the fold and taught how to be a good jew. she needs to know that she’s part of the tribes. to have been treated the way that she was treated, is an aveira, as well as a busha. the sad part is that this woman and her minions see nothing wrong with what they did, and they continue to operate their school. one girl who came from another country, had some past emotional and mental problems and was institutionalized in her home country for a while. apparently, the woman who runs the school neglected to tell her that if someone has a mental illness, that person will not be accepted for conversion. so, she led the girl along, taking her money along the way, and the girl apparently had another episode. seems she’s since been sent back to her family.
until we get our act together, the jewish people as a whole, and rise to the spiritual level where HaShem wants us, we’re stuck. quite frankly, the whole thing makes me ashamed to be a jew.
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