Jewish Group Condemns NYT Contributing Writer’s ‘Hasidic’ Tweet

BROOKLYN

A Jewish group from Williamsburg slammed a tweet by an author and contributing writer for the New York Times who pointedly tweeted about a “Hasidic” driver who almost knocked her down and accused “Hasidic” people of trying to harm her.

Amber Tamblyn tweeted Sunday that she was involved in a near-accident as she was walking with her baby in a stroller.

“If anyone in Brooklyn near the intersection of Washington Ave and Atlantic Ave just saw a Hasidic man in a grey van try to hit a woman and her baby in a stroller as she crossed a crosswalk, honking and touching the stroller with the car’s bumper, please DM me,” she posted. “That woman was me.”

She later tweeted that she and her baby were fine — then went off on a rant accusing “Hasidic” drivers of being out to get her. “This is not the first time a man from the Hasidic community in NYC has attempted to harm me or other women I know,” she claimed, not offering any evidence.

In a statement, Rabbi Moshe Dovid Niederman, president of the UJO of Williamsburg, called the stereotyping “hateful and despicable,” as well as a “biased, anti-Semitic attack on the Hasidic community.”

Rabbi Niederman requested any witnesses or anyone who may have footage of the incident to come forward.

“Data shows that Hasidic Williamsburg area is safer for bikers than surrounding areas,” he said, saying that Tamblyn’s untruthful accusations calls her credibility into question and suggested that the Times “ought to investigate if she meets their credibility standards.”

“This would have been unacceptable against any other group,” he said. “Unfortunately, too often people feel that such claims can be made against Hasidim and that when attacking the Hasidic religious community anything goes — from discriminating in housing against large Jewish families to attacking our religious educational system.”

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