By Todd Stone
About twenty Hasidic Jewish children sat in a bright red open wagon on Lee Avenue in Williamsburg on Friday. Pulled by two small horses and guided by a muscular man in a blue t-shirt and jeans, they were about to embark on a joyride around the block on this sunny spring afternoon.
Five minutes later, the exhilarated children returned and their mothers and fathers gathered around the wagon. Some were parents of four or five.
As the kids got out of the wagon, a line of more children formed, eager to see their neighborhood from inside a giant open cart. About half were boys wearing black head caps, called kipot, and curls of hair hanging in front of their ears, called payot.
The horse drawn wagon was part of the annual carnival for kids in the community who are off from their religious schools for the eight days of the Passover holiday.
Part of Taylor Street, which intersects Lee Avenue, was closed off for the fair, which included a ferris wheel, a carousel and a makeshift petting zoo.
“You have to clear the way,” shouted the woman who let people in and out of the enclosed area, where two llamas stood. “Either come in or don’t, but you can’t block the way because people have to get out.” The woman collected a dollar for each person who entered the petting zoo.
“It’s a treat for the children since they don’t get to see animals here,” said a large middle-aged Hasidic man. Most of the men were young fathers who wore large circular fur hats. The women were conservatively dressed and many wore small hats.
One couple, who had just one child, explained Passover. The first two nights and the last two nights of Passover require them to observe the traditional rules of the Sabbath, such as not using electricity, but during the four intervening days they can do what they want.
Libby Herz, an older Jewish woman from Manhattan’s Lower East Side who was at the carnival said that during these intervening days of the holiday, called Chol HaMoed, many Hasidim leave the neighborhood.
“If you ride the subway this week, you’ll see many Hasidim,” she said. “They go to Central Park and Battery Park or to visit family in New Jersey or Rockland County.”
As the afternoon hours passed, large buses started pulling up near the small fair along Lee Avenue. Hasidic families trickled out of the buses, and the men removed suitcases and strollers from large compartments at the bottom of the bus. They were returning home from family trips and getting ready for the Friday night Shabbat dinner, which happened to fall this year during Chol HaMoed.
The horse-drawn wagon continued making trips around the block, but with fewer kids inside. Parents put their children in strollers and friends waved goodbye. Soon the sun would set and the corner of Taylor Street and Lee Avenue would be empty.
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