2. The Hasidic Jewish community has their own buses and ambulances
Have you ever noticed the B-110 bus covered in Yiddish writing driving the streets of South Williamsburg? It serves the insular Hasidic Jewish community, connecting Williamsburg to Borough Park, a Jewish stronghold in South Brooklyn. Technically anyone can take it., but its route doesn’t appear on any MTA maps and it costs more to ride than a normal MTA bus. In the past, it attracted controversy for instructing women to sit at the back, separate from the men.
Not only does the Hasidic community have their own bus, but they also have their own ambulance squad called Chevra Hatzalah. Founded in Williamsburg in 1965, the volunteer, all male squad claims that its mission is to help anybody with a medical emergency, Jewish or not. But because of the community’s insularity and conservative beliefs, the service is mostly used by Hasidic Jews who don’t want to be touched by EMTs outside of their community. According to the City, Hasidic women — raised with modesty as a core value — have been battling for an ambulance for their all female squad to help the women in their community, but have received opposition from Hatzalah.
