Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Easy Riders

Hells Angels they ain't. 

TORAH! TORAH! TORAH! Three of the Rebbe's Riders (from front), Moshe Reitman, Yossi Wolfson and Eli Zissman, help fellow biking Jews who might have strayed from the righteous road. A tough-looking, leather-clad gang of Hasidic bikers who call themselves "Rebbe's Riders" are cruising the tri-state area, bringing God's word to other motorcycle-riding Jews they meet on the road. 

The Riders -- members of the Brooklyn-based Lubavitch sect -- say their love of choppers gives them something in common with Jews who might have strayed onto the Highway to Hell. 

"If a rabbi walks into a bikers club, he doesn't exactly fit in. But if he comes riding up on a bike, doors open to him," said Jonah Halper, 30, who founded the Riders earlier this year. 




"[Some fellow Jews] make comments that what we do is not a Jewish thing. They say, 'How can you ride bikes as Jews and say it's for a Jewish purpose?' " Halper said. 

On the road, the Riders get more respect -- especially from other bikers. 

"No one sees the Rebbe's Riders and says, 'Who are you guys?' " Halper said. "It's not like the Crips and Bloods. There's a certain kind of respect you have for other riders that transcends lifestyle or creed. When we pass a gang on the road, they wave and we wave back." 

They sport cool colors -- T-shirts with a logo of a bearded Hasid wearing a wide-brimmed fedora and badass sunglasses, à la ZZ Top.

Read more NY Post

ZZ Top?  [it's a band from the "olden days" - as my kids would say -  olden days being a world without computers or cellphones, totally unimaginable for them..... anyway this isn't ZZ Top, this is Steppenwolf - 1968 - "Easy Rider"... for all the ex-hippies who morphed into baál teshuvas and read this blog. Enjoy!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

There's a goup of them in Australia, too.
Or, there once was. (Maybe they were Israeli guys, back-packer).
They would tour with their "Harley Davidsons" all the way from the Top-End, smack-bang down the centre-middle of Australia - via the Simpson Desert. Then roar their way onto Hobart, Tasmania.
Phew!

Devorah said...

I think they're the YOWies - Yids On Wheels.

in the vanguard said...

"... ex-hippies who morphed into baál teshuvas"
- they have the like of us in Australia too?!

Devorah said...

Yeh, at least they could keep their beards.... (the men I mean) LoL