One of the nice things about being frum is the protection provided by other frum Jews. Jews may fight with each other, but in the face of outside criticism they close ranks.
Reality TV shows are a game changer as Heidie and Mendy discovered when they went on the People’s Court to press a claim of $3,000 for a wig purportedly damaged through the carelessness of a laundry service. Their segment, Wigging Out on a Customer, aired on national TV on Dec 2, 2010. It has since gone viral on the Jewish blogosphere. The YouTube clip has been viewed over 131,000 times.
Many consider the plaintiff’s conduct a mega chillul hashem. They feel the plaintiffs are frauds, uncouth, and condescending. What I find interesting is the attempt by many others to defend them. It reveals many of the problems in the frum world. It includes slurs about non-Jews, specious understandings of how the People’s Court operates, rationalizations (yeah the proffered receipt was fake but there was a real one they lost), that catch-all, “who can blame them,” and the insistence that they are in the right but just not very good at articulating their case.
Into this fray entered Rabbi Yair Hoffman defender of maligned frum Jews. He claims to have established that Mendy and Hedie were not fraudsters on the basis of an interview with Georgie, their wig maker.
