“Hava Nagila” this ain’t.
Two Brooklyn women are upsetting the Jewish order with an in-your-face brand of worldly rock music.
Hasidic duo Dalia Shusterman and Perl Wolfe would normally blend into their Crown Heights neighborhood as easily as large stoops or double-parked cars. But stand them behind a microphone or a set of drums and they become a sexy rock duo with its own cult following.
“We have standards that we believe in, and they’re very clear to us,” said Shusterman, lead singer of the group Bulletproof Stockings. “We want to be role models, but we can’t make everybody happy.”
The band, named for the opaque pantyhose many Hasidic women wear, naturally has to balance the fine line between the secular and the Hasidic. For example, they only perform in front of women.
“We don’t perform for men because there is a mitzvah [Jewish commandment] that they’re not supposed to listen to women sing. So we’re trying to be respectful.”
The bad reviews — which have nothing to do with their music — started pouring in after a suggestive photo of the women posing in front of the Lubavitch Chabad headquarters appeared on a Jewish blog.
“I need to throw up,” one reader kvetched on the Web site. “Not what I want my family involved in. I am all for inspirational music, but this definitely needs to be promoted differently.”
Wolfe is divorced, and Shusterman is a widowed mother of four.
Their shtick is a cross between Fiona Apple and Adele, with influences from Radiohead, the White Stripes and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Although they perform only for women, it hasn’t stopped them from attracting male fans buying their music.
But there’s an upside to that, they said.
“Women will party and rock out in a completely different way when there’s nobody there but women,” said Wolfe, 26, who favors sheer stockings paired with stilettos when she and her band mate hit the stage.
“We don’t perform for men because there is a mitzvah [Jewish commandment] that they’re not supposed to listen to women sing. So we’re trying to be respectful.”
Critics say they’re not trying hard enough.
The bad reviews — which have nothing to do with their music — started pouring in after a suggestive photo of the women posing in front of the Lubavitch Chabad headquarters appeared on a Jewish blog.
“I need to throw up,” one reader kvetched on the Web site. “Not what I want my family involved in. I am all for inspirational music, but this definitely needs to be promoted differently.”
Their shtick is a cross between Fiona Apple and Adele, with influences from Radiohead, the White Stripes and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Although they perform only for women, it hasn’t stopped them from attracting male fans buying their music.
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