Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on March 6, 2017

This week, Jews around the world will be celebrating Purim in commemoration of our triumph over Haman, who sought to annihilate the Jewish people. How do different Jewish communities across the world celebrate this festive occasion?

This week, Jews around the world will be celebrating Purim, the festival commemorating our triumph over Haman, the evil vizier under King Ahasuerus who sought to annihilate the Jewish people. Throughout the Jewish world, Jews read the Book of Esther (Megillat Esther) inside of the synagogue and Jews usually prepare gifts of food known as Mishloach Manot in order to bring to family and friends.

Additionally, according to the Talmud, a Jew is obligated to get drunk on Purim until he does not know the difference between cursed be Haman and blessed be Mordechai. Traditionally, all Jews hold festive meals in honor of the holiday. However, at the same time, different Jewish communities across the planet also have their own unique customs and foods that they eat in order to celebrate the joyful holiday.

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In the Ashkenazi Jewish tradition, the children come to the synagogue dressed up in costumes. It is usually popular for the children to dress up as the main protagonists of the Purim story: Mordechai, Queen Esther, King Ahasuerus and the wicked Haman. These young people come to the synagogue accompanied by special noise-makers. Whenever the name of the evil Haman is proclaimed in the Megillah reading, the children make tons of noise in order to blot out the name of the evil Haman. In addition, Ashkenazi Jews also put on elaborate Purim spiels, which are humorous plays.In addition, Ashkenazi Jews traditionally eat a three-triangle pastry called a Hamantaschen that is filled with either dates, figs, chocolate or fruit.

Conversely, Iraqi and Yemenite Jews do not have a custom of dressing up for Purim or making tons of noise whenever Hamans name is mentioned in the synagogue. In Yemen, Jewish children used to make a wooden effigy to symbolize Haman, which they placed on a wagon to prance around the neighborhood. While dragging around the Haman effigy, Yemenite Jewish children would sing songs about Haman and at the end of the procession, they would literally hang the Haman effigies! In the Baghdad Jewish community, Jews would write Haman on a piece of paper and erase it utilizing wine. Iraqi Jews also make a pastry known as Sambusak El Tawa, which is filled with chicken and vegetables. In addition, Iraqi Jews like most other Mizrahi Jewish communities give their children presents for Purim.

Unlike Yemenite and Iraqi Jews, Moroccan Jews do make noise whenever the name Haman is mentioned. However, instead of utilizing noise-makers, they ululate, thus making a high pitched sound that is common in Arabic culture as a sign of great emotional intensity. In addition, Moroccan Jewish children fill up a kaftan (similar to a Mexican piata) with Hamanis (traditional Moroccan Purim candies). The children hang the kaftan from a pole and then they beat it with bats so that the hamanis can fall down for all of the children to eat. Moroccan Jews also traditionally make special Purim breads, which taste like sweet challah. Raisins and hard-boiled eggs are kneaded into the center of the bread in order to symbolize Hamans eye.

In the Egyptian Jewish community, Jews would parade around on camels, donkeys, and horses in order to memorialize how Mordechai was paraded around the city of Shushan by Haman, which marked the beginning of Hamans demise from power. All of these traditions illustrate that Jews around the world have varying customs of how to blot out Hamans name from history in compliance with Exodus 17:14, I shall surely erase the memory of Amelek. Haman was a known descendent of Amalek and Queen Esther, as a descendant of King Saul, completed G-ds command to annihilate Amalek by ridding the Jewish people of Haman and his supporters.

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Posted By richards on March 6, 2017

Posted on 06 March 2017.

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (Press Release)Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM), a national commemoration of the contributions that Americans Jews have made to the fabric of our nations history, culture, and society, announces the theme for the May 2017 celebration. This year, JAHM celebrates Americans Jews who have made a significant impact in the field of medical research. Now in its 12thyear, JAHM encourages people of all backgrounds to learn about and draw inspiration from the more than 360-year history of Jewish life in this country.

The stories of American Jews are woven into the rich history of this diverse nation, says Ivy Barsky, CEO and Gwen Goodman Director of the National Museum of American Jewish History. By celebrating JAHM, we honor the values of inclusion, acceptance, and religious liberty cherished by this country. This years focus on American Jews in Medical Research invites deeper exploration of one of the many facets of American life impacted by this community.

According to Dr. Gary P. Zola, Executive Director of The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives and a member of JAHMs Board of Directors, The Jewish experience in America constitutes a soaring tribute to the noble ideals upon which this republic was founded. It is a timely story that will lift our national spirit by assuring us that liberty and opportunity ultimately triumph over bigotry and divisiveness.

The celebration of a nationwide Jewish American Heritage Month is now in its second decade and it has never been so important, shares Greg Rosenbaum, President of Palisades Associates, Inc. and member of JAHMs Board of Directors. In nervous times where anti-Jewish sentiments and actions appear to be on the rise, telling the story of Jewish contributions to making all Americans lives better is a way to educate our fellow citizens and counter stereotypes.

JAHMs 2017 theme provides an opportunity to recognize the many American Jews who have made invaluable contributions to the field of medical research. American history is full of notable examples. Biochemist Gertrude Elion (1918-1999) developed life-saving drugs, including the first chemotherapy for childhood leukemia and treatments for lupus, hepatitis, arthritis, gout, and other diseases. Virologist Jonas Salk (1914-1995) created the first vaccines against polio, and geneticist Baruch Blumberg (1925-2011) both discovered the Hepatitis B virus and helped develop the first vaccine to prevent it. Mathilde Krim (b. 1926), the founding chair amfAR (the American Foundation for AIDS Research), received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000 for her commitment to AIDS patients and research; neuroscientist Eric Richard Kandel (b. 1929) received the 2000 Nobel Prize for his research on the physiological basis of memory storage in neurons; and medical physicist Rosalyn S. Yalow (1921-2011) became the second woman to win a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine when she shared the 1977 prize for her work in the development of radioimmunoassay, a technique used to measure minute amounts of substances in the body. The groundbreaking medical research conducted by these dedicated individuals, among countless others, continues to improve and save lives.

JAHMs interactive website, JAHM.us, provides educational resources to facilitate the nationwide engagement around this years celebration. All are encouraged to submit their JAHM-related events to the calendar, whether it is an exhibition, concert, gallery talk, film screening, lecture, or other program. Website visitors will also find stories about American Jews, a historical timeline, lesson plans, reading lists, programming ideas, and more.

* Preceding provided by the Jewish American Heritage Month organization.

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Posted By simmons on March 6, 2017

Genderfluid environmental activist will tell you Israels sins

Jewish students spoke out against anti-Israel protests at Columbia University last week, calling the activists bigoted and ignorant of facts regarding the history of Israel and Palestine.

Flyers for Columbias version of Israeli Apartheid Week, an international series of events marking the 100th anniversary of Great Britains pledged support for a Jewish state, proclaimed that Zionism is Racism and Israel is Stolen Land.

The anti-Israel events were countered by Jewish students who proudly wore shirts labeled ZIONIST and accused their opponents of lies against Israel.

The president of Columbias main pro-Israel student organization told The College Fix that pro-Israel students felt empowered by these shirts, and I hope they continue to refuse to be intimidated by false accusations.

One 1990s graduate of Barnard College, Columbias affiliated womens school, told The Fix the campus environment for Jews was not hostile back then: I never saw anti-Israel rallies.

Its as traumatic as South African apartheid

An Apartheid Week No Peace on Stolen Land flyer invited students to say no to the occupation of Palestine, and to hear from Maile Hampton, a genderfluid organizer and water protector (protester against the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock).

The Zionism is Racism flyer invited students to learn about Israels racist and imperialist apartheid policies from Barney Pityana, an early leader in South Africas apartheid-era Black Consciousness Movement.

During his talk about the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, Pityana called the parallels between South African and Israeli apartheid not only inescapable, but also truly traumatic when he visited Israel, according to Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), which is pushing BDS demands on the university.

One of the most powerful quotes from our Monday event Night, Zionists are Racists, where Barney Pityana from the Black

Posted by Columbia University Apartheid Divest onWednesday, March 1, 2017

Other events included a talk with a professor titled Natives and Colonists, and another event on Palestine activism.

The events were organized by CUAD, a coalition between Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and other student groups.

National liberation movement for everyone but Jews

Some Jewish students did not take kindly to the apartheid events, which smeared Zionists and called Israel morally bankrupt.

Columbia University Apartheid Divest spreads misinformation about the Israel-Palestinian conflict and is counter-productive to the peace process, Leeza Hirt, press officer for Columbias Aryeh chapter and self-described proud Zionist, told The Fix.

She called the Zionism is Racism flyer both false and a bigoted attack on the many students on this campus who identify as Zionists.

These activists apply a double standard to Jews by singling out their national liberation movement for scorn, said Hirt, noting that even the United Nations an institution that has been historically hostile to Israel revoked its Zionism is Racism resolution in 1991.

Aryeh held counter-events throughout the week, including Demystifying the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and another on the link between China, U.S. and Israel.

On Feb. 27, it dispatched 50 students across campus wearing shirts that proudly declare themselves ZIONIST.

The shirts show that we are proud of our identity and are not afraid to stand up for what we believe in that Jews have the same right as other nations to self-determination in our historic homeland, Aryeh President Dore Feith told The Fix.

He said that as a history major I care about the facts of the Israel-Palestine conflict, not the propaganda advanced by Apartheid Week. Israel, is, in fact, a normal Western democratic country.

Countering the past years demands from Columbia SJP, Aryeh is petitioning Columbia not to divest from Israeli companies.

Divestment runs against self-determination for Israelis and Palestinians, undermines Israels right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state and harms the prospects for a peaceful solution, it reads.

Mother fears Columbia will indoctrinate my children against Israel

The campus climate has some Jewish alumni uncomfortable.

Last year, Jewish newspaper The Algemeiner ranked Columbia as the worst school for Jewish students. It cited the extraordinarily high number of anti-Jewish incidents on campus and Columbias constellation of anti-Israel groups.

I was a proud Zionist when I was at Barnard and never worried about expressing my love for Israel, according to a 1990s graduate who comes from a family of Columbia and Barnard graduates.

I think that the statements made by SJP are Judeophobic, she said, asking The Fix to withhold her name so the administration wouldnt discriminate against her children if they applied for admission.

Though she would still send her children to Columbia, the day is not far off that she would keep them away, out of fear that Columbia will indoctrinate my children with Judeophobia.

What has Israel done different from any other country that Israel is deserving of boycotts, demonstrations and clubs dedicated to criticizing Israel and its policies? she said.

Columbia SJP and CUAD did not respond to multiple queries about their perspective on the weeks events. Individual club members also did not respond.

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About the Author

Toni Airaksinen is a junior at Barnard College in New York City. She also contributes to Campus Reform, USA Today College, Red Alert Politics and Quillette Magazine. She formerly held a post with The Columbia Spectator. Her writing is regularly featured on Fox News andDrudge Report, among other websites. Her interests include free speech, due process and mens issues.

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Posted By simmons on March 6, 2017

What to Know

A man allegedly waging an intense campaign of harassment against a former lover was responsible for bomb threats against the Anti-Defamation League and some Jewish centers around the country, authorities said Friday.

Thirty-year-old Juan Thompson, a former journalist fired last year for allegedly making up quotes and sources, was arrested in St. Louis in connection with multiple threats against Jewish centers, including some in the tri-state area.

But additional sources told NBC News Thompson is not believed to be the person behind the series of threats targeting Jewish community centers across the nation in recent months.

There have been five such waves of threats this year, forcing dozens of evacuations in more than 30 states. No injuries have been reported in any of the cases and no devices have been found. The FBI is assisting in that probe.

In total, authorities have been looking into more than 120 bomb threats called into nearly 100 JCC schools, child care and other similar facilities.

Thompson is considered a "copycat," the sources said. A criminal complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan indicated that Thompson was trying to "harass and intimidate" an unnamed victim with whom he had a relationship.

He allegedly made at least eight of the threats -- some in the victim's name, and some in his own name, as part of a purported campaign to smear the victim. Thompson allegedly went to extreme lengths to do so, including sending hoax faxes to the woman's employer last year alleging she had made anti-Semitic statements on social media, according to the complaint.

He was allegedly behind a threat to the national ADL headquarters in Manhattan last week. According to the FBI complaint, the emailed threat named the woman and said she was "behind the bomb threats against the jews. She lives in nyc and is making more bomb threats tomorrow." The next day, the ADL received a phone call claiming a bomb was in its headquarters.

He also claimed she was responsible for placing a bomb in a Jewish center in Dallas, and emailed a JCC in San Diego saying she wanted to "kill as many Jews asap," the complaint says.

An anonymous threat emailed to a JCC in Manhattan early in February included Thompson's own name. It said he "put two bombs in the office of the Jewish center today. He wants to create Jewish newtown tomorrow," the complaint said. "Newtown" apparently refers to the December 2012 massacre at a Connecticut school that claimed the lives of 26 people, including 20 children.

The FBI complaint quotes Thompsons Twitter post on Feb. 24 that says, Know any good lawyers? Need to stop this nasty/racist #whitegirl I dated who sent a bomb threat in my name & wants me to be raped in jail.

The exact same tweet on the same date appears on the Twitter account @JuanMThompson. That same account sent a number of other tweets in late February that match the FBI complaint word for word.

Juan Thompson wrote for online publication The Intercept from late 2014 until early 2016, when he was fired for fabricating sources and quotes in his articles, according to Betsy Reed, editor-in-chief.

In a statement Friday, Reed said everyone at The Intercept was "horrified" to learn of Thompson's arrest in the bomb threats case.

"These actions are heinous and should be fully investigated and prosecuted," Reed said. "We have no information about the charges against Thompson other than what is included in the criminal complaint."

Thompson is charged with one count of cyberstalking, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, in connection with the case. He is expected to be arraigned in federal court in Missouri later Friday.

His mother, Yolanda Thompson, said from her home in St. Louis Friday that she hadn't seen her son in weeks. She tearfully described him as a "good man" and declined to comment further on his arrest.

ADL officials said the diligence of law enforcement in such a troubling time was "reassuring," at a news briefing on Friday. The group said it met with top FBI officials and others to discuss the ongoing investigation into the threats.

"There are many more JCC bomb threats that have not been solved, and communities are hurting," one official said. "Just because there's been an arrest today around our bomb threat does not mean the threats have disappeared or will stop. Hate toward the Jewish community and other minority groups is very real and deeply disturbing."

University City, Missouri, police Lt. Fredrick Lemons told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that detectives will question Thompson about the 154 headstones toppled last month at a Jewish cemetery in the St. Louis suburb. He declined to say whether Thompson was considered a suspect.

Information on an attorney for him wasn't immediately available.

"Today, we have charged Juan Thompson with allegedly stalking a former romantic interest by, among other things, making bomb threats in her name to Jewish Community Centers and to the Anti-Defamation League," U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara said. "Threats of violence targeting people and places based on religion or race whatever the motivation are unacceptable, un-American, and criminal."

NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill thanked local and federal law enforcement for a collaborative effort.

"The defendant allegedly caused havoc, expending hundreds of hours of police and law enforcement resources to respond and investigate these threats," O'Neill said. "We will continue to pursue those who peddle fear, making false claims about serious crimes."

The arrest comes amid an alarming increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes in New York Cityand across the nation. NYPD officials said earlier this week such bias reports are up 94 percent year over year in the city. Other states have reported an increase as well.

In a statement Friday, Mayor de Blasio called on all Americans to protect the foundational values of this country.

We must not be indifferent to the rising tide of hate crimes were seeing in New York City and nationwide," the mayor said. "When you attack someone because of who they are, how they worship or who they love, you are attacking our democracy."

In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie ordered increased patrols at houses of worship, faith-based institutions, community centers and cemeteries throughout the state in response to the uptick in threats.

Published at 9:20 AM EST on Mar 3, 2017 | Updated at 8:05 PM EST on Mar 3, 2017

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Posted By simmons on March 6, 2017

Seattle, WA --The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called for the shooting of a Sikh man in Kent, Washington to be investigated as a potential hate crime.

"We are deeply shocked by this heinous act of violence against a innocent American targeted outside of his home, singled out, apparently because of his appearance," said Hilary Bernstein, ADL Seattle Regional Director.

"We strongly condemn targeted violence against any religious group and we are confident that federal, state and local law enforcement officials are closely examining the possibility that this was a hate crime," Bernstein added.

On the evening of March 3, a 39-year-old Sikh man was shot in his driveway after the gunman allegedly told him to go back to your own country.

The victim was shot in the arm and is recovering as law enforcement agencies continue their search for the gunman.

According to ADL CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt, the ADL joined with their partners in the Sikh and South Asian communities in calling on national leaders to make hate crime prevention a top priority.

This is especially important for members of the Sikh community, whose appearance and religious articles of faith distinguish them and make them possible hate crime targets.

The ADL is pleased that the FBI has now incorporated anti-Sikh hate crime data collection into their annual Hate Crime Statistics Report.

ADL and a broad coalition of civil right and religious organizations had promoted this addition of this data.

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Posted By richards on March 5, 2017

HAMDEN >> Rabbi Herbert Brockman of Congregation Mishkan Israel said Friday the late Rabbi Robert Goldburgs legacy was that of social justice, having aligned himself with several progressive causes and justice-minded activists, such as Martin Luther King Jr.

U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, the honoree at Fridays Shabbat service at Congregation Mishkan Israels Robert E. Goldburg Peace and Justice Service, addressed those attending on his own outlook on peace and justice in 2017 as a Democratic senator in a time when Republicans control the presidency, the Senate and the House of Representatives.

I choose to remain optimistic in what is a deeply troubling time for many of us, Murphy said.

The senator told the congregation that he believes in America, progress is often made in big leaps forward two steps ahead and almost routinely one step back. He said this retrenching is historical to the nation, and the true test of progress comes from recovering from that step backwards.

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I think that is the moment we are in today, he said.

Like Brockman, Murphy reminded the congregation that it has its roots in social justice and wrapping hands and arms around the disenfranchised and dispossessed.

Murphy answered approximately 10 questions from audience members, all of whom expressed fears and concerns about the future under President Donald Trump.

One man, who said he was sitting shiva a part of the mourning process in the Jewish tradition for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asked what Murphy believed was the best possible outcome for the environment in the next four years.

Its incredibly important we stay within the Paris Agreement, Murphy said. The signal to the world community we are staying in that agreement is incredibly important, and right now there is a fight within the administration.

When asked about reliable news sources, Murphy indicated he gets most of his news from the microblogging site Twitter.

I follow the mainstream news, but I also follow outlets on the left and outlets on the right, he said. Im getting a pretty good idea of all the different spins.

Similar to recent public statements by his colleague from Connecticut, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Murphy said he believes the best work being done now is at a truly grass-roots level.

I love that much of this activity is organic, he said. If I had a wishlist, it would be for more student activism.

Murphy said he believes students are already plugged in, but young people have historically led on American social movements.

We need to convince high school students, college students, people in their 20s that theyre going to regret not speaking up and marching 20 to 30 years from now, he said.

As for what Murphy wouldnt do in the pursuit of justice, he said, would be to adopt the same tactics as Republicans did for the last four years after being critical of then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnells attempts to defeat former President Barack Obama.

Murphy said repeating the Republican attitude toward Obama would lead to a downward spiral of constant retribution.

As for his views on U.S. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, Murphy kept some distance.

I have not made a decision on Judge Gorsuch, he said. Im very worried about some of the things Ive heard from him and I dont want him bringing politics onto the bench.

Outside of the prayer service, Murphy told reporters that in light of a rash of threats on Jewish synagogues and community centers, those locations have often been among the most hospitable to others. When asked, Murphy said Trumps chief strategist Stephen Bannon made a living making money off hate speech as former executive chairman of Breitbart News, which has given a platform to hate speech, and is not an A-level adviser.

Trump himself condemned the recent anti-Semitic behavior at the beginning of his Feb. 28 address to Congress, although he hours earlier implied bomb threats and graveyard vandalism were being done by political enemies to make him look bad.

His words were important. They were strong, Murphy said. But he has to be consistent.

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Posted By richards on March 5, 2017

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Posted By richards on March 5, 2017

Latest brochure touts residential rental properties in South Blooming Grove and homes for sale in Woodbury

Published Feb 23, 2017 at 1:57 pm (Updated Feb 23, 2017)

A new 20-page real estate brochure distributed widely within the Village of Kiryas Joel and other Hasidic enclaves in New York offers a primer on buying property and obtaining mortgages. The publication also details single-family rentals in the Village of South Blooming Grove and homes for purchase in Woodbury.

This ad touts the success of the first phase of housing within Woodbury Junction.

This ad seeks business and organization owners to what it calls "the newest commercial center in town." The building at 46 Bakertown Road has five levels.

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By Bob Quinn

HIGHLAND MILLS A new 20-page real estate brochure distributed widely within the Village of Kiryas Joel and other Hasidic enclaves in New York offers a primer on buying property and obtaining mortgages.

The publication, Der Bayis, also details single-family retails in the Village of South Blooming Grove and homes for purchase in Woodbury.

The brochure, mostly in Yiddish but with half a dozen pages in English, is the latest evidence of what Kiryas Joel Administrator Gedalye Szegedin has called the KJ outgrowth. That describes as the growing need for housing for Kiryas Joel families, who are looking to nearby communities in Blooming Grove, Monroe and Woodbury instead of waiting for housing being built in Kiryas Joel itself and that is planned in the 164-acre annexation area.

The Photo News had the brouchure translated by a person with no connection to Kiryas Joel. This was the same translator who the newspaper hired last year for publications that also address growth within the community.

The KJ outgrowthMonroe Town Supervisor Harley E. Doles estimates that the towns population is 50,000, including 30,000 Hasidic residents. Kiryas Joel officials have said its population will double within a generation.

There are building moratoriums in Monroe and in neighboring communities. In Monroe, there are five developments on hold.

Just this week, the Times Herald-Record reported that Kiryas Joel will begin rezoning the 164-acres annexed from the Town of Monroe. The decision allowing the village to do that is still being appealed by a consortium of neighboring communities as well as the non-profit Preserve Hudson Valley.

Into this mix is a petition from more than 500 residents living in the section of Monroe north of Route 17 who have asked Orange County to allow it to secede from the Town of Monroe and create a new entity - the Town of North Monroe.

North Monroe should be designed as a global settlement of all land and bloc-vote disputes in this area of the county, Szegedin said in an email exchange with The Photo News earlier this month. All bloc-voting communities should be melted into one Town of North Monroe, and be forever eliminated from having any political impact on Monroe or Woodbury and MWSD.

Here are some of the highlights from the Day Bayis brochure:

Page 2Among the ads in English is a full-page advertisement by Exit Realty in Monroe.

The listings include:

Country Hollow: Rare mint condition, split level, pvt. corner, 8 RM house on 2 acres. Dream Private Home. Asking $695,000.

Monroe Dreamhouse 1: 3 bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, large family room, 3 baths, 2 car garage, unfinished basement. 7 minute walk to KJ Business Center. $2,500/month rent

New rental house on Duelk Avenue in Blooming Grove. $1,600 rent.

Charming in BG: Affordable 1-family house, 4 BR, 2 bath. 6 Hawthorne Drive, Blooming Grove. Asking just $305,000.

Page 7MK Realty has a full-page ad that touts the success of the first phase of homes in Woodbury Junction. The ad seeks to attract homebuyers for a second phase of development.

Page 12Here is a full-page that begins: Attention Business and Organization Owners: Enable your business to thrive at the newest commercial center in town.

Upscale offices and storefronts now available at 46 Bakertown Road.

Second-level: Mall-style retain store fonts.

Third, fourth and fifth levels: Small and large office rentals. Many great opportunities.

School boundariesThese properties are mostly within the Monroe-Woodbury School District; some of those in Blooming Grove are within the Washingtonville School District.

And while Hasidic families send their children to private yeshivas, the school districts are responsible for transportation costs. The districts also would be responsible for covering the cost of those children with special needs.

This situation is different than what could happen between Kiryas Joel and the Monroe-Woodbury School District. The KJ Superintendent of Schools Joel M. Petlin and the KJ School Board already have approved a local measure that would redraw the boundaries between the school districts to include the 164 acres acquired through annexation.

The Monroe-Woodbury School Board has yet to decide on the issue.

Village officials have long championed that point, viewing it as an assurance to the Monroe-Woodbury School District that it would not become like the East Ramapo School District. There, the large Hasidic population gained control of the school board through local elections. The district is under a state monitor because so many programs had been cut that its hard for a student to graduate high school.

But none of that assurances would operate outside the Village of Kiryas Joel.

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Posted By richards on March 5, 2017

By MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press Published: February 27, 2017 4:09 PM CDT Updated: February 27, 2017 4:09 PM CDT

In this Feb. 16, 2017 photo, elementary school girls get out of school in Kiryas Joel, N.Y. Followers of Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum began coming here from Brooklyn in the 1970s, hoping to create the sort of cohesive community some recalled from Europe, with large families a big part of it. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

KIRYAS JOEL, N.Y. (AP) A quickly crowding Hasidic Jewish village that is working to expand its boundaries faces opposition from neighbors who fear more urban-style development by the insular community could overrun their slice of suburbia.

"It's going to become like New York City, like the Bronx or Brooklyn," said Michael Queenan, mayor of the neighboring village of Woodbury, about 50 miles north of New York City. "People moved up here because they wanted a different kind of lifestyle, they wanted a little elbow room."

Kiryas Joel is a 1.1-square-mile village of nearly 22,000 markedly different from the surrounding suburban sprawl. Sidewalks are crowded with bearded men in heavy wool coats and brimmed hats. Women in long skirts push baby carriages into bustling stores where Yiddish is spoken. Schools teem with children. And streets are lined with one tightly packed apartment after another.

Followers of Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum began coming here from Brooklyn in the 1970s, hoping to create the sort of cohesive community some recalled from Europe, with large families a big part of it. Under tradition, Kiryas Joel girls marry young and start having children immediately, fueling long-term population growth. While the average Kiryas Joel family has six people, it's not uncommon to see couples with as many as 10 children. An average of three babies are born in the village each day.

"For us, family is part of faith. It's not something we choose," said Malka Silberstein, a principal of a girls' school who settled here with her family 35 years ago.

Kiryas Joel is among the fastest-growing places in New York state, nearly doubling its population since 2000. It also has made headlines in The New York Times and elsewhere as the poorest place in the nation. Current data show more than half the population living in poverty, a function of modest salaries supporting large households.

On a recent tour, Kiryas Joel administrator Gedalye Szegedin noted that the zoning allows for denser housing than the surrounding town of Monroe. He pointed out a 200-unit housing project under construction, a plot where 1,500 units will go and a single-family home replaced by 24 units.

Szegedin said the village's natural growth requires 300 or more units a year, and he predicted that in as little as seven years Kiryas Joel will simply run out of land for young families.

"If we're not going to provide for it, they're going to live doubled up with their parents, they're going to live doubled up with their siblings," he said. "They're going to live in subhuman conditions."

Kiryas Joel has backed three boundary-expanding solutions, all of them contentious.

Hasidim living outside the village created two separate petitions to have their land annexed by Kiryas Joel, which would allow for denser housing, sidewalks and other services. The Monroe town board in 2015 denied a petition to annex 507 acres but approved a separate 164-acre annexation plan.

With both board actions being litigated, the village last year proposed a new solution: adding 382 acres to the village and making it a new town called North Monroe.

Kiryas Joel officials say creating a new town would erase long-festering village-town conflicts, like the complaint that Kiryas Joel dominates town politics.

John Allegro, of United Monroe, a community group that has been critical of Kiryas Joel, sees the North Monroe proposal as another path to the same unsustainable growth pattern in annexation.

"Where is the water going to come from? Where is the sewage going to go? What's going to happen to the wildlife?" he asked.

Conflicts with the village have flared up occasionally for decades, with some accusing critics of being motivated by anti-Semitism. And critics, in turn, have stressed that their issues revolve around heavier traffic, infrastructure strain and a neighbor aggressively pursuing its agenda.

An appeals court this month denied opponents' request to place a stay on the 164-acre annexation, clearing the way for rezoning in the coming months. The parallel effort to create a town still needs to be considered by the county legislature.

Szegedin said it would allow suburbanites and Hasidim to live in peace.

"We don't question their desire to live in a rural area, and we hope that they won't question our desire to live the way we live," Szegedin said. "We understand that there are two ways of living."

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Posted By richards on March 5, 2017

Israel Hayom

Sunday March 5, 2017 Israel Hayom According to the criminal complaint, Thompson began by threatening to the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York from an email account designed to direct investigators to his former girlfriend. He then proceeded to make a bomb threat against the ... and more »

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Sunday March 5, 2017 - Israel Hayom

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