New Square To Lose Firefighters Due To Rampant Code and Safety Violations

The Journal News reports:

The fire district serving New Square wants a public hearing on removing the village from its jurisdiction.

Citing fire and safety code violations persisting for years, the Moleston Fire District wants the Ramapo Town Board to schedule a hearing on relieving the district of providing emergency services to the village.

Concerns involve the safety of the volunteer firefighters who face dangerously unknown conditions in the village of more than 6,000 people, ranging from staircases to nowhere to commercial enterprises in residential buildings, Herbert Silverstein, fire district chairman, said yesterday.

"We've been in a life-and-death situation for many years," said Silverstein, a 46-year member of the Hillcrest Fire Department, which is overseen by Moleston. "I'm worried about my firemen."

At the insistence of Moleston and Rockland Fire Coordinator Gordon Wren Jr., the state began inspections of the village four years ago. Wren also is a Moleston commissioner.

More than 80 buildings failed to meet state fire and safety codes, according to the state's partial survey.

New Square did not adopt the state's codes, which are mandatory for municipalities, until 2005.

Though progress has been made - state officials have noted that new multifamily housing has the required sprinkler systems - hazardous conditions remain.

Houses have little space between them, permitting fires to spread easily, and limited parking means more cars on the streets to block the path of emergency vehicles.

Silverstein recalled a fire Feb. 7 in which two residential buildings were destroyed and another was damaged. The fire was spotted by a man walking by about 2 a.m.

"He alerted the people in the house," Silverstein said of the passer-by. "If that did not happen, we would have had body bags all over the place. It was just a matter of luck."…

Realize what this means. New Square, home of the Sqverer Rebbe, a village under his complete control, has for many years systematically violated state and local laws and codes meant to ensure the safety of citizens and public safety personnel alike. The article notes a similar 1991 effort to remove New Square from the fire district. That earlier effort stalled when politicians reached a "compromise" with New Square officials – a "compromise" New Square immediately violated.

These hasidim are holy men? Please. They're criminals, both in the eyes of secular law and in Jewish law, as well. Halakha recognizes secular law (dina d'malchuta dina) in all matters not in direct conflict with the Torah; it also recognizes the need to take proactive safety measures. (See, for example, the halakhot mandating a fence around one's roof and the covering or fencing of a pit or well. Those halakhot are interpreted broadly to require other forms of safety precautions.)

Remember the New Square pardon scandal? The one where four New York Hasidic leaders who were convicted of stealing $40 million in student grants, small-business loans and housing subsidies were pardoned by President Clinton on his way out of office? New Square voted in a block for Hillary Rodham Clinton in an allegedly  quid-pro-quo arrangement brokered by the Squarer Rebbe himself. Add the disregard for public safety and other crimes. Now ask yourself the following question: Why have the leading Orthodox rabbinic and communal bodies and leaders not publicly condemned this behavior and the man who clearly has sanctioned it?

Of course, the answer is complex, but one salient reason stands out from the rest – people in glass houses should not throw stones. In other words, the rest of our Orthodox leadership is at least as dirty as New Square's. And that is the lesson you should learn from this post.

Comments

[anon]

They still have phony billing schemes to inflate figures. Hamayvin yovin.

[ed]

Shmarya,

How many people in Skver died from a fire due to a building not on par with the local codes? And how many were injured because of that?

[Shmarya]

Does it matter? Certainly not halakhicly. The issue is compliance with the law, both secular and Jewish.

[love all jews]

do you throw out comments that are to rational ?has your baseless hate gone that far?

Let them remove NEw Sqaure. Nobody in New Square is going to change unless a real tragedy compells them

[love all jews]

do you throw out comments that are to rational ?has your baseless hate gone that far?

[love all jews]

What about the stories ,where the chabad Rebbe cried at the losses of israeli soldiers when Begin gave the sinai back to egypt? you say chabad is anti Israel ?

[PishPosh]

Hey Love All Jews, maybe you should go and prove Shmarya a liar and go live in of those chateaus there with your bros. You and all people like you need to be put out of the people of Israel like Korach and his gang.

[ed]

No, Pishposh. Its you and you ilk that need to be swallowed deep down under the ground.

[ed]

>Does it matter? Certainly not halakhicly. The issue is compliance with the law, both secular and Jewish.

Shmarya, Mi Somcha L'ish? Who appointed you as policeman and federal inspector? Why don't you rather concentrate on getting married and raising a family?

Do you sit every night for 5 - 6 hours giving Brochos and Chizuk to those who need it? The Skver Rebbe does that almost every night. What have you done for the Klal besides spewing all your venom here?

[ed]

>These hasidim are holy men? Please. They're criminals, both in the eyes of secular law and in Jewish law, as well. Halakha recognizes secular law (dina d'malchuta dina) in all matters not in direct conflict with the Torah;

Shmarya, that's totaly stupid. If I go over the speed limit, am I a criminal too?

[avrohom]

scotty and his ilk have long time ago joined the erev rav to make ittheir business to criticize every rov and rebbe' regardless of whether or not they do good or not. The best would be when they already convert to their new religion so that no one is confused that are voicing jewish opinions.

[Rabbi Borat's Guide to Pesach Farbrengen (Passover getting drunk - get together Christian blood drin]

B"H
Me and my father in law Rebbe Yudel-Almighty support total libertarianism. If they in New Square want to live "dangerously" fine.
If this in fact is much more risky than being within fire/building codes people will die (Yuidel forbid!) and others will move out or change community leadership and change how the things are run.
What other solution do you propose FailedMessiah dude?
To appoint you as a Mayor of New Square to fix it up, or something?
Why don't you start a collection to renovate houses in New Square to make them up to code?
Oh wait I forgot these people are Jewish Chareidim no money for them nor Israeli settlers they steal all the money anyway and in fact they rule the world even the great WarLord Premier of the US and A himself had to grant pardon to their ganovim.
How can one help such people? They are clearly not even Jewish. Jews are described as rachmonim mercifull gomley chassodim - doing good deads. eating herring, and most importantly obeying dinah de'malchusa - the law of the land the most important mitzvah in the Torah of my saintly father in law Yudel-Almighty.
For whoever doesn't obey it even as much as crosses the street on the red light at 3 in the morning when their is no cars for miles his soul shall be cut of from the people of Yudel-Almighty who obey the law of the land and would never do such a reckless and un-Yudly thing as to disobey the Bushes law. For it is against our holy Torah- Torah of Yudel to anger the righteous goy government of the US and A because it is ruled by the great George W Bush the great WarLord who can shoot a gun with the best of them and can nuke us all G-d forbid if with violate his Dina.

Ed, I still ask you though, are chareidim breaking the torah by going against the laws of the land to such an extent? Is this causing a chilul hashem? Don't dodge the question. We're not talking about the speed limit, we are talking about endangering lives. Can you admit that this is wrong?

[anon]

Tantzen ale chasidim. These guys are infamous for ignoring fire code. One chasidishe camp in the catskills called in all there influential chips to be allowed to flagrantly ignore fire code. Thank G-d they were told in cases of safety the dina d'malchusa is to be applied. They were running electric extension cords all around the kitchen and were cited. The girls in the camp could have died!

[Seraphya]

> What about the stories ,where the chabad Rebbe cried at the losses of israeli soldiers when Begin gave the sinai back to egypt? you say chabad is anti Israel ?

love all jews, losses of Israeli soldiers when evacutaing yamit? what are you talking about?

Chabad is anti-Israel, they forbid the singing of hatikva, and they throw children out of thier school for celebrating yom haatzmaut in obvius way.

The fact that they protested the disengagement is just another way they oppose the government of Israel, so they didn't have the pain that most Dati leumi people had opposing the State. Chabad has always been happy to oppose the state of Israel, we should be suprised?

[rabbidw]

THere are civil codes and criminal codes. One does not become a criminal by violating civil codes. Speeding and not stopping at a red light are violations, not crimes. On the other hand, if circumstances create extra danger, then no volunteers should be forced to risk their lives. The answer is simple. Either New Square line up their own volunteer firemen to serve their community, or they can have an assessment and hire a professional fire squad. Perhaps, since surrounding areas work with volunteers, they might provide service at a fee for neighboring communities, cutting down their expense. In any event, no volunteer should be forced to bear the burden of New Squares high risk building pattern.

[rabbidw]

BTW, Ed, if you come to me for a bracha, I'll be glad to give it you, at no charge. What test did the Squere rebbe take to become a Rebbe? He picked the right father!!The entire concept of a REBBE is christological. Who removed the cherem of the GRA anyway?

[chief doofis]

Forget about the Law. You have to have brains,too!! Fire codes are there to save lives!! Traffic laws are there to save lives!! Young people are not allowed to drink so that they don't mess up their lives (or lose them!)

It's not sharp to figure out ways to rent out your basement when it violates code. It's not sharp to show off that you can get up to the mountains on a Friday afternoon in 80 minutes!! It's not sharp to parade through town 1/2 drunk on Purim.(There are certainly greater Mitzvot than adloyada!!)
It's definitely not sharp for Yeshiva bochrim to smoke!! It's not sharp to be unhygienic either!! It's amazing that our Torah given sense of safety (V'asita Ma'aka l'gagecha, etc), is no longer considered "cool" in the "F(c)rum" world!