Kiryas Joel Schools Opened Sunday During Hurricane, Students Needed To Be Rescued From Flooded School Bus

The Satmar hasidic village of Kiryas Joel apparently disregarded federal, state and county government warnings and opened its schools on Sunday during the hurricane. Here's what happened.

A Satmar school bus stalled on Forest Road in Kiryas Joel during the hurricane on Sunday. The children on the bus had to be rescued.Satmar disregarded federal, state, and county warnings to keep schools closed and people indoors.

[Hat Tip: Burich.]

Comments

[facts]

Your claims that there is no mesirah in a DEMOCRACY are not only disingenious but illogical. If one has a bad character and hates someone, since according to you there is no MESIRAH in the US (being a democracy), then one can just file false allegations against whomever one pleases and it is not mesirah.

Well what do you think these women who want a divorce do all the time? wake up and smell the coffee? Invent abuse and molestation accusations. Not only Shmarya are you foolish but extremely naive. This is mesirah, mesirah and more mesirah. as the shulchan oruch states yordim le'gehonom ledore doros ve'ainom oylim.

have a good chodesh, stop being naive and thinking these women are innocent victims and get a life and find a wife. you are such a humanitarian and compassionate man, there should be lines waiting to marry you. But oops I forgot you collect money for a living, you are not wealthy and these superficial AMerican Japs are interested in one thing materialism.

By the way is it MUTTAR TO MASSER ON YOU to the IRS claiming you do not declare your income?

You'll probably write back and say, you do declare it. Every cent, come on, we know you do not. And even if you do, you the chief Rebbe of tnhe Pie in the Sky chassidim gave us a hetter to maaser on you

[Steven]

Hope they get the rescue bill.

[Joonarchist]

inbreeding will do that to you

[jancsipista]

FATCTS OR IS IT EMES- STOP THINKING THAT ALL WOMAN ARE GUILTY AND SCHEEMERS AND ALL MAN ARE PERFECT ANGELS.

[HadEnuff]

Shouldn't have bothered rescuing them. Torah observant fathers taught them all to swim didn't they?

[jancsipista]

theese satmerers are a law unto themselfs they are above it all they are the self loathing morons who learn only from tragedies.

[seymour]

theese satmerers are a law unto themselfs they are above it all they are the self loathing morons who learn only from tragedies.

Posted by: jancsipista | August 30, 2011 at 08:28 AM

you give them to much credit

learn lets see if they learned anything the next time there is a warning

[seymour]

why should they listen

since they where going to study Torah nothing bad can happen to them

the only conclusion is that some boys where not going to learn or thinking about it and that is why is happened

[jancsipista]

seymour- i came to the conclusion that theese satmerer hassidim and other hassidim are trying to prove that you can be as stupid and beyond stupid and get away with it i am sure that common sense tells them what it tells us but they are so hypnotized by their rebbes and the fear that others will see them doing something that they see as against their rebbe
this whole of hassidism or shall i say fanatic extreemism is identical to the muslim dictatorship and tottalatarism fear is the impetus in all this.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Apologies to Anonymous (Goodnight Irene):

Refrain:
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight
Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene
I'll hear you in my screams

Last motzei Shabbos the storm raged
Me and my rebbe hunkered down
Now me and my rebbe are parted
I'm gonna drive around Joel-town

Refrain

Sometimes I live in Orange County
Sometimes I live in Willie-town
Sometimes I have a compulsion
To get on a school bus and drown

Refrain

Rebbe start your davening
Stop learning in Beis Midrash tonight
Go home to your wife and your family
Sit down by the hurricane lamps

Refrain 2x

[A. Nuran]

Yochanan, I'm trying to imagine Leadbelly with peyos and tzitzis.

[Kol Tzfardayah]

Is it not enough that someone lost his life trying to save (foolish) people who were stuck o n power lines (see story elsewhere on this site). When will they learn to obey laws, rules & regulations? Who is running this train wreck anyways? Is it drek? His father? perlow? zweibel? rubashkin?....

[Yochanan Lavie]

Thanks, A. Nuran.

[Garnel Ironheart]

When they called for assistance they should have been told: The same God you think was going to make you immune to the hurricane's effects can come rescue you. We're too busy.

[Zoobiemanyak]

At least the kids finally got a bath. A novel experience given their societies propensity to wallowing in filth and muck.

[devorah]

All this just to go to a school where they waste time learning anything EXCEPT life skills, job skills, or any skills at all!

On the positive side, the families with 16 kids at least had some peace to clean up the house. You think?

[Anon]

Yochanan:

You've lost that writing feeling.

Oh Oh That Writing Feeling.

You've lost that writing feeling...

And it's gone gone gone.

[Mendy]

Dear Zoobiemanyak: Have you no heart? How can you write like this about a community you know nothing about? "At least the kids finally got a bath. A novel experience given their societies propensity to wallowing in filth and muck"
FYI, the people in KJ are obsessed with cleanliness and the children are all without exception the best dressed kids! Your post is a reflection of your own bitterness and baseless hatred for a community that is filled with one of the kindest, hard-working, righteous Yidden living a Torah-true life.
And to you Shmarya: The unending Chareidi bashing is such a turn-off. You used to have intelligent give and take on your site - what happened that your followers have sunk to such dumb lows?

[WoolSilkCotton]

So where are the frumma from yesterday and Sunday who claimed that the schools were closed there on Sunday?

[WoolSilkCotton]

Mendy, take a good look at that bus sitting in the floowaters. That pictures symbolizes what your community's beliefs are all about.

[Mike Powers]

Chassidim except Chabad have little respect for anything and that inlcudes science , nature and their laws. They have no resepct for the automobile and its dangers, Its only when they are sicjk then they run to the BEST doctors. Why not prchase a fine set of Psalms ?

[Deremes]

So where are the frumma from yesterday and Sunday who claimed that the schools were closed there on Sunday?

Posted by: WoolSilkCotton | August 30, 2011 at 11:33 AM

A:I haven't verify if the schools in KJ were open but maybe they were. In Brooklyn i know that they were closed i didn't check if all schools but for the most part there were closed.

B:I drove from the Catskills Sunday evening to Brooklyn, i can count maybe twenty cars that i saw that were "frumma". And usually on Sundays there are hundreds of "frumma" driving in. As many cars i saw there were non-frumma or non-Jews who disregarded secular authorities.

C: See yesterdays NY Post how many people disregarded secular authorities and most of them i assume are non-frumma.

"They gambled against Irene -- and lucked out.

Most of the 370,000 residents of flood-prone New York City neighborhoods defied mandatory evacuation orders, deriding Hurricane Irene's ballyhooed blow through town yesterday as more sound than fury.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/we_re_staying_alive_UDd5qPS8wGAjFfuOrcGtlM#ixzz1WXAbfnZP"

Verify if the Seagate and the five towns community were lots of frumma reside if they stayed

D:Shamrya wrote on one of the posts that hes "trying to save lives"LOL. How come he doesn't raise hell with all those non Jews who defied the warnings? Are you telling me that he cares more about Jews then non-Jews? We are all humans,is Jewish blood redder? Am i smelling racism?

[Zoobiemanyak]

Dear Mendy,

You Sir, are an idiot.

[devorah]

"Your post is a reflection of your own bitterness and baseless hatred for a community that is filled with one of the kindest, hard-working, righteous Yidden living a Torah-true life."

Hard working? You do mean "hardly working." KJ is one of the poorest villages in NYS with the highest welfare. They are working hard milking the system, that's for sure.

[Mendy]

Mendy, take a good look at that bus sitting in the floowaters. That pictures symbolizes what your community's beliefs are all about.

Posted by: WoolSilkCotton | August 30, 2011 at 11:34 AM

See what I mean? Can it get any dumber than pointing to a bus sitting in floodwaters and saying this sybolizes what your community's beliefs are all about?

[seymour]

See what I mean? Can it get any dumber than pointing to a bus sitting in floodwaters and saying this sybolizes what your community's beliefs are all about?

Posted by: Mendy | August 30, 2011 at 01:34 PM

yes you can when you put it in context

[Jewish Prince]

Isidore Farkas and Company have declared war on Shmaryah.

[seymour]

Isidore Farkas and Company have declared war on Shmaryah.

Posted by: Jewish Prince | August 30, 2011 at 02:55 PM

why because he exposed that he is a thug and a convicted felon

[Had Enough of Shmarya's Shit]

Are you all crazy? This site is sick. Shmarya should work for the KKK and you commenters are obviously Jew (self) haters. Any voice of moderation is treated like garbage and those who try to be rational end up getting sucked into the frey. Shmarya seems like an adult until somebody disagrees with him and then he acts like a 2 year old. Put this site out of business. Stop reading this bullshit. The articles are garbage and the owner is really sick. It can't be healthy to devote hours and hours to finding negative things about others. Do something positive for someone starting with yourself.

[Tired of Reading Shmarya's Shit]

Are you all crazy? This site is sick. Shmarya should work for the KKK and you commenters are obviously Jew (self) haters. Any voice of moderation is treated like garbage and those who try to be rational end up getting sucked into the frey. Shmarya seems like an adult until somebody disagrees with him and then he acts like a 2 year old. Put this site out of business. Stop reading this bullshit. The articles are garbage and the owner is really sick. It can't be healthy to devote hours and hours to finding negative things about others. Do something positive for someone starting with yourself.

[mordecai]

When my clients tell me that they want to go to trial because G-d told them to, I relate the following story:

1) A police officer knocks on the door of a homeowner and says: "Sir, a Hurricane is coming and there will be massive flood. You must evacuate! The homeowner says: "No. I prayed to G-d and he said it is fine to stay."

2) The floods come and the first floor of the house is flooded. The homeowner goes to the second floor.

3) The next day a fireman in a rowboat, rows to the house and says: "Sir, jump into this rowboat to save your life. The floods are coming even worse." The homeowner says: "I prayed to G-d and he told me to stay."

4) Sure enough the floods come. The homeowner's 2nd floor is flooded and now he has to go to the roof.

5) Now the next day a helicopter is hovering over the roof and the pilot screams: "Jump into the helicopter and save your life. The floods will get even worse." The homeowner says again that he prayed to G-d and G-d told him to stay.

6) The flood now come and drown the homeowner and he goes to Heaven where he meets G-d Almighty. He says to G-D: "I was pious. I prayed. I was devout. Why did you not send me a sign?"

7) G-d says: "You idiot!!!! I sent you three signs: the police officer, the fireman, and the helicopter pilot.

[Shmarya]

Are you all crazy? This site is sick. Shmarya should work for the KKK and you commenters are obviously Jew (self) haters. Any voice of moderation is treated like garbage and those who try to be rational end up getting sucked into the frey. Shmarya seems like an adult until somebody disagrees with him and then he acts like a 2 year old. Put this site out of business. Stop reading this bullshit. The articles are garbage and the owner is really sick. It can't be healthy to devote hours and hours to finding negative things about others. Do something positive for someone starting with yourself.

Posted by: Tired of Reading Shmarya's Shit | August 30, 2011 at 04:42 PM

Interestingly, I almost never respond to comments – even comments that attack me.

But your perception is different.

Why?

Because you can't answer me. You can't deal with what I write. You can't deal with the facts.

So the few times I do comment stick large in your mind.

[Shmarya]

Posted by: facts | August 30, 2011 at 08:17 AM

Give your wife her get already and stop with your delusional lying.

Oh, and do some women falsely report child sex abuse during custody fights?

Yes they do.

And police and ACS are well aware of it.

[seymour]

The articles are garbage and the owner is really sick. It can't be healthy to devote hours and hours to finding negative things about others. Do something positive for someone starting with yourself.

Posted by: Had Enough of Shmarya's Shit | August 30, 2011 at 04:31 PM

maybe you did not notice or more lily do not want to notice that 99% of the articles are not written by Shmarya they are from regular everyday news papers.

of course you most lily stick to the frum papers and web site that never report anything that is might be negative about their community.

therefore people like you can go on thinking how better you are than the rest simple because we do not have the issues that others have, when in realty you do.

and this site busts that bubble.

The first step to correct a problem is knowing and admitting their is a problem. to bad so many in your community life in a delusional world, and do not fix problem that you think do not exist.

PS the more you and you cohorts post, the more FM representation of the frummas prove correct.

I know i was one many years ago and i know the bullshit that goes on.

genava on a vast scale by the holy institutions

shamefull

[Valhalla]

Who rescued the students?

[Tired of Reading Shmarya's Shit]

Hey, there it is. Someone becomes critical of Shmarya and he lashes out. You always respond because you can't help yourself. I can't imagine what it it must be like to sit all day and just look for garbage stories bashing Jews. I know what its like to read your trash and its not healthy to be so negative all the time. If reading it makes me sick then living it must be hell. You are obviously a very angry person. You're never going to get anywhere until you deal with that anger. Get help and grow up. We're tired of your shit.

[mordecai]

Posted by: Tired of Reading Shmarya's Shit | August 30, 2011 at 07:08 PM

So stop reading if you are tired.

Don't you understand that the kids in this bus could have died? Posting stories like this has the potential to save lives. Sometimes it is necessary to break a few eggs to make an omelette. There are non so blind as those who will not see.

[WoolSilkCotton]

++Tired of Reading Shmarya's Shit | August 30, 2011 at 07:08 PM++
Take a good look at that picture of the bus stuck in the flood. That is your brain, and the way you think. You think you are smarter than everyone else, and so you go where others have said not to, because you are a big genius frummer tuches who doesn't have to listen to the secular and the goyem.
So let 50 children (average bus capacity) sit in the bus for a few hours as the cold water gradually fills up the bus, and you realize you just might cause them all to drown if the goyem don't come to rescue you.
Why didn't they just call the rebbe? You and your "Satmar Religion" are a failure. The bus is you.

[Black Leybel]

It is osur to rescue this bus since the creatures that were contained in it were the spawn of scum and, as such, can only produce more of the same.

The Satmar hate Israel, hate Zionism, and are traitors to klal yisroel.

They and the anti-Semites who support them are our enemies.

Their wanton disregard for the law of the land, theft, constant lying, and ignorance of the most basic survival skills and knowledge of basic general education make them unfit to inhabit this planet.

Why should anyone step in to save them when they consistently refuse to do their part in paying taxes, educating their kids as loyal Americans and Israelis, support our enemies, mooch off those they condemn, etc.

[Tired of Reading Shmarya's Shit]

How noble. I think Shmarya should take a vacation and close the blog for a month. I would bet he'd be a happier human being and so would the majority of his readers. If he'd use that vacation to see a therapist I would perdict the world would be a better place. This entire blog is predicated on stories of Jews doing the wrong thing or not getting along. Every post is picked to present an opportunity to bash Jews. Tell me how that makes sense not to menton how sick it is to spend your life looking for trash about other people. I think there's many people out there who are really tired of reading Shmarya's shit all over he place. Anger is a bad thing. Grow up and move on.

[Friar Yid]

Shmarya should work for the KKK and you commenters are obviously Jew (self) haters.

While tone and perception are obviously critical factors in this discussion, I would argue that it is not self-hating to be concerned or exasperated by stories that show members of one's extended family behave in irrational, dangerous or otherwise boneheaded ways. Caring about someone who acts destructively does not mean you hate them.

Right or wrong, fair or not, most Jews consider and view themselves as being part of a family. I do not "hate" Haredim anymore than I hate members of my own family that I strongly disagree with. I do not come here and read Shmarya's stuff (most of which, as seymour said, are just reprints of major news publications with commentary) to stock up on reasons to "hate" Haredim. Rather it is to be aware of the other side of the community-- the side that the community's own media will never talk about.

I see stories like this, and I shake my head. Not because I am happy that there are Haredim who are foolish or do silly things. Quite the opposite: by venting about the bad apples (who in some cases are reflective of a process which rots the whole barrel) I and many of the commenters here are expressing some very positive values: hope and faith.

I hope that Haredim can be just as sane and rational as anyone else. That they have the sense to follow safety and government regulations meant to protect themselves, their children, and their fellow men. That they are capable of living up to the principles they claim to believe in.

I hope that Haredim can be a living example of what is best about being Jewish, using their visibility to create goodwill between Jews and Gentiles (and hopefully between Jews and other Jews, while they're at it), rather than burning bridges and enforcing stereotypes.

Until that day happens, I will continue to sigh, shake my head, and yes, occasionally shake a fist. Not because I hate my brother Jews, who in some ways are very far from me. But because I want them to use their God-given brains and talents to be good, smart, and compassionate PEOPLE as well as Jews. Menschen as well as Yidden.

I am not willing to accept that it is impossible for a person to be Haredi and an intelligent and/or good human being. I will not "let them off the hook." That would be too easy. I have faith in them. and so I will continue to hold them to a high standard.

And there is nothing self-hating about that.

[devorah]

"Tell me how that makes sense not to menton how sick it is to spend your life looking for trash about other people. I think there's many people out there who are really tired of reading Shmarya's shit all over he place. Anger is a bad thing. Grow up and move on."

The door swings both ways. If you are unhappy reading this blog, leave. I bet you can't wait to read true stories about your people. We all need to be aware of the scope of their crimes.

[Adam Neira]

Calm down everyone !

No one was hurt from this. Someone made a mistake regarding driving the bus. Wilful denial of the elements and public warnings is a problem however. Shmarya has a point about people not being too closed off from the outside world. We need more engagement right now between various groups not less.

[Shmaya"s new name is JULIUS STREICHER]

from now on we should all rename,this criminaly insane jew hating,self hating dirty rat Shmarya'his new name is JULIUS STREICHER'
had this dirty piece of filth lived 65 yrs ago in Europe,i have no doubt in my mind,this piece of human excrement would have been the editor in chief of that fithy ANTISEMITIC nazi rag DER STURMER,Hitler and Streicher would have had a lot of NACHAS from this self hating piece of human garbage,
it's just too bad that this filthy dog wasn"t around that time,because he would have been hanging from the gallows with the rest of his NAZI buddies.

[David]

I wonder if they bothered to thank their rescuers?

[Yoel Mechanic]

The logic (in certain posts) is that with enough spiteful mockery, there will improvement. Voices of moderation, in this way of thinking, have no place and also are subjected to a barrage of mockery, and outright hatred.

This simply is not the way to do grass roots outreach. Do you respond well to mockery? Do you expect to win friends and influence people for the better with such venal rhetoric?

[Satmar Kiryas Joel]

to david they were rescued with a baloon ship by the KJ Hatzolah, most kids manage to get off the bus themselfs, the few who hatz saved they thanked them for saving their lives

[ronininja]

@ WoolSilkCotton "take a good look at that bus sitting in the floowaters. That pictures symbolizes what your community's beliefs are all about.'

And that will be... Noah's ark painted in yellow?

[Chutzpah]

I find unending Charedi bashing kinda a turn-on!

[Vicki Polin]

Kiryas Joel School official's should be charged with child endangerment!

It seems that in some orthodox communities, not only do mandated reporters neglect to report when they suspect children being abused -- community leaders also put children at risk of harm by expecting children to go to school when federal, state and county officials have said it was to dangerous to be outside during a hurricane.

[Bassy the Haredi Slayer]

All those people who are upset at Shmarya for pointing out their faults are like people who are upset at the mirror for reflecting back their ugliness

[Adam Neira]

Some of these threads at FM remind me of the final scenes in the Blues Brothers where everyone is involved. The Nazis are chasing Jake and Elwood. The cops are chasing them. The Good Ole Boys are chasing them. The angry ex-wife with the RPG is chasing them. The band is trying to keep up. Chaos but a kind of togetherness. It is good that everyone is engaging even if it is arguing. Sometimes family dinner parties can be full of energy but beneath all that bluster is real love and concern.

Perhaps we are all on a mission from G-d ?

[Abraham, KY NY]

It's so interesting to see how self-hating jews have no idea what they are talking about, just here to bash anyone that is different from them.

Does anyone of the above commentators even know that all of the rescuers (which BTW weren't really 'rescuers' at the time, because there was never any real danger to anyone there) were trained satmar chasiidim from the village itself?

And this is just one example (or like someone else here saying that most of KY lives on welfare, please get your facts straight before you spew out your hateful venom, maybe 5% of KY residents live on welfare. Yes, a huge amount relies on food stamps to feed their kids, and they are nothing less then the other 46,000,000 americans that do - All of them are HARD WORKING people, including myself).