Controversy Over New Satmar Hasidic Village Continues

A Bloomingburg planning board meeting about the construction of a proposed hasidic girls school was postponed last month because of an overflowing crowd that was largely opposed to the proposed school has been rescheduled for Thursday night — in the same room in Village Hall that was overcrowded last month.

Controversy Over New Satmar Hasidic Village Continues
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

A Bloomingburg planning board meeting about the construction of a proposed hasidic girls school was postponed last month because of an overflowing crowd that was largely opposed to the proposed school has been rescheduled for Thursday night — in the same room in Village Hall that was overcrowded last month, the Times Herald-Record reported.

About 150 people packed Village Hall for that meeting, spilling into the parking lot. Bloomingburg has 420 residents, none of whom appear to be hasidic or Orthodox.

The school’s developer, Shalom Lamm, is also developing a large townhouse complex in the tiny village which has been illegally marketed in a 16-page insert in a Satmar-controlled Brooklyn Yiddish language newspaper as a Satmar-only hasidic village to be called Kiryas Yatev Lev.

Lamm claims that he "had nothing to do with" that insert and reportedly says that he hasn't marketed the townhomes to anyone but licensed realtors.

"The only advertisement we took out was in the Times Herald-Record, period. But I'm a developer and I'm here to sell homes. I'm not going to say someone can live or they can't live here,” Lamm told the Times Herald-Record.

Satmar has a long history of allegedly violating fair housing law to exclude non-hasidim from its housing developments – some of which have been built with government funding.

Kiryas Joel, Satmar’s first hasidic village, is 99.9% Satmar and is run by politicians handpicked by one of the two rebbes (grand rabbis) of the hasidic sect.

State and New York City officials are reluctant to take on Satmar, which has a large voting bloc which votes at the direction of its rabbinic leaders.

Related Posts:

Exclusive – New Satmar Hasidic Village To Be Built At Mystery Location In New York State.

New Satmar Hasidic Village Announced, To Be Built In Bloomingburg, New York.

New Satmar Village Developer Reportedly Used Deception To Manipulate Small Town.

Satmar Rebbe: "All Goyim Are Dirty.”

Comments

[S M L]

Their bloc doesn't quite vote entirely as expected though, does it? Look at the Brooklyn DA election. Not monolithic.

Nonetheless I'm sure their pet developer is playing games in Bloomingburg. Nobody but Satmar would want to live among Satmar so it hardly matters how it's marketed. Once the first dozen or so Satmar buy in the value of all the properties will plummet except to other Satmar buyers. You wouldn't be able to give a house away to an assimilated Jew or to a non-Jew. It's like blockbusting, but done from a standing start instead of happening in an established neighborhood.

[S M L]

Their bloc doesn't quite vote entirely as expected though, does it? Look at the Brooklyn DA election. Not monolithic.

Nonetheless I'm sure their pet developer is playing games in Bloomingburg. Nobody but Satmar would want to live among Satmar so it hardly matters how it's marketed. Once the first dozen or so Satmar buy in the value of all the properties will plummet except to other Satmar buyers. You wouldn't be able to give a house away to an assimilated Jew or to a non-Jew. It's like blockbusting, but done from a standing start instead of happening in an established neighborhood.

[Gevezener Chusid]

I was in the chassidic community (as an adult) for 17 years and NEVER once did my rebbe or any other rebbe, rabbi, or rov tell us whom to vote for. We WERE told that we should consider voting a religious obligation because it would give the community more clout, since politicians listen to districts that have heavy voter turnout.

[Gevezener Chusid]

rescheduled for Thursday night -- you mean Yom Tov? How convenient to schedule for a time when no Jewishly observant person can be there to state their position.

[Office of the Chief Rabbi]

The room was too small, so they rescheduled it for the same room: sounds more like Chelmsburg, instead of Bloomingburg.

[ruthie]

Gevezener Chusid,

all good..but
1. you were lucky to have good rabbis
2. how old are you? i'm just asking because this is fairly recent 20 years? that bloc voting is the ticket to doing what you want.
3. years ago being religious is NOT what i see today....i'm sure there
are good people but the majority omg
in monsey they send buses to the yeshivas to get them all to vote.
only for bloc voting...otherwise it would be verboten.

[EN]

According to parents in the local school district, 9/26 is the open house for the elementary schools and the National Honor Society induction ceremony. Coincidence? Seems unlikely.