Is Conservation “Anti-Semitic”?

Are you going to speak up, or continue to be stepped on by corrupt politicians and their enablers? One subscriber of The Monroe Gazette has decided to rise to the occasion.

Howdy. I am chasing down a couple of stories today that required a lot of leg work. So, I don’t have time for a proper post this afternoon; however, that does not mean you should go empty handed.

The other day, I mentioned how I thought Kate S. Ahmadi was a hero for speaking at the most recent meeting of the Orange County legislature.

We need more people to speak up, otherwise our politicians (mostly working for corporate interests such as State Senator James Skoufis is) will continue to ignore us, and others, like hanhallah, will continue to get whatever they want. Consequences be damned.

It’s up to you. We can do something about all this. But if nobody shows up to Board Meetings (look at the attendance this week from a critical South Blooming Grove Village Board meeting), nothing will change.

The choice is yours. Kate chose wisely. So, please enjoy this post she wrote which explains how the claims of antisemitism — that only seem to arise when hanhallah doesn’t get what it wants — are bogus when it comes to conservation efforts.

Is Conservation “Anti-Semitic”?

Written by Kate S. Ahmadi, Ph. D.

Conservation is defined as preservation, protection, or restoration of the natural environment and of wildlife.  Its antonym: destruction of the natural environment and of wildlife.

The opt-in Hudson Valley Community Preservation Act (HVCPA) of 2007 was passed by the Orange County legislature twice in 2007 and unanimously in 2019, but was blocked both times in the New York State Senate. Under this act, each town or city can establish a specific real estate transfer tax of whatever size it decides:  to be added to a “community preservation fund.”  

The New York State Association of REALTORS (nysar) “opposes the authorization of additional real estate transfer taxes to fund local community preservation funds.  nysar respects and agrees with communities wishing to preserve open space, however, funding for such initiatives should not rely on raising taxes, nor should it be at the sole expense of homebuyers in the community.” (nysar, 2022).  This wording is more or less the same as that a Senator used in opposing the original county-wide bill, even though s/he sponsored the two stand-alone bills. Amazingly, at this time one local politician has publicly accused that Senator of “anti-Semitism” (“NY-18 CANDIDATE,” 2022).

In 2019, the Town of Chester sponsored a stand-alone bill, but it was vetoed by Governor Cuomo. NY Attorney General Letitia James said: “’This campaign to deny housing to members of the Jewish community is … blatantly anti-Semitic” (James, 2019).  A lawsuit and settlement intervened.  Neighboring Blooming Grove Town also sponsored a bill, but withdrew it. 

Meanwhile, on February 14, 2020, public relations specialist Yossi Gestetner, co- founder and head of OJPAC, the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council, located in Spring Valley, wrote that the HVCPA “targets Jews.”  He tweeted: ‘“This bill is a direct result of local agitation in Orange County against Hasidim who buy properties.’” (Anderson, 2020)

Hasidim are called “the pious ones.”

In 2021, both municipalities, Chester and Blooming Grove, again sponsored bills. Chester’s passed the Senate but was pulled from the Assembly. Blooming Grove’s bill passed both houses, awaiting the Governor’s signature. 

On December 21, 2021, as the Blooming Grove bill awaited the Governor’s signature --- at the last minute --- the Unincorporated Town of Blooming Grove (excluding the Villages of South Blooming Grove and Washingtonville) held a hearing for a proposed moratorium on development of residential properties.  Joel Stern, who identified himself as “the official representative for the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove at large,” said “this is a Hasidic Moratorium.”  He continued: 

we will use every power, whether it’s political, judicial, legal to make sure that this Moratorium does not pass.  There was a bill issued in the Senate and then Congress and I think everybody knows that it looks like it is going to be vetoed because it is not grounded in preservation it is grounded in racism and discrimination.  Everybody and everyone around this town or around the area there has followed the history of what is going on for the last 15 years is exactly what the Moratorium and all of the other measures is rooted in, it’s not preservation it is Hasidic preservation lets be very clear…. about preservation or about control, restriction, discrimination …. Maybe this Moratorium is going to pass tonight or at the next meeting but this is far from over, it’s just the beginning.  Racism and discrimination is not going to stand, not in 2021. (“PUBLIC HEARING,” 12/21/21)

“Racism”?  What “race”?  Since race is such a scientifically-discredited term, I wonder why anyone would want to try to label a new race.  Judaism is a religion, ethnicity, historic nation.  But the Jewish race?  

And, speaking of Jewishness, what to make of the fact that many opponents of Hasidic developments are:  wait.  Stop.  Jewish?  In an early New York Times article about Rockland County, to the south, Berger wrote:

And the collisions between the cultures have produced charges of anti-Semitism or, if the critics are Jewish, as many are, charges that the critics are scornful of Hasidic culture.  For their part, the critics say they resent that every faulting of the Orthodox community is perceived as anti-Semitic. (Berger, 1997) 

So, Jewish critics are “anti-Semitic”? His wise words: “collisions between the cultures” [emphasis mine].

The original HVCPA was dated 2007 --- just fifteen years ago.  Villages of South Blooming Grove and of Woodbury (coterminous with Woodbury Town) were established in 2006.   To quote Mr. Stern: “Everybody and everyone around this town or around the area there has followed the history of what is going on for the last 15 years is exactly what the Moratorium and all of the other measures is rooted in, it’s not preservation it is Hasidic preservation lets be very clear”.  

On January 1, 2019, the Kiryas Joel (KJ) Village, under an agreement with the Town of Monroe, separated from Monroe and emerged as the 56-acre larger Town of Palm Tree when approved by the Orange County Legislature.  This “peaceful” settlement was initiated by United Monroe and Preserve Hudson Valley, led by Michael Egan and Emily Convers, who wrote that charges of anti-Semitism were a “tired, unfounded argument” (Convers, 2018) and that “It’s like a Public Relations war.” (“Kiryas Joel Looking,” 2014) 

“’There are two reasons villages get formed in Rockland,’ said Paul W. Adler, chairman of the county’s Jewish Community Relations Council. ‘One is to keep the Hasidim out and the other is to keep the Hasidim in.’” (Berger, 1997)

The Orange County Post-Sentinel wrote about the moratorium hearing:

Joel Stern, who is a consultant to the Village of South Blooming Grove, and Simon Gelb [planner of the proposed ‘Clovewood’ development in South Blooming Grove] had objections, saying that the moratorium was not being designed for ‘Preservation’, but rather a bias against the Hasidic community and is anti-Semitic, being instituted to stop any hopes for development, adding that officials had not communicated with them, were making a ‘power play’, and that ‘We are not done with this.  We will use every means possible, whether political, official, or legal (to stop the moratorium).  We are not done with this!’ (Johnson, 2021)

Not “Preservation” but “anti-Semitic.”  So, this label is used in Blooming Grove.  Modern usage limits Semitic to a family of languages, particularly Hebrew and Arabic, and to some extent their speakers and their culture. But what about Yiddish, “Jewish German,” the main language of the Hasidim, mainly written in Hebrew?  What, exactly, does this label mean?

Several weeks later, on February 11, 2022, the newspaper, an amalgam of two long-established papers, abruptly ceased publication.

Joel Stern had moved from KJ --- the conservative Satmar sect Hasidic municipality --- to South Blooming Grove in 2017 (McKenna, “Hasidic,” 2021).  At a January 13, 2020, Village meeting, he introduced himself as the representative of the United Jewish Community Board “representing all Jewish families in South Blooming Grove and Blooming Grove” … [speaking] on behalf of the entire Jewish community”.  On September 16, 2020, he was named by the newly-elected Mayor of South Blooming Grove as his campaign manager (McKenna, 2020). By October 26, 2020, he was listed as “Confidential Assistant.”  The United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove, which was incorporated on November 20, 2019, listed its not-for-profit business category as “synagogues,” its local address as a Monroe post office box and its principal address as a legal firm in Albany which represented KJ in at least one suit. In 2020 it was shown on Facebook distributing food in South Blooming Grove.  On June 8, 2022, Isaac (Yitzchok) Eckstein was identified as chairman and Joel Stern as board representative (“Court Overturns,” 2022).

On the very next day after the moratorium meeting, December 22, 2021, Governor Kathy Hochul vetoed the Blooming Grove HVCPA bill --- that Mr. Stern had said was “grounded in racism and discrimination” and predicted would be vetoed.  The Times Herald-Record headline was: “Hochul vetoes tax bill:  Legislation opposed by Hasidic advocates” (McKenna, “Gov. Kathy Hochul,” 2021; “Hochul,” 2021).  She stated:

There have been well-documented tensions in Orange County between local elected officials and members of the Hasidic community.  Similar tensions in the nearby Town of Chester resulted in litigation.  It would be inappropriate to sign this legislation at this juncture, while facts are still being gathered about the situation. (McKenna, 2021)

Months later, she said that “’The whole spectrum of antisemitism, I’ve never had to endure that.  But it hurts me as a human being to know that there’s someone out there who is vulnerable because of their own faith, their upbringing and their lifestyle.’”  She said “she feels ‘a special calling’ and a ‘moral responsibility’ to fight antisemitic attacks.”  (Kornbluh, 2022)

The real estate industry is reputedly “a major source of [the Governor’s] campaign donations” (Velasquez, 2022). Governor Hochul said that she is a lawyer and attempts to impartially weigh the positions of all communities involved, in time changing her decision if the facts so convince her.  

Two days later, on December 24, in The Jewish Press David Israel wrote of the “Anti-Chassidic bill” that would “enable the town of Blooming Grove in Orange County to unfairly channel a property sales tax to purchasing and preserving land it wants to keep away from Orthodox Jews who want to expand their community”.  

Representatives of the Orthodox community in NY State were elated with Gov. Kathy Hochul’s veto on Wednesday of a bill to enable the town of Blooming Grove in Orange County to unfairly channel a property sales tax to purchasing and preserving land it wants to keep away from Orthodox Jews who want to expand their community.

His response to the bill’s sponsor: “In other words, what gives you the right to tell us how to deal with our Jews?” (Israel, 2021)

The United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg and North Brooklyn tweeted … Thank you, Gov. Kathy Hochul, for vetoing S1811/A5761 that would limit development in Blooming Grove.  We wrote last month to the governor asking to veto that bill that would discriminate against Hasidic Jews.  Thank you for standing up for fair housing for all.  (Israel, 2021; McKenna, “Gov,” 2021)

On December 29, 2021, in an article in the international news publication Hamodia entitled “Governor Hochul’s Principled Move,” Rabbi Yeruchim Silber, Director of New York Government Relations for Agudath Israel of America, wrote:

‘A recent attempt to keep Jews out of an area has been festering in the Town of Blooming Grove in Orange County, whose officials wanted to establish a real estate transfer tax for collecting revenue that would be utilized to preserve agricultural land and parks --- read prevent Jewish home developers from building housing in the Town.’

Agudath Israel published: “It is, however, the contention of the local Jewish community, as well as Agudath Israel, that the real purpose of the bill is to buy up open land in order to keep Chasidic Jews from purchasing this land and building homes in Blooming Grove”. (“Agudah Lauds,” 2021; “Agudah Lauds,” 2021) Agudath Israel, thus, accepted the idea that “the local Jewish community” opposed the bill.

In VINnews on December 23, one day after the veto, Rabbi Silber was quoted as having said in a Hamodia article: “’the Fund buys up land.  Basically, it’s a euphemism to keep the Jews out.  They buy up open space, the communities can’t expand …  He added that they ‘lobbied the governor hard.’”  (“Hochul Vetoes,” 2021)

He confirms what we have seen: an organized publicity and lobbying effort.  Specifically:

The bill passed in the waning days of the 2021 legislative session last June.  Since then, the Agudah, on behalf of the United Jewish Communities of Blooming Grove, has waged an intensive advocacy effort to have this bill vetoed.  It was a high-priority item on the agenda of a meeting held with Governor Hochul at the home of Agudah Board of Trustees’ Chairman Mr. Shlomo Werdiger, which included an impassioned plea from Board of Trustee Member Chaskel Bennett, decrying the antisemitism and discrimination implicit in the bill.  

Rabbi Yeruchim Silber, Agudah’s director of New York Government Relations, led and coordinated the advocacy effort …. ‘This veto sends a clear message that Chassidic Jews, like any other Americans, are entitled to live anywhere in New York State,’ Rabbi Silber also praised Jake Adler, Governor Hochul’s Director of Jewish Affairs, for his vital role in this effort.  

Joel Stern and Isaac Eckstein … also thanked … the Lt. Governor Brian Benjamin – with whom they recently met at the Agudah office ….  Mr. Avrohom Weinstock, chief of staff at Agudath Israel of America, who played a major role in advocating for the bill to be vetoed … saying …  ‘it was clear land use discrimination under the guise of land preservation.’ (“Agudah Lauds,” 2021; “Agudah Lauds, 2021)

Parenthetically, In July, 2021, the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove filed a suit against the Washingtonville Central School District. Rabbi Silber spoke in their behalf, while Agudath Israel of America filed an amicus curiae brief (“Court Overturns …,” 2022).

Boro Park 24, Brooklyn, also described the Blooming Grove situation: “to stymie development of Chassidic communities,” and “a growing chassidic presence, with imminent plans for expansion and development.”  (“Governor Hochul,” 2021) “Hope,” then, has progressed to “imminent plans.”

Boro Park Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein was quoted: “disguised as land preservation but ultimately was designed to block Chasidic Jews from moving into Blooming Grove.” (“Governor Hochul,” 2021; “Hochul Vetoes,”2021)) He was elected, in 2018, to the seat of Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who founded Americans Against Antisemitism in 2019.

The Jewish News Syndicate called the bill “Anti-Semitism in disguise”. (“Anti-Semitism,” 2021)

The Rabbinical Alliance of America, based in Brooklyn, stated that the bill “was a ploy to prevent the Hasidic population from developing legitimate housing for its communities [sic] needs.” It referred to “institutional hate, bigotry and antisemitism” in legislation (Rabbinical, 2022). 

Regarding various annexation proposals, “Those in favor of the annexation were reluctant to share their position but, overall, they feel it is the right of the Hasidic community to expand.  Proponents believe it is their right to [sic] able to live among their families and to pursue the way of life they choose.”  (PHOTOS,”2015)

On June 28, 2022, a primary election was held in New York.  Voting for Governor Hochul was recommended by the two main Satmar groups, which mentioned her Blooming Grove veto in doing so (“Both Satmar Factions,” 2022; “Both Satmar Factions,” 2022).  Virtually all the other Hasidic groups joined in this “bloc vote.” (Kornbluh, 2022).  She received more than two-thirds of the Democratic votes.  As the election neared, support for the Republican candidate increased (“Lee Zeldin” 2022). 

Rabbi Silber wrote: “… revenue that would be utilized to preserve agricultural land and parks --- read prevent Jewish home developers from building housing in the Town.”  That is the connection:  to preserve agricultural land and parks” versus “Jewish home developers”.  

Preservation vs. development.  Specifically:  Jewish home development.  This is how the “anti-Semitism” is inserted, as it was in the Orange County Post-Sentinel article: “… the moratorium was not being designed for ‘Preservation,’ but rather a bias against the Hasidic community and is anti-Semitic, being instituted to stop any hopes for development”.  (Johnson, 2021)

The “developers” want to develop the open space, agricultural lands and parks.  They hope.  If they do not get what they want, what they hope for --- or even have “imminent plans for” --- they are being discriminated against, or they feel that they are being discriminated against, or they say so.  Then they speak, write, and lobby.  Politics is the art of getting what you want, and they want development. As Joel Stern said: “we will use every power”.

This small unknown New York town, Blooming Grove, has become notorious:  known by “the Jewish community” locally, in the state, and nationally, at least, as some kind of enemy.  The notorious Blooming Grove.  I have tried to describe how this has happened, and is happening day by day.  It started in 2019 when a public servant called the stand—alone conservation bill of a neighboring municipality “blatantly anti-Semitic” and then continued in 2020 --- a year and nine months before the acclaimed veto --- with a public relations campaign.

Let us digress to look at KJ’s history. Grand Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum, Hungarian/Romanian leader of Williamsburg Satmars, was rescued from the Holocaust.  He suffered a stroke in 1968.  Somehow, however, he encouraged his followers --- most of whom come from Hungary/Romania --- to move from crowded Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to the rural land that became KJ: beginning with 7 families in 1974.  KJ was incorporated in 1977, while he died in 1979. We saw some of the early recruits.  Since we too were escaping the city, I remember seeing broken-down cars on Route 17 that looked like circus clown cars as more and more adults and children climbed out of them.  

What happened to the Jewish people who lived in Williamsburg?  According to Deutsch and Casper:

the Hasidim joined a long series of religious communities, beginning with the Puritans, that have understood America as an unsettled wilderness …. Rather than integrate into the existing network of Orthodox institutions, businesses, and ritual sites in Williamsburg, the newly arrived Hasidim immediately sought to invalidate their legitimacy ....  Less than a decade after arriving, therefore, Satmar had successfully established a parallel Jewish universe within Williamsburg, one that initially competed with and ultimately displaced the native Orthodox community.  (2021, pp. 32-33)

His successor, his nephew Moshe, died in 2006, after which a competition between Moshe’s sons Aaron and Zalman began.  This was the year before the HVCPA was enacted in Putnam and Westchester Counties: at the beginning of “the last 15 years” that Mr. Stern mentioned.

By 2003, The Hasidic Committee to Save Williamsburg, “the holy territory,” from gentrification was formed. It developed a map which was printed in newspapers:  in the white zone, Hasidim were forbidden to rent or sell to any newcomers, while in the gray zone they could offer short-term leases only if there were no “brothers, the sons of Israel.” (Deutsch & Casper, 2021, p. 181). And, so, processes like redlining and blockbusting (p. 177), as well as “predatory rental practices within the Hasidic community” (pp.176 & 224) emerge.  

In the fall of 2007, the year the HVCPA was passed, on the front page of Der Blatt [founded in 2000 by later KJ Grand Rebbe Aaron Teitelbaum], was published:

‘Young people … need to realize that it’s time to come out from under their mothers’ apron …. All supposed worries that people have about dragging themselves to new locales are false….  In telephone interviews, Sam Weider, the editor, defended the dramatic editorial. ‘We need apartments,’ he said. ‘The ones that are built are very expensive.  We have to move out because we don’t have apartments in the neighborhood ... [You have a] small tiny apartment.  You can’t move and there’s no peace of mind.’

Der Yid [founded in 1958 by Zalman Teitelbaum, later Grand Rebbe of Williamsburg Satmars], responded that: “the housing situation was ’a very big crisis’ but that ‘nobody should say, ‘We should all move out.’” (Deutsch & Casper, 2021, p.  294)  Beginning in 2014, the magazine Ami also wrote articles about moving upstate (Ibid., p. 304).

In The New York Times, Gedalye Szegedin, Town Clerk/Government Administrator, described how KJ, in turn, has become crowded: 

‘There are three religious tenets that drive our growth:  our women don’t use birth control, they get married young and after they get married, they stay in Kiryas Joel and start a family …. Our growth comes simply from the fact that our families have a lot of babies,’ he added, ‘and we need to build homes to respond to the needs of our community.’ He was quoted: ‘We can change our zoning code to allow high-rise apartments.’

Judith Greenfeld was also quoted: “’People don’t understand the conception of our people, of our religion,’ she said.  ‘There’s no government or land or any other authority that can stop us from having babies.’” (Santos, 2006) 

The Hasidim have what Berger (1997) called a “visceral distrust of authority,” originally a result of European history.  There is a collision between adherence to two different sets of rules and regulations:  those of the sacred Torah and the Talmud and those of U. S. society, its laws, its Constitution.  Each, right.  Each, rigid. 

Michael Sussman, civil rights attorney, tried to have KJ disbanded because of its (alleged) theocracy, but was denied repeatedly by one judge (e. g., “ALLIANCE v. VILLAGE OF JOEL,” 2011) (Stolzenberg & Myers, 2021, pp 322-327).

Hasidim feel unwelcome, yet they are determined to move here, to this notorious town.  How can we understand it?  In a New York Times interview, Chana (mother of 9) responded: “‘there’s no invasion.  We have bigger families, so we need more space for the children to play outside and have breathing space.’” (Otterman, 2019)

On July 15, 2022, the new newspaper replacing the Orange County Post-Sentinel, the Orange County Courier Journal printed shocking pictures of the rape of our beloved Schunnemunk Mountain.: “Clearcutting at Clovewood:  Legal or Illegal?” Because of lack of proper permits, the Department of Environmental Conservation issued a Stop Work Order. (Disclosure:  I am founder and Trustee of the Friends of Schunnemunk Mountain State Park). “It is unclear at this time how much of the work being done was related to a pipeline to solve the Village’s long standing water issues”.  

I will share a story about a visitor.  Hearing a racket in the blackberry patch at the front of our house, I went to check on the wild rustling at the edge of the patio.  Assuming that it was the trouble-making chipmunks, as usual, I lectured them about stealing from my garden.  “Leave my garden alone, you. Stop stealing my veggies.” Since the commotion continued, I thought: “Maybe it is a bird caught in the bushes again, and cleared the bushes away, but found neither bird nor chipmunk.  

The next day, my husband cleared up the mystery.  “There is an enormous black snake in the garden.”  Just behind the same place. So, maybe the ruckus was chipmunks being swallowed this time!

Well, we have owned this cottage for fifty-some years, and have encountered rattlers and garter snakes, among others, but never a black snake. I have seen where numberless gigantic black rat snakes slither over rocks, though, on Schunnemunk Mountain. Do watch YouTube (Hiking Don, 2015; Jay G, 2016).  This snake must have come from there.  Gossip and news have been circulating about snakes coming down from Schunnemunk because of the clear-cutting.  For example, a man killed a rattlesnake on a Woodbury driveway (News12Staff, 2022).

Schunnemunk is full of rattlers (Hiking Dan, 2015; Writer by Nature, 2007 & 2008) --- even though, somehow, the “Clovewood” DEIS found no “individual” snakes in the fall --- which even in normal conditions roam four miles. As our neighborhood on the mountain adjacent to Schunnemunk developed, they went elsewhere. 

Development destroys the environment and wildlife, and must be controlled --- to use Mr. Stern’s word --- and regulated to minimize destruction, such as the absolute destruction in the pictures.  In the case of the proposed “Clovewood” development, another person and I asked that at least the proposed open space be added to Schunnemunk Mountain State Park.  In the past, unsuccessful attempts had been made to add the entire property to the park.  

During these “15 years” that Mr. Stern said that “everybody and everyone knows about,” the administration of the diverse Village of South Blooming Grove --- since its inception in 2006 --- stressed that it purposefully never discriminated, insisting that all persons, regardless of any characteristics, follow building and zoning regulations and law.  Lawsuits ensued during which, as in KJ, the Hasidim learned how to navigate the legal system (Stolzenberg & Myers, 2021).  As KJ became more crowded, Hasidim moved in, eventually taking over the Village government including the planning board: approving the proposed “Clovewood” development’s “environmental review” (McKenna, “600-home,” 2022). And clear-cutting.  It will be built for the specific conservative sect of Satmar Hasidim (Community Planning, 2019, pp. 2-10 & 3-231).  Because of New York State’s adherence to “home rule,” from then on, within state and federal law, municipal officials can make new land use regulations and laws.

How will they proceed? First, as in Rockland County, synagogues and yeshivas must be established. “’There’s a perception that the other group is not playing by the rules,’ said Jay Rosenstein, a public relations executive”.  In fact, “’Their mission is to establish places of learning and synagogues, and they feel they must accomplish this mission regardless of whether they obey the law,’” said Mr. Reisman, at that time a 71-year-old Conservative Jewish Town of Ramapo Supervisor who was said to often “serve as a Henry Kissinger figure in reconciling the camps.”  He said he enforced fire and safety rules but tried to compromise otherwise.  (Of course, when I checked the internet, I found many lawsuits).

‘You’re putting a person into a corner to break the law,’ said Mendel Hoffman, a Hasid who directs the Rockland County Development Council, an antipoverty organization. ‘We do not break the law in any other area.  Why housing?  Because you’re forcing the community to break the law.’” (Berger, 1997)

The processes of redlining and blockbusting are happening in Blooming Grove.  My neighbor has just sold the family house to a local real estate agency, saying that s/he “had to; s/he had no choice.”  They were the only potential buyer to make an offer, apparently to agree with the price.  If s/he did not agree to their purchase, s/he and the personal real estate agent expected to be condemned, perhaps sued for “anti-Semitism.”  Guess what my ex-neighbor’s religion is.  For years, other people have been making other deals:  deals to stay as long as they want, for example.  Thus, “Haredization” (Deutsch & Casper, 2021) proceeds.

Because, as we noted at first, development destroys nature and its wildlife, development and conservation are antithetical.  But, how did the word “anti-Semitism” become associated with “conservation”?  

This has nothing to do with ordinary Hasidic families, with children complaining of dangerous KJ streets, with mothers pushing black baby carriages along increasingly dangerous Route 208 ---but with developers, with those whom Gestetner calls “Hasidim who buy properties,” with those whom Casper calls “extremely wealthy Hasidic real estate developers.” 

In an interview, Michael Casper said: “I think there’s always been wealth inequality within the Hasidic community.  And that was certainly exacerbated by the economic crash in 2008 and the subsequent rise of a class of extremely wealthy Hasidic real estate developers.  So there have always been wealthy Hasidim and many more working-class Hasidim”. (Hanau, 2021)

How did “conservation” become associated with “anti-Semitism”? We saw it begin, amazingly, with an elected public servant.  Then, we saw a PUBLIC RELATIONS campaign --- what Emily Convers of Monroe called a “public relations war” --- as Gestetner the public relations specialist said before the veto:  the HVCPA is aimed at Jews.  “’It is a direct result of local agitation in Orange County against Hasidim who buy properties’” (Anderson, 2020) in order to develop them. A lobbying campaign began. Then, we saw a local meeting in this small unknown town.  Was it recorded by others than municipal officials?  Was any recording shared with the Governor --- within a day?  If so, was that planned?  Was the meeting, to some degree, orchestrated to produce anti-Semitism, as at least one scene at a South Blooming Grove meeting was, and was recorded?  We saw that organized lobbying in Albany was successful.  We saw that Mr. Stern contacted an organization, Agudath Israel of America, which disseminated information about the veto to many organizations and local, regional, state, and national news outlets, which n turn published the veto story, mentioning Blooming Grove.  

We saw that Joel Stern, claiming to represent all local Jewish persons, introduced the term “Hasidic preservation”.  We saw that In Rockland there was not one Jewish community, but at least two.  Is there but one in Orange County, in Blooming Grove? The answer is no.  Are Jewish critics “anti-Semitic”?  Are they “anti-Hasidic”?  Berger early on in 1997 wrote about the two cultures in Rockland County: (1.) Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jews and (2.) “non-Orthodox” Jews and others. Tactfully, he called this a cultural collision.  

We saw that this label of “anti-Semitism” is used to benefit the “Jewish developers,” specifically “Hasidic developers” who became rich through inequality among Hasidic people.  We saw that a label of “anti-Semitism” has been disseminated against this small unknown town.  Ironically, it established an atmosphere of intense desire of the pious ones to move in.  And vote. Signs and mail proliferate: “We buy houses.  Any condition.”  “Cash for houses.”  Buyers rent or sell their new property, giving first choice to Hasidim.  

We have observed the New York municipalities of KJ and Monroe, Chester, South Blooming Grove, and Blooming Grove. My personal conclusion is to advise against stand-alone HVCPA bills, as individual municipalities seem vulnerable.  Orange County and its County Executive were sued in the now-settled Chester lawsuit.  

And, so, based upon the settlement of the lawsuit, Chester again submitted a stand-alone bill in 2022.  Once again, on December 30, Governor Hochul vetoed the bill. Once again, she mentioned “well-documented tension in the town of Chester”.  Even though Blooming Grove was not involved in this bill, she gratuitously mentioned that “Similar unease exists in the neighboring area of Blooming Grove.”  This was published by the Jewish News Syndicate in an article published in both the U. S. and Israel called “NY Governor Hochul Vetoes Bill Meant to Keep Hasidim Out of Town” (“NY Governor Hochul,” 2022; “NY Governor Hochul,” 2023).  

Can a county bill be pursued again? A fruitful avenue might be the A5390B/S4629 law passed at the same time mandating a goal that 30% of the land, inland waters, and ocean waters in the state be preserved by 2030.  

Jesse Sweet, producer and director of the “City of Joel” documentary on Thirteen, was interviewed on MetroFocus.  A Reformed Jew, he is curious about Hasids as “my people,” and about the “clash of civilization.”  He said that their “pretty homogeneous” insularity is a “double-edged sword” that enables them to be strong and to thrive. However, two Hasidic people were documented saying: “The local people don’t like us.”  “They won’t give us what we want.” As host Jenna Flanagan said, he succeeded in finding balance amongst considerable local conflict about land use.  

At the end of the thoughtful interview, Mr. Sweet addressed KJ and anti-Semitism.  He answered my question: Is conservation “anti-Semitic”? Certainly, there is anti-Semitism, he admitted. He felt that such terms as “density” and “environmental impact” might serve as DOG WHISTLES. Such labels are “co-opted” by “voices of anti-Semitism” to become coded.  Are they really concerned? It becomes “easy to think that it’s all anti-Semitism.” (Jesse Sweet, 2020) 

A CODED word is abstract, subtle, inoffensive, and apparently neutral, but understood by a group who uses it to denigrate another ethnic group in order to maintain the power structure. Rabbi Silber was quoted saying that “community preservation fund” is “a euphemism to keep the Jews out.” (“Hochul Vetoes,” 2021) We have seen how, through public relations and lobbying campaigns the respected word “CONSERVATION” has become associated with “anti-Semitism” since at least 2020, becoming a dog whistle.  Hasidim sensitively hear it as a code word directed at them --- even when it is not, even when it is just that:  conservation, the preservation of our beautiful environment and wildlife, regardless of religion, piety.  

I must mention the two dark dark circles under Mr. Sweet’s eyes. He mentioned child-rearing in the past, so it’s not those long nights with babies.  Were the circles partly a consequence of struggling to be fair to both Monroe and KJ?

I remember my youthful struggles with coded language.  Whenever I saw Richard Nixon --- even before he opened his mouth --- my neck and shoulders and back and indeed my whole body stiffened.  I knew what his words (for example “law and order,” “states’ rights”) meant, what reactions they produced in his followers.  Thus, I do understand how Hasidic people might react to my words, to the word “conservation,” to what might seem to them to be dog-whistling. And, yes, as Mr. Sweet said, “conservation” may be “anti-Semitic” in some mouths, but my dark circles are testament to my own long struggle.

As my teacher Dan Dodson, Executive Director of Mayor Fiorello La Guardia’s Committee on Unity, friend of all, would have said:  only contact and communication can help to break this confusing violence-threatening cycle.  This FEAR. 

Be not afraid. 

Mr. Reisman, ex-Ramapo Supervisor, where are you?  Our peaceable hope, Rabbi Yoel Loeb, founder of the Kiryas Joel Committee for Peace and Harmony, has gone. Was he driven out?  If so, by what; by whom?  He has founded Hasidic Peace International. 

                                                          

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