Who's Going To Uphold The Federal Constitution in South Blooming Grove?
Residents of the small village in Upstate New York were annexed, without their knowledge, into the Village of Kiryas Joel by Rebbe Aaron Teitelbaum. Is anyone going to correct the Rebbe?
Below: The July 22nd, 2024, Village of South Blooming Grove Board of Trustees meeting. Video courtesy of Preserve Blooming Grove. Today, we’re going to talk about the pledge of allegiance that kicks off every meeting.
As a reminder, everyone is invited to the shit show on Thursday, July 25th, at 8 pm at Village Hall in South Blooming Grove. Village Hall is located at 811 NY-208.
There won't be a public comment on July 25th.
It will likely be a short meeting unless it's suddenly canceled.
If I were a betting man, I'd say the odds are good that this meeting will be canceled at the last minute.
Multiple times this year, the Village of South Blooming Grove has canceled meetings, often within an hour or less of their occurrence, when there’s a significant public interest in their activities.
But.
I am NOT a betting man, and I do not have a Draft Kings account. So, as of this writing on Tuesday, July 23rd, the meeting for Thursday is still on.
Now, you might be wondering: If There's No Public Comment, Why Should I Be There?
I'll answer your question with the following story from Monday’s South Blooming Grove Board of Trustees meeting.
Keep reading.
The July 22nd South Blooming Grove Board of Trustees meeting got underway with everyone — Board members, Village employees, and the brave few in attendance acting on their civic duty in such a way that I hope it inspires you to do the same — by saying the pledge of allegiance.
Here’s why this is worth noting since virtually every local government meeting in America begins with the Pledge of Allegiance:
Article 4, Section 4 of the United States Constitution, is known as The Guarantee Clause. It gets that name from the first sentence of this section: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government.”
The Supreme Court has ruled twice now (1849, 1912) that it’s the purview of your congressional representative — in the case of Southern Orange County, Congressman Pat Ryan — to uphold and enforce The Guarantee Clause along with the rest of Congress.
(Congressman Ryan has made himself utterly unavailable to residents of South Blooming Grove, failing to respond to calls and emails from them, with one exception: His donors from the area.)
If you’re curious what a “Republican Form of Government” means here, according to the Cornell Legal Information Institute, “[W]e may define a republic to be, or at least may bestow that name on, a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure, for a limited period, or during good behavior. It is ESSENTIAL to such a government that it be derived from the great body of the society, not from an inconsiderable proportion, or a favored class of it;” (emphasis added.)
When you take office, you take an oath to uphold the federal constitution and its Guarantee Clause. When you start your meetings with the pledge, you’re publicly committing yourself to upholding that oath.
South Blooming Grove Mayor George Kalaj, the rest of the Village Board, and employees who went along with Mr. Ekstein and Stern’s coup have violated this oath on multiple occasions.
They’ve done this by firing all Planning Board members, and then appointing members of the same religious group to the Community Design Review Committee, Planning Board, and Zoning Board positions within the Village.
As of this writing, with the exception of Mayor Kalaj — and the nebulous purchase of his home for 890% above its market value — every voting member of the Village of South Blooming Grove belongs to one religious group.
This oath of office was again violated by this group through exercising a litany of questionable decisions, chief among them passing Local Law 1 of 2021, which no constitutional scholar with a straight face is going to tell you passes muster.
This law created a separate, and unequal, process to convert homes and other properties into schuls and shtiebels that the Village Board can approve, while all other religious groups must undertake a separate, unequal, and undefined process before a differing governing body.
As mentioned, both the Village Board and Planning Board—as well as the ZBA and CDRC—consist of members of the same religious group, meaning the Village government created a law that gave preferential treatment to their own religious group over all others.
This act alone is a violation of both the federal and New York State’s Establishment Clause, which prohibits the government from acting in such a way that benefits one religion over another.
The NYS Establishment Clause also has language that prohibits the reckless disregard of the laws of the State by the government when acting on behalf of a religious group.
Despite this prohibition, the Village has done exactly that.
These Are The Facts.
And it’s something you should remember, especially given statements made by Rebbe Aaron Teitelbaum where he informed his followers — the Majority Satmar faction in the Village of Kiryas Joel / Town of Palm Tree — that parts of Monroe, Woodbury, and Blooming Grove to be part of the Village of Kiryas Joel this time last year.
In Woodbury, Rebbe Aaron Teitelbaum declared two parts of Highland Mills, as well as Highland Lake Estates. (You know, the place where the bear was murdered?)
The Rebbe also claimed three areas in Blooming Grove—including South Blooming Grove, which he renamed “Divrei Chaim”—to be part of Kiryas Joel.
In Monroe, the Smith Farm development is also considered part of Kiryas Joel, with the name “Boruch Taam” given to it by the Rebbe.
If you’re wondering, “Well wait a second. I live in South Blooming Grove and I’m not part of Kiryas Joel” the Rebbe has said, according to Shtetl:
“On all sides, all the areas and neighborhoods that are near this town, all are Kiryas Joel,” Teitelbaum said, asserting that the existing boundaries are for legal purposes only, such as taxes and building permits, but not for religious and spiritual purposes. “Anyone who comes to live here, who moves to this area from elsewhere, must know that he lives in Kiryas Joel.” Teitelbaum went on to cite a passage in the Talmud, and said that anyone who lives in the listed areas is “obligated to accept ‘the stringencies of the place he has come to’ in every aspect and without any changes.”
The Rebbe is wrong, of course, first, because his uncle Joel Teitelbaum told his followers that the law of the land in New York State and America is, in fact, the law.
Second, the Rebbe is also wrong in stating the following:
“We live in exile in America, in a decadent land, and we need to be sealed away from our surroundings, so as to remember that we do not reside in America; we are only in America at present.”
If that’s true, that America is a decadent land that requires his followers to be sealed away from it, then this position is fundamentally incompatible with government officials (elected and appointed) taking an oath to uphold the Constitution.
You either live in America and follow the rules, which the Halaka commands by saying Dina d'malkhuta dina (the law of the land is the law), or you follow hanhallah (Rebbe Teitelbaum)’s extremist view that you don’t live in America and must be shielded from it.
If the latter is true, no member of his religious group can or should legally hold office because they would be violating their oaths to uphold the Constitution.
So, To Answer Your Question …
“If There’s No Public Comment, Why Should I Go To This Meeting?”
Hold on. I have one more thing to share with you.
I mentioned Congressman Pat Ryan a couple of times. He has an opponent this Fall, Alison Esposito.
I sent the following letter to Mrs. Esposito’s campaign manager, which starts to give you an answer as to why you all should go to this meeting on Thursday:
Hi Clay,
I am following-up on this Thursday's meeting in South Blooming Grove at 8pm over in Village Hall. A violation of the federal constitution's Establishment Clause and The Guarantee Clause will occur at this meeting.
If elected, Mrs. Esposito is empowered by the Supreme Court — along with the rest of Congress — to make sure each state and each municipality within that State have a Republican form of government through The Guarantee Clause.
I'd like to ask you if she would be attending this meeting?
South Blooming Grove does not have a Republican form of government, and confirmation of that will occur at this meeting where a religious group — using the Village government — will make a decision solely beneficial for that religious group at the expense of all other residents of the Village.
This decision by the Village government further endangers residents of South Blooming Grove. July 21st was the hottest day ever recorded. The last 13 months have been the hottest months ever recorded. Last year, the Hudson Valley was inundated with stormwater, causing historic flooding.
The property the religious group would like to take for a parking lot — which their own congregants have stated publicly they do not need — would replace land reserved for stormwater management of the Village. The kind of stormwater management South Blooming Grove and every municipality in our region need to increasingly be mindful of. As the planet warms, the floods will continue, and only grow worse in time.
I hope your office will consider the request to attend with the seriousness it deserves, and if not, if a statement can be provided to the Village of South Blooming Grove, reminding them of their Oath to the federal constitution to ensure a Republican (representative) form of government for all residents, not just members of the same religious group.
So. To answer your question in full, here’s why you should go to this meeting:
Monday was the hottest day ever recorded.
That is, until Tuesday happened. Tuesday, July 23rd, is now the hottest day ever recorded on this planet.
The hotter the planet gets, the more severe the weather will be.
The more severe the weather gets, the more flooding and drought New York State is expected to experience.
Last year, the Hudson Valley was inundated with historic amounts of flooding. Thus far in 2024, we’ve already had a few incredibly dangerous microbursts (“baby tornados”) in our area, resulting in at least one death.
At the meeting in South Blooming Grove on Thursday, here’s what’s going to happen:
The ZBA will approve Mr. Ekstein’s request to cut into the “Green Area” and build a parking lot he does not need.
Every member of the ZBA that will vote on this is a member of the same religious group that stands to directly benefit from approval of Mr. Ekstein’s application.
The Green Area is supposed to help the Village manage its stormwater. The loss of this green area means there will be more flooding in the Village, which puts all of its residents — regardless of religion — in increasing danger due to our extreme weather.
So what you have happening is a religious group, operating the Village government in such a way that benefits their group while actively harming everyone else.
And you have the leader of that religious group, declaring without consent or permission of the residents of this Village, that they are under his domain. Because Kiryas Joel / Palm Tree is a theocracy governed by the Rebbe. It too is not a representative government.
So, you go to this meeting without public comment for one simple reason: You get a front-row seat to what happens when you don’t vote because most people didn’t in South Blooming Grove when Mr. Ekstein and Mr. Stern were successful in overtaking the government. (Of course, the FBI was also investigating voter fraud as it relates to this election, but that’s a story for another time.)
You also get a front-row seat to what happens when your elected officials abdicate any sort of responsibility to uphold the constitution, and the rules and laws of New York State.
You also get a front-row seat to what happens when the rest of your state and federal government repeatedly fail to take any sort of action to protect you from Rebbe Aaron Teitelbaum and his brother, Zalman Teitelbaum.
Because this is further evidence that if you have enough money and votes, you can do whatever you want in America.
Even when you tell your followers to seal themselves off from America and the people some of your religious group’s members took an oath to serve as members of the American government.
That’s why you go.
Because as I’ve said before, and will continue to say again: Nobody is coming to save you.
Not the FBI. Not your State Senator. Not Your State Assemblyman. Not your Attorney General. Not Your Orange County District Attorney. Not your Governor. Not your County Executive.
Nobody.
Nobody is going to fix this for you.
Preserving land is the best and easiest thing you can do, through the power of your local government, to fight climate change.
That fight starts by attending these meetings and observing for yourself what happens when you don’t vote when you don’t go to these meetings, and when nobody holds your elected officials accountable.
That’s why you go. So you remember why it’s important to vote in the first place.