A recent article in the Christian Science Monitor called” “How a ‘Wonder Rabbi’ is Stirring up a Hungarian Village” discussed the reaction of the non-Jewish population of the small village of Kerestir to the increasingly high number of frum Jews who visit the village to daven at the kever of Reb Shaya’le of Kerestir.

The article didn’t seem to be prompted by any particular incident and in fact, the article is preceded by an intriguing and unusual preamble: “WHY WE WROTE THIS: Hungary is not the most welcoming place right now for religious minorities, especially Jews. That makes the evolution of a Hungarian village into a Hasidic pilgrimage spot so novel – and controversial.”

Whether the preamble was there from the beginning or it was added later, the reason for the clarification seems obvious – the article, which claims to be discussing the “controversial evolution of a Hungarian village” seems to be controversial in itself. Why approach the story of the “novel evolution” from the perspective of the non-Jews’ reaction to the presence of Jews rather than a multi-faceted and comprehensive story of the phenomenon of Jews returning to their roots – to a town and country with a thriving Jewish community until about 568,000 of them were brutally tortured and murdered by the Nazis with the enthusiastic assistance of the Hungarian Arrow Cross and much of the Hungarian population?

According to the article, the increasing presence of religious Jews in Kerestir – the Yiddish name for the Hungarian village of Bodrogkeresztúr – “sparked a delicate debate among the locals.”

And the debate isn’t about various thought-provoking aspects of the effect of what can sometimes be over 20,000 Jewish visitors on a busy weekend in a small village. There’s no mention of the economic impact, the language barriers, the cultural contrasts, the effect on village infrastructures such as plumbing and electricity or the rich Jewish past in the village. And to be fair, there may be legitimate reasons why villagers who are used to a quiet atmosphere and slow pace of life may be unhappy about so many tourists – whatever their nationality or religion may be. But none of this is even mentioned in the article. The debate is simply summed up as: “Some would like them gone, viewing them as foreigners as well as Jews. Others argue that they have a right to return.”

And as the article says: “the debate is particularly loaded in Hungary, where far-right politicians often say that Jews have no place.” One can’t help but be astonished by this one sentence in the article which is left unexplained and undisputed. It’s as if saying that Jews have no place in a particular country needs no explanation as something negative, no disclaimer that this is not the personal view of the author or at least a couple preceding adjectives such as: “Rabidly anti-Semitic far-right politicians” and the effect of their views: “..who incite racism and xenophobia in the Hungarian population.”

The author then goes on to quote a lone negative view of a non-Jewish local, which is remarkably similar to recent views expressed by the non-Jewish population of Brooklyn to the anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish residents. I WANTED TO LINK THE VIDEO OF BLACKS EXPLAINING WHY ANTI-SEMITIC ATTACKS IN BROOKLYN ARE JUSTIFIED BUT COULDN’T FIND IT

“Some worry this influx is affecting property prices and the demographic makeup of the community,” the author wrote. “Houses are for sale all along the trail. Around 10 buildings in Bodrogkeresztúr have been purchased by Jews who came from abroad. Villagers say that real estate prices went up by 10 to 15 times since large scale arrivals began in 2015.”

“’They should go back to where they came from. I do not care that they used to live here,’ says Timea, a woman in her thirties. ‘They are coming back and buying up the whole village. They have already bought at least 25 family houses and they don’t want to stop.'”

This quote by Timea is the only evidence the author cites of the negative view of the non-Jewish locals to the Jewish visitors in a rather lengthy article.

Unbelievably enough the horrific fate of Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust is barely mentioned by the author [but is briefly mentioned by a local she quotes] and in fact is outrageously minimized – the article says the village “had a significant Jewish population until its deportation in 1944.”

Deportation!? To where!? No mention of murder, gas chambers, starvation, death marches, countless Jews and truckloads of children dumped into watery deaths in the Danube. The Jewish population was simply “deported”… maybe to a country club in Poland…

To be fair the article quoted two non-Jews who have no problem with the Jewish visitors versus the one negative opinion it quotes. But that in itself seems to be the very problem. What is the basis of this article that fails to provide any incidents or rationale for its premise? There’s not even one incident or story cited of a negative interaction between a Jew and non-Jewish local or even one incident of a Jew acting in a negative way apart from the “Jewish crime” of driving up the real estate prices. In fact, the only description of interaction between Jews and the non-Jewish locals is positive: “An American Hasidic cook and his Hungarian non-Jewish helpers work in perfect harmony despite the language barrier.”

Why didn’t the author interview the “non-Jewish helpers” and ask them if their Jewish employer treated them fairly, paid them on time and how they feel about the employment opportunities the Jewish population provides them? Is the author anti-Semitic or simply unschooled in journalism?

To end on a positive note, the following are the quotes by non-Jewish villagers who don’t seem to want the Jews “to be gone.”

“’They have the right to be here as their ancestors were unjustly taken away and killed in 1944,” says Tibor Földesi, a villager. ‘Hungarians who managed to do business with them like them. Those who couldn’t, don’t.'”

“He adds that some locals seem to be approaching house sales with Jewish stereotypes in mind. ‘Most people try to sell their house at very high prices to them, and if they fail, they say it is [the Jews’] fault.'”

“Judit Kuknyó, a mother of four who regularly crosses paths with the religious Jewish groups at the local food store, is not concerned by the newcomers. ‘They have their traditions and holidays, we have ours,’ she says. She is baffled by peers who cast them as ‘strangers.'”

“‘I think they are afraid of the unknown and forget that this used to be a Jewish village,’ she says. ‘[The villagers] just want to come back to what used to be theirs.'”