As the Orthodox Jewish community continues to experience exponential growth across the region, natural expansion has become necessary for both seasonal and year-round living needs.
Unfortunately, religious Jews have been subject to discrimination from many towns and cities that have placed arbitrary roadblocks in the form of restrictive zoning ordinances designed to prevent them from pursuing opportunities available to other communities.
Areas like Jackson and Toms River in New Jersey as well as Airmont, Chestnut Ridge, Chester, and Blooming Grove in New York are just some of the municipalities that created various types of artificial impediments and obstructive ‘rules.’ Though costly and time consuming, in every one of those cases, Agudath Israel and local communities successfully fought back against these nefarious efforts.
The latest front is now Forestburgh, NY, in upstate Sullivan County.
Several years ago, a company based out of Texas received “shovel ready” approval to build a resort village consisting of over two thousand homes in the town. However, when the Texas company sold the development to a Chassidic group, all the approvals were suddenly pulled, and additional ‘legal requirements’ were enacted. This included, among others, a new zoning ordinance requiring an eye-popping 5 acres for a house of worship anywhere in the entire town (while a theater requires only 1.5 acres in the commercial district).
To many observers, these new requirements are a blatant and illegal action clearly designed to prevent religious Jews from living in Forestburgh.
This past Thursday evening, veteran Agudah askan Chaskel Bennett testified at a contentious Forestburgh Town Board meeting and expressed his vehement opposition to this new proposed zoning law which still demands 5 acres in all residential districts of Forestburgh.
“In my travels visiting countless synagogues across this county… —nowhere have I seen a five acre demand for a house of worship. This restrictive requirement, therefore, appears to me and to many others, not as a measure of genuine need or good government, but meant to act as a barrier that blocks religious Jews from living in any part of Forestburgh. Religious worship is an essential part of our lives, and it has been recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court as protected under the First Amendment,”…
“At a time of alarming and unprecedented anti semitism, many observers watching this unfortunate situation in Forestburg can only conclude that the law being weaponized to discriminate against a community that has faced this kind of government sanctioned discrimination before. We know discrimination when we see it.” Bennett thundered.
Agudah representatives Rabbis’ Avi Schnall, Yeruchim Silber, and Shragi Greenbaum as well as Abe Rutner, board member of the Sullivan County JCC have testified before this same board.
Rabbi Silber, Aguda’s Director of NYS Government Relations, commented, “Agudah has a long-time track record of fighting for the rights of every orthodox Jew to live and raise their families in any locale of their choosing. Like other cases of government sponsored discrimination, we have been involved with the Forestburg situation almost from the beginning. This is a continuation of a lengthy fight for fairness and equity that sadly needs to be waged.”
In addition to a lawsuit against the town by the developer that is currently pending, the U.S. Justice Department submitted a statement of interest in the case, and the NYS Attorney General wrote to the town demanding that they comply with state and federal law concerning religious discrimination.
“This is a battle we will win, but it will require preservice and determination,” Abe Rosenberg, a leader of the Sullivan County JCC, concluded.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
21 Responses
If we don’t make kiddish (Hashem) the goyim will make havdalah
In 1986, an elderly Torah scholar,
Dr. Alexander Tobias, said this to me:
“Go where you are wanted.
Do not go where you are not wanted.”
It’s not anti-Semitism, it’s dislike of religious Jews. There’s a big difference. Everyone is afraid of their villages becoming “another Lawrence”. I guess they’re afraid of their little houses becoming more valuable than they ever dreamed of.
When will these stupid people realize that trees don’t pay taxes?
Not only that, but the camps that use Sullivan County, contribute to the economy of the local towns from all their purchases. In addition, donations are made to the municipalities for their annual holiday parades. Granted that’s done very b’tzina.
What I am writing is anecdotal but might be more common than we want to admit. A dear friend, not frum, lives upstate and got to know the natives as neighbors. He was shocked to experience the anti-antisemitism. They did not know that he was Jewish. It did not take long to hear the complaints. We know what they are. We Jews are not careful with the environment, we over tax water and sewer systems, we tend to expect others to clean up our messes and in general we have little regard for the status quo. If we are going to be zoche to grow and expand, we must learn to get along with the neighbors on their terms, earn their trust and respect.
Wow that got heated real quick
coffee addict:
Please don’t corrupt the holy words of our holy Rabbanim.
They are preventing Jews from building a resort village because of zoning restrictions on a house of worship? And the developers feel stopped in their tracks because of this? Doesn’t every resort village have a community center, a recreation center and clubhouse as well? All of this, including Agudah feeling the need to make a federal case out of this, seems to be not about the people who buy there having a place to daaven, but over having a proper shul with a large aron kodesh. They should just go ahead and develop the village and hold their minyanim in any of the many buildings common to resort villages meant for the community to gather together and once its all built and settled they can worry about the town not allowing them to build a proper shul. And once the Jews are all settled in its sure as day the township wouldn’t see the point in spending a cent to defend their zoning law for houses of worship in court.
Atolwin: I agree with your point that yidden need to become more attentive to some of the negative stereotypes of what happens when a rural area is impacted by higher density developments with predominantly frum occupants. However, in this case, the anti-semitic overtones and hostility are blatantly present. More careful attention to environmental issues, maintaining properties, waste disposal etc. etc. are clearly needed but I suspect the locals in Forestburgh wouldn’t care if the proposed development looked more like some of the most pristine MO residential areas on Long Island with manicured lawns etc. These folks don’t want new neighbors with black hats and yeshiveshe lvush, period, full stop. They will spend a lot of money defending lawsuits but in the end they will LOSE. Kol hakovod to Agudah for not allowing this to become a reality
It’s taboo (but I’ll do it anyway). Has anyone ever asked why they don’t want certain types of Jews moving in? (& If your answer is it’s a mysterious vapor in the air called “Antisemitism” you’re wrong)
Secondly, you can force you’re way into a place based on laws & lawsuits but why would you want to live amongst people who don’t like you? Why be a glutton for punishment? B”H American is a very large country. Why live where you’re not wanted?
Is proving your point more important than your kids not getting called names by passing cars while walking to Shul on Shabbos?
I was taught to look at the big picture. Base your life on what’s best for you & your family & don’t base it on, “I’ll show those Antisemitic Goyim who is boss.
As per the last census Forestburgh only has 220 families they will be outnumbered in no time. Let them fight and lose.
@Hakatan: Coffe addict is 100% right!
Square_Root: I wonder if there would be ANY location in the US or elsewhere, where you are wanted? Not even in Israel…
Kuvult:
Hate to break it to you, but any area that has the space needed to build homes for Yidden, won’t want that kind of building going on in their community. So are Yidden expected to fly to Kansas to find a place to build a home? No, there’s no reason not to build in upstate NY. Yes, we should be spreading out more and not overdeveloping specific areas, and we should be doing our best to be good neighbors. But people do have a right to build where they want to.
We should focus on our shared values as much as possible as Mr. Bennet started when he mentioned the record of Hatzolah. We want a happy, wholesome environment to raise good children. A place where there can be freedom for growth of all kinds of economic and spiritual and healthful opportunities. Talking about this is bound to win us some backers.
Don’t mind me,
This isn’t about the “right to build” but the real question is, “Is it right (or smart) to build there?”
Moving into a place that will both cause hatred & make you the target of hatred is probably not the best idea.
Jersey Jew,
I know being a Jew it’s hard for you to understand but there’s more to life than money.
(p.s. I’ve studied Antisemitism first hand for a long time & can tell you one reason we’re hated is the seemingly complete inability to view things through the lens of other people.)
DontMindMe, you say “we should not be overdeveloping specific areas”. Well, what do you think IS happening in many specific areas?!
The reason why the haters say jews are into money and control the government, is because throughout history that was the ONLY way jews could survive. ONLY by growing the economy and bribing the government, and making it worthwhile to have jews live in your country, could they survive AT ALL.
As it is, they were usually kicked out after a few centuries, but at least they survived for those few centuries.
This created the the conspiracy theory that jews control the money, global economies and governments.
Although the article doesn’t cover all aspects, and just shows part of one hearing regarding zoning for houses of worship, the case being fought, spurred by the locals not wanting Chasidim to move in (and the politicians fear of losing their cushy jobs with a population shift) involves a lot more, with non stop road-blocks by the town.
Here is one legal article I found, if the Mods will allow, to get a bit of a handle on the case.
https://casetext.com/case/lost-lake-holdings-llc-v-the-town-of-forestburgh
To the commenters stating it’s not all about money, this is ridiculous, because if developers building for the frum constantly need to back off, no one will build.
And yes we are in golus and not wanted practically anywhere, but we are not about to disappear B”H, so we have to live where it’s practical, despite these “good neighbors’” objections. Yidden own a lot of property in the Catskills, it’s not too far from NY/NJ enclaves, and even Manhattan was once farmland…
Here is the diff, this project had real approved plans Before a yid bought from the company in texas, this was a shovel ready project..the five acre business is nonsense because he has 2000 acres plus
The locals don’t understand yidden are not moving to the Catskill in droves in the last 2 decades not even 300 families have moved in to the whole mountains
When will the American Yeshivish community understand that they are being showed the door. Its really pathetic to see you guys begging the goyim for land. Come to where you are wanted and where you should be. Come home to Israel.