Posted on 12/17/2019 9:35:54 PM PST by jonatron
A Jersey City, N.J., elected official unloaded on Jewish members of the community following a shooting last week at a kosher market in the city committed by two African Americans.
The shooting left six dead, including a police officer and the two suspects.
Following the attack, Joan Terrell, a member of the Jersey City Board of Education, on Facebook accused Jewish community members of selling body parts and attacking the black community.
"Where was all this faith and hope when Black homeowners were threatened, intimidated, and harassed by I WANT TO BUY YOUR HOUSE brutes of the jewish community," Terrell wrote, according to a screenshot posted on Twitter.
Terrell accused Jewish leaders of forcing blacks out of their homes and of "selling body parts," an anti-Semitic canard long used to smear religious Jewish people.
Referring to the two assailants who committed the shooting, Terrell wrote "Mr. Anderson and Ms. Graham went directly to the kosher supermarket. I believe they knew they would come out in body bags. What is the message they were sending? Are we brave enough to explore the answer to their message? Are we brave enough to stop the assault on the Black communities of America?"
(Excerpt) Read more at freebeacon.com ...
The ultra orthodox have an admirably close knit, high trust community. There are at least a few downsides - they are supposed to settle all disputes in house, not with civil authorities. They’ve handled the problem with pedophile rabbis and teachers as poorly as the Catholic church handled its pedophile problem.
They also shun the outside world. In Lakewood the little children would not even look at me when I walked by on the street, I’ve never seen anything like it. IMO, the u.o. are indifferent to the welfare of the outside community.
Lakewood could have turned out for Hillary if that’s what the leaders said. New Square voted for her en masse when she ran for Senate in NY while Kiryas Joel went for Lazio. An online search just revealed the Satmar and Skver leaders supported Hillary in 2016.
I think the list is only for non u.o. homes, so that there is no cutthroat bidding war with an unseemly display. Among u.o., everything happens between friends during morning services at the synagogue, and not even the community council will know about it until after the closing.
Just because towns don’t want a large number of residents in tax-exempt housing (such as religious school dormitories) doesn’t make that town an “Adolf Club”, and just because homeowners tied to 30 years of mortgage payments don’t want to see their property values fall as their taxes rise doesn’t make them anti-Semitic; the religion is being used as a shield to devastate neighborhoods while silencing opposition, and plays no real role in this. Koreans seeking to build Christian churches in northern Bergen County face similar opposition (between traffic concerns and removing large property lots from the tax rolls), and nobody claims the towns involved are racist or anti-Christian. There is ZERO opposition to other Jewish people living in the areas with conflicts with growing Orthodox populations, and some form the opposition to having a that population move in.
If we are at a point where posting signs that your home is not for sale (to ANYONE) is anti-Semitic, or where towns don’t want to see the property tax burdens shifted from a large number of lots to a smaller number, then you have to ask yourself if you’re missing the larger picture. Discounting very real financial issues by labeling them anti-Semitic is absurd, and generates anti-Semitism itself.
In many towns now in NJ (that have no noticeable Orthodox population, such as mine, but also in more rural-type areas), laws are being passed setting minimum curb space (for example) for new constructions to prevent those large lots from being “overdeveloped”. There are also more requirements for off-street parking; these places are simply seeking to prevent urban sprawl.
Other posters have indicated the Orthodox want an urban environment where places are accessible on foot (to deal with Sabbath restrictions); understandable, but I don’t know how they expect to find that in what is one of the most expensive areas on the planet. That would explain why the run-down section of Jersey City is an option, but they can’t at the same time discount the plight of the people that would be moved aside to make way for them.
“IMO, the u.o. are indifferent to the welfare of the outside community.”
That is a common criticism; unlike the Amish (who are very self-reliant), the UO have a very real financial impact in terms of taxes - which is the basis to the opposition in central NJ and Rockland County NY. A lot of money is spent on the busing services, while many of the students are in tax-exempt religious housing.
This issue is driven by finances, not faith.
Tax exempt status for religious institutions exists because they do good for the community. I would rather 10 churches open up in my community then a welfare office.
The problem with these communities is that they failed to zone enough industrial/commercial properties, rely heavily on residential zones and the local government spends money like a drunken sailor. Never mind the fact that NJ has the worse school funding formula on the planet.
None of that is the fault of the Jews or any religion.
Apparently the locals failed to see the “good for the community” here - just as they apparently fail to see it in central NJ and Rockland County NY. The “good for the community” disappeared as the government absorbed the charitable and education functions of many religious groups; that is why the Catholic Church is going extinct in the same areas. The residents in that part of Jersey City in particular may see this as a competing welfare office - one which will expel them from the neighborhood.
The Africanization of American politics is the primary assault on the political construct called the Black Community.
People abuse public assistance, that is going to happen in all religions races etc. Public assistance should be scaled down and eventually eliminated, President Trump is doing that. It takes a while for this stuff to happen.
People see what they want to see. And people’s own personal prejudices play a big part of that.
I believe Jews, Catholics, Muslims, etc have the right to exist, buy homes, pray, enjoy life just like anyone else. Nothing is stopping Catholics from buying all the homes near a cathedral. Nothing is stopping the Methodists from building more churches or private schools.
And once a community believes they can prevent XYZ person from moving in because they will “destroy the community” they are working against American values and freedoms.
BTW, if you don’t want to sell your home to Jewish person or any person for that matter, don’t sell it them. It is that simple.
The city had to pass an ordinance a couple of years ago to stop the practice of simply showing up on people’s front steps. I won’t dignify the comment from the black woman about Jews threatening to bring in hookers and drug dealers to chase the residents out because I’m skeptical that conversation even happened, but I understand the concerns of tenants being evicted as multi-family homes are bought. That is just a fact of life (regardless of who bought the property), and nobody would give a hoot if it happened to me (I’d be expected to handle it on my own), but ignoring those concerns is driving some of the anger.
I have never seen Catholics, Methodists, or Muslims accused of trying to push people out of a neighborhood - even as Muslims in particular fill some neighborhoods today.
Regarding public assistance, this is a non-issue here IMO - I believe both parties involved have the potential for abusing it. Eliminating public assistance itself isn’t an option, nor should it be; while I’ve never used it, I understand its purpose - and the savagery that would result if it didn’t placate hungry and/or homeless people.
Seeing this from only one side or the other is pointless; it also can’t be viewed without taking into account the gentrification occurring in other parts of Jersey City (driving long-term residents from those neighborhoods) or the scandal over the past couple of years whereas NYC has been foisting its homeless on NJ cities (including Jersey City, Newark, and Elizabeth). This Orthodox population is moving into an area already squeezed by all of those forces at work.
In the end, you’re avoiding the point that this is not about Jewish people per se; it is about one particular sub-set (just as it is in central NJ and Rockland County NY), and other Jewish people form part of the opposition. This isn’t simple anti-Semitism.
Absolutely. This is an ongoing, recurring issue,and some sort of a happy medium must be found to balance all the interests. Current residents feel put upon. Hasidim feel shut out, and they have an undeniable need for housing somewhere. And both are right and both are wrong in various ways. Some sort of get-together should be arranged for everyone to have their say and put their heads together. Best leave the government out of it. Too heavy-handed and/or self-serving to come up with any real solutions.
I really don’t know what the answer is, and am thankful this isn’t happening in my area.
The Hasidim and other Haredi sects can buy a house just like the rest of us do: look on Zillow, find a house in a location you like and make a bid. Nobody will discriminate against a Haredi offer. Nobody will discriminate against an African American offer.
The problem with the Hasidim and other Haredi sects is that they don't want to buy a house. They want the whole block. And it's wrong.
It's a separatist movement
The Haredim do not want to live anywhere near Americans. They avoid Gentiles, they also avoid "normal" Jews.
The Haredi culture is anathema to American culture. We believe that God created all humans as equal. The Haredim believe that God created them as superior. They (the Haredim) teach their children that their souls are superior to Gentile souls. It's all very unAmerican what goes on in that culture.
We need to understand what's going on so we can advocate for a repeal of the RLUIPA to stop this "nation within a nation" scourge.
People reading this may think: "But Jews are hard-working, intelligent people who value education and do good works."
They would be right to think that about "normal" American Jewish people who are a light unto the nations. Normal American Jewish people have given much to our nation. Many Nobel prizes, the best doctors, excellent public school teachers, great humanitarians, not to mention the awesome creative geniuses!
However the Haredim are not any of the above. They are a clannish, separatist, racist, cult.
They do not educate their children thus keeping them ignorant. They don't even teach them English. While the girls get a decent education including English, the boys barely get a 5th grade education. Many of the boys despite being born in America can not speak English. They speak Yiddish and read ancient Hebrew, spending their days pouring over ancient texts, learning no profession or trade.
The taxpayers are on the hook for providing for these able bodied men's large families.
The young men do not provide for their families and their leaders ensure that they have access to EVERY WELFARE PROGRAM available. The leaders have an organized place where the dead beat dads can sign up for every welfare program, and they do it without any shame. There is no shame in the Haredi world to mooch off the host state.
The young men do not work. The women are expected to do some work to bring in extra cash to the household (in cash or gift cards, of course to hide it from the IRS) How do the women bring in extra cash with 6 or 12 children? Playgroups. What are "playgroups." Playgroups are illegal daycare that accept CASH or giftcard payments to take care of children. They are un-licensed, un-inspected, and they pay no taxes.
Where do the women work? They work in various places within the insular community: teaching at the private school in exchange for a tuition discount, working in a Heredi store for a store credit, basically working in the underground economy to hide their earnings from the government so they can continue to mooch off the taxpayers.
The Haredim are a scourge and should be infiltrated and broken just like the mob.
They are a scourge! And they are powerful and act with IMPUNITY because they have the governor and the attorney general in their pockets while they pick our pockets.
It is a DISGRACE.
There are some Haredi apologists on this forum.
They are a disgrace!
The Haredim want to take from the taxpayers. They thumb their noses at us. Truly they see themselves as entitled to our largess. It's a bizarre interpretation of the Old Testament.
But that’s not the argument she was making. She was saying that Jews were stealing organs and forcing Blacks out of neighborhood, and bring in drugs, gangs, and prostitutes.
Plenty of Haredim lived in mixed areas. And not all dynasties are the same.
Yes, she is not eloquent. Obviously. But she is aware of what is happening. It is the same ethic cleaning that is going on in Ocean County. The Haredim does not want to live among us. They want to push us out while at the same time mooching off us.
A reader may think "oh well, the Haredim are improving a neighborhood from crime and squalor. "
But they are wrong. The Haredim are using their power to push through with impunity developments that will ONLY sell to other Heredi people in conflict with fair housing laws. Somehow their VERY powerful regional advocacy group have paved the way for them to build and sell to ONLY members of their bloodline. It's very CORRUPT.
Our corrupt governor Murphy and his side-kick Gurbir Singh Grewal attorney general (so-called) pave the way for more illegal Heredi-ONLY housing, in total VIOLATION of fair housing laws and ALL on OUR DIME.
It's such a disgrace. I and my family did EVERYTHING right. We never asked the government for ANYTHING. My father and uncle fought in WW2 and were wounded. My great uncles fought in WW1, one of them coughed for the rest of his life because he was gassed.
And now I have to move because the Haredim want my town. Why should I have to move? Why? Who are they to say I have to move? Don't I have a right to stay where I live and like living? Why should I have to move because they want to have my house? I realize I will have to move but I think my government has failed me.
First, the young men do not start their married life with work, but they come to it later, as I know from my own experience. Nobody over 30 does not know English, and there are Chareidi trade schools. Second, there are an awful lot of them, so they need a whole block. But upstate, new developments are blocked by locals once they discover that it’s Chareidim who are developing it. There are valid concerns that can be addressed, but outright stonewalling precludes dialogue. What’s left to do, but buy up houses. You wrote a very long post, I’m just touching on the essential points here.
I am not Chareidi, but my eldest son is. He did spend time after his first marriage studying Torah, and he also learned computers. He’s worked in a grocery store, a fish store, and now he’s marketing a phone/internet/tv package for English speakers. In everything that he’s put his hand, he’s ended up practically managing it. This is in Israel, but I’ve known plenty of Chareidim in the US, too. They are not perfect, but the picture you paint is grossly distorted.
I remember when the Satmar Chassidim moved into Far Rockaway. They built houses on an undeveloped beach facing Jamaica Bay, and moved in, bothering nobody. They were unsuccessful building the institutions they needed, such as mikveh, school and central synagogue, so they slowly trickled out, leaving the nice new houses to be bought by other ethnicities. Some have remained, and are not in any way sequestered off from their new neighbors. That, at least, is how things stood when I last visited in 2010.
As I’ve said already on multiple threads, mutual communication and negotiation is the answer, not hostile action such as you advocate, or stereotyping and slandering an entire culture without attempting to understand it.
They NEED the whole block??? So I have to move ? ... for THEM????? Seriously? My father, uncle, and great-uncles fought for this country and were wounded and I, who played by the rules and worked my whole life, have to move because YOU want my house??????? even thought I am happy in my house where I have lived? I have to move for you???
WHY??????
Seriously, why do you think I should have to move? I don't want to move.
I don’t think you have to move. They need what they need, but that’s not your or anyone else’s problem. And if they try to force you to move, you can sue them or involve law enforcement if it’s egregious enough.
But their needs have to be met somehow, and an abandoned golf course that’s doing nobody anyone any good, or a sandy barren like we used to have in Far Rockaway, can be developed. Dilapidated housing can be bought and renovated. Everyone wins that way.
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