Jackson Township in New Jersey is being sued by an Orthodox Jewish group over allegations that it discriminated against the Orthodox Jewish community in the county.
Believe it or not, discrimination continues to happen today, even in 2019. One particular type of discrimination on the rise is religious discrimination. For example, an Orthodox Jewish group recently filed a discrimination lawsuit against Jackson Township in New Jersey over allegations that the township discriminated against its Orthodox Jewish community. The suit itself was filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey back in 2017 and is currently pending, but how exactly was the community discriminated against?
According to the suit, the township “destroyed documents relevant to a federal discrimination suit asserting that local laws are intended to discourage the growth of the township’s Orthodox community,” according to Agudath Israel in America, a Manhattan-based organization that advocates for the rights of Orthodox Jews. Additionally, the lawsuit alleges the township violated the “Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, or RLUIPA, by voting to eliminate dormitories as a permitted use under local zoning rules, and by barring eruvs — markers designating areas where Orthodox Jews can perform tasks otherwise prohibited by their faith on the Sabbath.”
“The purpose of these ordinances is to target the Orthodox Jewish community, to prevent that community from being able to provide the necessary educational institutions for its youth and to discourage that community from relocating to and residing in the township…Plaintiffs have learned that the defendant has taken action to destroy documents relating to this lawsuit while this lawsuit has been pending and as recently as March 6, 2019.”Papers filed earlier this month on April 12 urged a judge to prevent the Jackson township from destroying further documents and stated:It’s important to note that litigation over allegations of religious freedom violations is on the rise in Ocean County, the county where the alleged incident took place. Why? Well, the Orthodox Jewish community in the area is growing. As a result, many of the beliefs and customs that the Orthodox Jewish community hold dear have begun butting up “against local laws and fueled tensions among longtime residents.”
One example of these growing tensions is that last month, “Ocean Township appeared to resolve a protracted battle to keep a residential yeshiva from reopening in a residential neighborhood by purchasing the property for $2 million, only after settling a discrimination lawsuit in which the plaintiff — the school’s would-be operator — was paid $750,000.”
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LOSTMESSIAH 
Lost Messiah, this has been a very engaging conversation. I am greatful we had this conversation in a mature and intelligent way. My last question before I end. Something my mind has not been able to comprehend :
will the Hasidics be able to drive all of us out of NJ county by county – there are 8 million of us in NJ!
Where do they think we will go? Your thoughts on this scary possibility is appreciated!
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Sorry for these repetitve questions. It just does not seem plausible for Hasidics to drive 8 million people out of NJ!
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You would be surprised. They are driving New Yorkers out of New York because the taxes in New York are becoming untenable if you don’t earn more than 300K on the paying taxes side of the spectrum or less than $40K on the welfare side of the spectrum. The incorporation of LLC’s that buy homes and claim they are NY non-profits or religious houses of worship takes revenue out of the taxing structure. The payment of buses to private religious schools that do not teach secular subjects is another drain on the economy. And, the voting strength of the community that votes at a rate of 100%. If complacency does not end, running 8 million people out of New Jersey will be a no-brainer. Would you have envisioned Lakewood, or Tom’s River or some of the other places 20 years ago? Probably not.
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I grew up in Brick township and did high school in Toms River in the 80s and 90s. They were very quaint and small Jersey Shore towns. Middle class. Now everywhere you go – parks, beaches, malls – they are everywhere. Jackson and Howell are middle to working class towns with lovely parks and acres of farms! I am saddened to think they may turn into a urban shetlopolis in less than 20 years!
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Go out and vote. Be active. Don’t support any candidate that is funded by members of the community and lobby your politicians to put rules on the books regarding placement of houses of worship (any religion) and regarding payment of welfare benefits. Cuomo is bought and paid for and our AG remains to be seen. Just pay attention to your governor. All of the school subsidies were not a good sign.
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LP, there is little way to come out of this sounding anything like a horrendous anti-Semite so let us make this clear, that this is not intended to be a cheering squad for those who refer to the ultra-Orthodox in “plague-like” semantics. That would be a twisting of the message conveyed. The sentences as written are not independent of one another but rather there is a stream of consciousness that requires all thoughts to be taken as a whole. The Satmar (and this primarily refers to the Satmar) but can also be taken in the most fundamentalist terms, would have their own country if they could, under their own rules and their own guidelines, their own standards or lack thereof. It is like any other religious sect that takes religion to its nth degree and crosses from being a belief system to being a cult. To that end, it does not matter that New Jersey has 8M people. By the numbers alone, a statistically ordinary family has two to three children, depending upon socioeconomic and education standards. That same family will have its first child at around age 30. The statistically typical Satmar family has 8 children with the first child being born around the agent of 20 (those statistics are varying and go both ends of the spectrum so we posted something conservative). In a single generation (which is 20 years for these purposes) you are looking at about a 6-1 growth in families. These numbers do not grow proportionally they grow exponentially. Moreover, increased education tends to lead to a reduction in the numbers of children born and later first children births. So this is trying to push the argument out looking at statistics from today. However, with governments not enforcing education, what is educated today may be less so (or optimistically moreso) tomorrow. We have argued that if education was compelled, the risks of an uneducated minority becoming a less educated majority would diminish. But with communities like Palm Tree, NY growing their borders, NYS is becoming less educated not more. The same will be true in New Jersey but for some within those communities who are fighting for religion to be possible without completely excluding education and some measure of assimilation. Again, this sounds like a discussion of preventing the spread of a virus. This should not be misunderstood as being anti-Semitic, because it is not. This is simply the belief that supporting a non-educated, exclusionary populace is not healthy for any state, New Jersey and New York prime among them.
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Thanks again for this discussion. All we can do is see how things unfold.
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And make the issues public. Share the blog. Share the posts. Get people paying attention. There are a number of FB groups on board also.
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NBCNews4 did a 2 day report on the ovedevelopment and zoning violations of the Hasidic community. They also showed that the Latino community does this as well. A state senator is bringing this attention to Albany. I feel all the towns and counties in NJ that the Hasidic community is taking over must know what they have done to Rockland and Orange Community in terms of destroying residential areas, characters of the towns and school districts. There is now enough news coverage being done in the NYC area and the Hasidics cannot continue to cry Anti-Semitism. There is enough concrete evidence being shown that is being presented without discriminating pointing at their illegal and bad behavior! How can local and state politicians allow this destruction even if they are payed off? They are trying to create a separate nation!
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Well, I got trampled in Court yesterday, utterly trampled. I am utterly grateful to News4 though I knew nothing about the report. Perhaps now people will start to listen.
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This will make national attention soon.
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This will make national attention soon. The news media, local, state and federal government will come to know about this. Legal, public policy experts and even religious experts will be brought to analyze this.
Especially as they attempt to expand on a massive scale. They are challenging the American principal of separation of church and state. They can only invade so far until this begins to take notice nationally.
May the war against them begin. No religious group should use corruption to such an extent. Sorry to sound anti-Semitic, but their behavior is sickening.
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Probably not. Press tries to keep this quiet. It speaks to easily of anti-Semitism even thought it isn’t.
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I understand.
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Enough newspapers and news media is presenting this to the public. I am sorry to keep posting but I do not want to see the beautiful and rural character of the Jersey Shore towns be destroyed by the behavior of this community. These counties are all committed to preserving open space. NJ cannot afford for Lakewood to become another nation of Kiryas Joel!
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You have agreement. LostMessiah is fighting a Court battle based entirely upon silencing a blogger, entirely. If you could donate and pass along the information, that would be great. They don’t want these issues spoken about.
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I live in Howell Township and I feel the growth of the Hasidim in NJ is going to fuel tremendous tension all over the state as high density housing, zoning violations, budget cuts to public school and other related problems they create start to increase. They want to take over Jackson and Howell because both are 100 square miles and 64 square miles with alot of open space yet to be developed. NJ is a very small and densely populated state with limited land so this will create problems if their community does not curb growth and expansion. You cant expand like NY state which is huge. We cannot afford another Lakewood.
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As an addendum, even communities with sizeable non-Orthodox Jewish populations like Upper Saddle River and Ocean do not want the expansion of the Hasidim into their towns! This tells you something how disliked they are even amongst their own kind!
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You are not wrong. Upper Saddle River, Mahwah and then further north and south. The point appears to be that they are interested in taking over the entire 87 corridor and north and south along 95. It remains to be seen how communities deal with this issue.
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Do you think it is really possible for them to take over these areas entirely? How many hundreds of thousands can they chase out?
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Did you mean Interstate 95 in NJ? Are politicians and communities all over NY and NJ aware that the Hasidim are plotting to take over these entire areas?
Even Mormons, as esoteric as they are, are not this bad! Atleast they stress self reliance, hard work
and are great entrepeneurs!
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Lostmesshiah, I have a strong feeling that their will be enormous implications politically, legally and economically as their population explodes and they try to take over these areas. Not only is their growth unsustainable, but their will be all out conflicts and wars between them and the local communities. They cannot live in self contained enclaves forever. I feel this issue will make national attention soon
and will challenge the American principle of separation of church and state.
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Yes. It is possible for them to take over these areas entirely. And it is a truly scary thought, at least for the poorly behaved among them and it is hard to tell the difference. The first thing that is required is a synagogue, a shul or some other house of worship – usually in a home and usually not registered but always a not-for-profit registration and associated tax exemptions. Then they move to the houses close to that place of worship. Then they find a place nearby to set up yeshivas and the next phase is bringing in members of their community to join local public school boards or support heavily local school board candidates. They vote as a voting bloc, rabbinic authority governs so the key for any politician is in making nice to the rabbinic authorities. The ONLY way to stop that takeover from happening is to counter. Find a set of politicians who will make nice only until they get into office. The problem there is you need people with courage and chutzpah. The value of hasidic money has to be rendered worthless or it is only a matter of time before they buy their way into the communities and buy the politicians and the judges. It is the same in each neighborhood they take over. And the rate of reproduction gives you a sound mathematical formula on how many years it all takes. It is sad how ultra anti-Semitic this sounds; but if the Hasidim played nice in the sandbox with others, figuring out their strategy would not be necessary. It is the same as keeping out any other street gang, at least in places like Rockland, Chestnut Ridge, Mahwah, etc. They act like thugs and so it matters not that they are fellow Jews since to them most of the rest of us are not even Jewish.
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Lost Messiah, I cannot imagine them taking over all the towns and counties in NJ. So many established communities are here. Where will we all go? Are they planning to set up one big Jewish ghetto and Hasidic nation? I do not find such a thing plausible. Certain towns yes – Lakewood, parts of Towms River, Jackson, and Howell, but entirely I cant imagine.
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Please read below what a Public Policy Professor from Rutgers said especially the last paragraph.
The many towns and communities throughout NJ will definitely start their own grass roots organizations
to counteract them….Rockland County has CUPON and others in Orange County. Communties of all backgrounds (especially wealthy ones who can hire top lawyers) will not stand for such a thing and watch their environment, open space, zoning ordinances, excellent school systems, real estate values and infrastructure go down. NJ does not have the space! It seems like the Hasidics have some conspiracy to take over NJ and invade us!
https://www.nj.com/news/2017/08/the_outlook_for_lakewood_10_questions_going_forwar.html
Pfeiffer said continued tensions among the communities, both within Lakewood and the surrounding municipalities, are likely.
“The outcomes of the current law enforcement investigations, school interventions, and land use concerns may contribute to new policies that respond to the pressures the yeshiva has introduced on the region,” he said. “Yeshiva leadership may feel it necessary, that despite its influence, to reconsider its growth plans as public resistance to continued growth may come at too great a disruption to the region’s civic environment and risk to the institution’s reputation.”
That said, he said it seems clear that continued, unabated growth will create new challenges for the region that will continue to stress political, civic, economic, and cultural institutions and systems, “the outcomes of which cannot be predicted today.”
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I have a feeling this will come to national attention soon. Their strategy does challenge the principle of separation of church and state…I foresee many legal and political wars that will start between the Hasidics and the towns and counties they plan to invade. East Ramapo school district problems did make some national attention. I hope it does. The potential invasion of NJ by the Hasidics must be brought to the attention of the news media, local, state and federal governments and even legal, public policy experts, religious experts in academia too.
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What needs to be exposed is their welfare fraud and/or dependence, the fruits of which supports their activities and lifestyle. What proportion of them are on welfare, proliferating like rabbits, their wives maybe working while the men are in kollel till they die? Doubtless this isn’t a universally valid assessment, not every Chasid is an aggressive chiseler but what’s the proportion? After all, on paper KJ is the poorest municipality in either NYS or the country which is nonsense.
Tight zoning, consistently strict code enforcement and constant exposure of their every move are ways to deal with them; that and sharing intelligence. Sad that it’s come to this; these are the very pushiest of Jews – and here I thought we’d gotten past that stereotype, but then these folks are like another species, no more closely related to less-extreme Jews than are some of the talking-in-tongues born-again Evangelicals related to the membership of your local liberal Protestant congregation. Can’t play nice with such folk; to them all others are nothing but something to wipe their shoes on.
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This issue is one that people are far too afraid to deal with and talk about. The Hasidics are a voting bloc and there is too much money floating around. Until their money is returned by political candidates unwilling to sell their souls, the money will have value. Therefore, issues like this will get swept under the rug. It is just a matter of time before Rockland County becomes an extension of Palm Tree, NY. And it is happening.
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Think quite simply about what happened in Kiryas Joel. It is now Palm Tree, NY. This is not a thought or a nightmare scenario, it is happening. Rockland County is being purchased little-by-little by a series of LLC’s and corporations. Private houses are listed not by their owners but by private corporations and LLC’s. Look at the numbers. The fights over the Eiruvim in Mahway and Franklin Lakes. Again, until their money gets handed back to them by political candidates who have scruples, we are all in trouble. And consider this: when they come in and register as LLC’s they also open not-for-profits. They then don’t contribute to the town taxing authority. In Chestnut Ridge, a law passed allowing boundryless establishment of shuls and synagogues. A walk into Costco in Nanuet on Sunday is like walking into a Beit Knesset. It is very unsettling. Woodbury Commons on Sunday is like being in a shteltle. We have been reporting on this since 2016 and publicly the blogger here has been writing for a variety of Rockland County papers on this topic. We need your support (and those of our readers) in terms of donations to keep this site alive and/or donations to help defend a defamation case which is intended solely to shut down this endeavor. In Lakewood there are bogus lawsuits against bloggers. That is the next attack – war by lawsuit. And in Kings County, the entire system is bought and paid for. It is a travesty.
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The law is the law and will have to be complied with however the ultra-Orthodox are relatively immiscible with others. Before long it will be another Williamsburg or Rockland County, with illegal yeshivas and, as there, dormitories, and harassment of passers-by who don’t care to dress or behave to ultra-Orthodox standards. Their MO is the takeover of a town, making it unpleasant and difficult for others to remain. Take your pick of towns in Rockland County, NY for examples, or Bloomingburg, in Sullivan County. Nobody non-Orthodox wants to deal with such an aggressive swarm.
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