America As a Refuge for All Peoples, Is it America First or Religion First?- anti-Semitism

Clarkstown – What They Don’t Want You To Know

The Rise In Attacks On Jews – What’s Behind It?

Here are some questions as they pertain to Rockland County that we feel were raised by the panel in the Journal Editorial Report:

1: Are the attacks pertaining to the ultra-Orthodox community – either physical or verbal (including criticism of its behavior on social media) – an indicator of social decay in Rockland County?

2: Are the secular and religious segments in Rockland County becoming uncertain and thus are becoming polarized and alienated?

3: Are citizens heading to a situation in Rockland County parallel to that in the 1990s experienced in the Crown Heights section of New York where tensions between the African-American and the Jewish communities boiled over into riots?

4: Are the new bail reform laws that were put in place recently by Governor Cuomo contributing to the rise of attacks on Jewish people by thuggish hooligans?

5: Is there a rise in anti-Semitism in Rockland County and if so does that rise indicate there is a lot of social anxiety resulting in disfavored groups becoming targets?

6: Is there a deeper problem in Rockland County that needs to be recognized and addressed?

We were stuck by the similarity of what we heard in this program with what one of our readers posted as a series of comments in several of our earlier posts a day or so ago. We believe that she correctly articulated some of the elements of “social anxiety” in Rockland County and we now would ask our readers if her observations give an indication of the “deeper problems in Rockland County society that need to be recognized and addressed?

She wrote…..

QUOTE

To my mind, the biggest problem, and the one that causes the most resentment, is not one issue like zoning. It is the enormous sense of superiority and self entitlement demonstrated by the haredi on a daily basis. The type of superiority and self entitlement that:

1. makes it appear they are above the law…except their own.

2. makes it appear that they consider those not of their group beneath contempt, other than for supplying their needs and wants..like slavery. The haredi, despite their desires, are not our masters. They do not have the right to set up their own society to the detriment of the whole.

3. makes it appear that they don’t care that their desires and wants are creating an unsustainable strain on the environment, economy, and infrastructure. The attitude appears to be “so what”…as one of their political hacks told parents who were protesting the increasing decline of the public schools…”you don’t like it, move”.

4. something is really rotten when people are forced to live with dry wells, ever increasing tax burdens, traffic jams, private police forces telling them what to do, measles epidemics brought in from Israel, first responders that are forced to take gigantic risks in illegal buildings, multiple examples of fraud and outright theft with no prosecution in sight, and more.

Self entitlement coupled with this overriding sense of superiority makes for other’s anger and resentment. The underlying causes must be addressed. One group does not have the right to trample on everyone else, and ignore the rule of law….and mother earth. ANY group that acts thus, be they haredi, muslim, christian, or any other religion, political creed, race, etc, is going to cause a huge swell of anger.

What they are doesn’t matter; their actions cause the reactions.

I am an old woman, and used to it. Seeing the problem clearly from a standpoint of living it on a daily basis, I am well aware that the same thing that causes the problems will prevent solutions to the problems; people with an unbridled sense of superiority and self entitlement never ever will bow to a solution that requires them to relinquish the same.

Does it occur to anyone that if the haredi were made to abide by the rules that the rest of us have to, a great deal of the anger and resentment would dissipate? The establishment of a society within a society that has an overriding sense of superiority and self entitlement is the root cause here.

I dare you to walk through Lakewood with a woman who is not dressed “modestly” and see what happens.

I dare you to stand up and oppose a development, and then endure the doxxing, the stalking and the smears on your reputation.

I would like to see your reaction when YOUR employer gets a letter from a “rabbi” demanding your dismissal.

I would like to see your reaction when your children are playing in a public park or beach and you are told you must leave because you and your children will contaminate theirs.

I would like you to go watch while firefighters risk their lives in illegal basement apartments to rescue those trapped in their own maze.

What’s your reaction when your taxes go up again?

What would be your reaction when your well runs dry and you’re buying tanker trucks of water to be able to stay in the home you bought and paid for?

What will your reaction be when you are told you MUST sell out to the realtors endlessly banging on your door?

What will your reaction be when you find yourself defending yourself and your family because something you said in private was illegally recorded and published in the local haredi owned rag?

What will be your reaction when you are spit on and your house is egged because you disagree?

And I sure hope you are not gay, black, homeless, mentally ill, or many other things, because you will be hounded relentlessly if you dare to be found in Lakewood.

It is not anti-semitism nor is it victim blaming to voice realities of everyday life in Ocean County. One group cannot form a separate society with separate rules of conduct. It just won’t work in today’s global economy and today’s society.

Nor will most people willingly tolerate it, especially when it infringes on their individual rights.

END QUOTE

Given the above we return to the question raised by The Journal Editorial Report: Is there a deeper problem in this society in Rockland County that needs to be recognized and addressed and if so how do we move forward?