Rabbis attend Chester meeting pleading for peace
Chester. A faction from nearby Kiryas Joel says they are good neighbors and disagree with their village's block vote.
Chester /
| 12 Dec 2019 | 06:15
Rabbi Joel Tzimerman, Rabbi Yoel Loeb, and Rabbi Yoel Loeb's son, from the KJ Committee for Peace and Harmony, were among those carrying banners at the Dec. 11 Chester town board meeting. (
)
Town police Sergeant David Slowik told Rabbi Yoel Loeb that the previous administration passed a ruling that banners were not allowed in town meetings. Loeb was not asked to leave, and the banners were not removed. (
)
A group of rabbis attended Chester's Dec. 11 town board meeting holding banners with a message of peace.
It was a day after a mass shooting in Jersey City, N.J., that included among its six fatalities two members of the Satmar Hasidic sect and a police officer. New Jersey's attorney general on Thursday called the shooting an act of domestic terrorism “fueled both by anti-Semitism and anti-law enforcement beliefs."
It was also a week after New York's attorney general accused the Town of Chester of a "blatantly anti-Semitic" campaign to deny housing to members of the Jewish community.
The rabbis who attended the Dec. 11 meeting were from KJ Community for Peace and Harmony, a dissident group from nearby Kiryas Joel, a village within the Town of Palm Tree. Most KJ residents are Yiddish-speaking Hasidic Jews who belong to the Satmar sect.
Their banners had these messages for the community:
"Torah true Jews strongly condemn the takeover of communities by a block vote"
"We want to live in peace with our neighbors!"
"We are Jewish children! We obey the Torah Commandment: Thou shalt not steal."
Sergeant David Slowik of the Town of Chester Police Department told Rabbi Yoel Loeb that a previous town administration had outlawed all banners in its public courtroom. Rabbi Loeb said he would happy to remove the banners if the board wanted him to.
He was not asked to remove the banners, as court was not in session.
Rabbi Loeb and his son, Rabbi Moshe Hersh, and other members of their group continued to hold the banners while standing against the wall in the meeting room.
Both Rabbi Loeb and Rabbi Hersh spoke during the public comment session. They said their goal was to live peacefully with their neighbors.
Rabbi Loeb said many KJ residents disagreed with the village's block vote "which takes away representation from the people who are not part of the bloc vote." He said KJ residents understand the dilemma bloc voting presents.
Rabbi Hersh spoke of the horror of the Jersey City tragedy. He said Jewish people were obligated by Jewish law to cultivate good relations with their neighbors to avoid tragedies.
Rabbi Loeb told The Chronicle that most of the men holding banners were not KJ residents but came from nearby communities in New York and New Jersey. He said he would like to make his group's peace and harmony into a worldwide movement.
"We must live peacefully and humbly with our neighbors"
The following is excerpted from the KJ Community for Peace and Harmony website (kiryasjoelvillage.com):
According to the Torah by which we abide we must live peacefully and humbly with our neighbors. This is the way of the Jewish people and the beliefs which our blessed founder Grand Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum dedicated his life to spreading with his known war against Zionism and the state of Israel which have broken the laws of exile.
Since the destruction of the holy temple we were sent in exile by God and we are forbidden to create our own state and to antagonize other nations. We are obligated to respect our government where we reside. An example of Grand Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum’s work can be explained by a story that happened when he was walking down the street with an escort of his followers. A non-Jewish boy ran into the Rabbi and one of the Rabbi’s assistants placed the boy to the side. Rabbi Teitelbaum screamed at his assistant asking him why he would request the boy to move from his own street.
Our Holy Grand Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum taught us only to beg, not demand the government for our needs. It is clear that he would never agree to use the kindness of our great government which allows us to vote, to use it as a tool to over-power our neighbors with a block vote as it seems has happened here and in East Ramapo. Furthermore one of the a biggest Torah sages before the Second World War Rabbi Shaul Brach of blessed memory of Kashao Hungary, author of a book called Chailek L’Olam Habbo (pg. 87) clearly states that it would be beneficial if the Jewish community did not participate in voting in government elections and this honor should be left to our neighbors. He further explains it could cause problems with our gentile neighbors as they would feel we are the decision makers of the outcome of the votes. His words speak the Torah view on the block vote.