Greetings to everyone. There has been much concern in the Town of Chester over members of the Hasidic community purchasing land and moving members of their community into Chester. Members of the Hasidic community feel that the people of Chester and of the people around them are discriminatory against them particularly based upon their religious identity and values. Nothing could be further from the truth. If people from the Hasidic community continue to be rude, they continue to live off the tax base of the communities that they continue to degrade after they move into them, then they will be disliked and opposed from every community they try to enter!
Let the members of the Hasidic community understand that nobody dislikes them because of their religion. It's all about the fact that they are disliked because of their mannerisms! Let them learn how to say "please" and "thank you" and not bump into you in a store without saying "I'm sorry," okay? Let them not throw money at you because they're not allowed to touch you. Let them not make up rules and ways in which they expect people to dress and act in their communities like they have posted at Kiryas Joel. If they are going to post such ways and means that people should behave and act in their community, then perhaps we should do the same? Of course I'm not serious. Just playing tit-for-tat.
When members from a group of people act in such ways that it appears that they only care about themselves and not for the people around them, then they should expect that the people around them should not care for them to move in! When the Hasidim community learns to treat their neighbors like neighbors and fellow human beings, with respect, then the rest of society will embrace them and want to be their neighbors! Now there is a win-win situation for everyone!
Rich Freidfeld
Chester