תוקן על ידי ביידען ב- 13/06/2011 03:59:54

תוקן על ידי 123news ב- 13/06/2011 13:56:11

תוקן על ידי 1satmar ב- 14/06/2011 02:02:23

Kiryas Joel dissidents file suit seeking to have village dissolved

Dissident leaders from Kiryas Joel filed a federal lawsuit Monday accusing the Satmar Hasidic community's majority faction of abusing its control over municipal affairs and demanding the 34-year-old village be dissolved.
The 59-page complaint catalogs grievances dating back a decade and depicts a religious faction exercising uncontested power in the secular realm. The case, brought by Goshen attorney Michael Sussman, calls Kiryas Joel a ''theocracy'' that violates the First Amendment's prohibition against the establishment of religion.
''Religion is wonderful,'' Sussman said at a press conference in his office Monday, seated beside Joseph Waldman, a plaintiff and longtime dissident leader. ''But it cannot dominate the state. And that is what is happening in Kiryas Joel.''
The case alleges discrimination against dissidents — estimated in court papers to comprise 40 percent of the village's roughly 20,000 residents — in various facets of public life, from tax exemptions for synagogues to election improprieties to selective enforcement of village noise ordinances.
Among the most serious allegations is that Kiryas Joel's Public Safety Department, a quasi-police agency, has acted as enforcers for the main congregation and tolerated acts of violence and intimidation against dissidents by unruly crowds of young supporters of Satmar Grand Rebbe Aron Teitelbaum, the leader of Kiryas Joel's majority faction.
In one incident in August 2010, a mob of screaming boys — angry about a marriage held in a dissident wedding hall — allegedly hounded relatives of one of the newlyweds as they walked home from a synagogue after midnight. The complaint says the boys punched, kicked and threw bottles and eggs at the family, which included a pregnant woman.
The suit alleges that public safety officers passed by during the harassment and did nothing. Later, when the family members approached their destination, an officer parked nearby allegedly refused to escort them home.
The plaintiffs are asking a federal judge to dissolve the Village of Kiryas Joel, which would effectively remove its leaders, lift its laws and place it under the governance of the surrounding Town of Monroe. The village was incorporated in 1977 as a satellite of the Brooklyn-based Satmar sect.
If the judge won't do that, the suit asks for the removal of the current village leaders, including the mayor, trustees and administrator.
The lawsuit comes in the wake of a much-publicized attack against a dissident in New Square, a Hasidic community in Rockland County roiled by the same sort of internal rift as the Satmar Hasidim. In that May 22 incident, a 43-year-old man suffered severe burns fighting off a young man who tried to burn down his home.
Sussman, who's also representing the burn victim, Aron Rottenberg, announced Monday that he had filed a $36 million lawsuit in state court against New Square's grand rebbe, David Twersky, and the 18-year-old aide suspected of starting the fire.
cmckenna@th-record.com

Jun 13, 6:44 PM EDT Dissident Jews in Hasidic enclave in NY say it discriminates against them, should be dissolved By JIM FITZGERALD Associated Press

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) -- Dissidents in a Hasidic Jewish enclave in upstate New York demanded Monday that the village be dissolved on the grounds that its existence violates religious freedom. In a lawsuit filed in federal court, the dissidents say the majority congregation has taken over village government in Kiryas Joel and selectively enforces tax, zoning, election and other laws to oppress them. "Due to this inherent and unavoidable entanglement between religion and government, the village has engaged, and continues to engage, in religious discrimination," the lawsuit said. Kiryas Joel's attorney, Donald Nichol, denied any infringement of religious rights. "These people have been allowed to exercise their religious freedom even beyond the village statutes," he said. Kiryas Joel was incorporated in 1977 by members of the Satmar Hasidic sect from Brooklyn. Few if any others live there. A village of large families, it is one of the fastest-growing places in the state, with a population of 23,000. It also is listed as among the poorest places in the country and is heavily dependent on food stamps, Medicaid and federal housing vouchers. But it has little of the street crime or drug problems that other poor communities have. The lawsuit says many of the dissidents - nine are named as plaintiffs - follow the teachings not of the grand rebbe, Aron Teiltelbaum, but his brother Zalman Teiltelbaum, who leads a Satmar group in Brooklyn. It says the dissidents comprise about 40 percent of the village population. The lawsuit says the dissidents recently established a wedding hall outside the village where couples could be married by rabbis not sanctioned by the grand rebbe. Village officials then told the majority congregation to excommunicate the newlyweds, the lawsuit says. It says religious leaders also incited violence against the couples with "hateful" leaflets and loudspeaker announcements. The lawsuit also says the village gives tax-exempt status to the main congregation but not the dissidents, disregards its own zoning law to advance the main congregation's activities and assesses sanitation fees against dissident organizations even when they use outside garbage companies. It also alleges voting fraud, including intimidation of voters and busing in non-residents to vote. The lawsuit asks that the village be dissolved, or that religious leaders not be permitted to hold government office for 25 years. Nichol, the village attorney, said that proposed remedy would itself be religious discrimination. "It would be like saying a Catholic can't be president," he said. The lawsuit names as defendants the village, the main congregation and several village officials. It does not name the grand rebbe as a defendant but calls him a "key non-party." In a separate lawsuit, also filed Monday but in state court in Rockland County, Sussman targeted the grand rebbe of another Hasidic enclave, in New Square. That lawsuit alleges that Grand Rebbe David Twersky directed a fiery attack on a villager who had begun praying at a synagogue other than the main synagogue in New Square, 30 miles from Manhattan. On May 22, Aron Rottenberg suffered third-degree burns over half his body in what police said was an attempt to burn down his house. Another New Square resident, Shaul Spitzer, has been charged with attempted murder. The lawsuit alleges - as Sussman has previously, in a letter seeking a federal investigation - that Twersky was responsible. Hank Sheinkopf, who advises some village leaders, said attorneys had not yet seen the lawsuit. It seeks $36 million for Rottenberg and his family from Twersky and Spitzer. Associated Press. All rights of Use.

תוקן על ידי 1satmar ב- 14/06/2011 01:54:53

Dissident Jews say enclave in NY oppresses them

*-- e src/business/templates/hearst/article/headline.tpl *

JIM FITZGERALD, Associated Press

Updated 03:46 p.m., Monday, June 13, 2011

Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Dissident-Jews-say-enclave-in-NY-oppresses-them-1422172.php#ixzz1PDGeXttK
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) — Dissidents in a Hasidic Jewish enclave in upstate New York demanded Monday that the village be dissolved on the grounds that its existence violates religious freedom.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court, the dissidents say the majority congregation has taken over village government in Kiryas Joel and selectively enforces tax, zoning, election and other laws to oppress them.

"Due to this inherent and unavoidable entanglement between religion and government, the village has engaged, and continues to engage, in religious discrimination," the lawsuit said.

Kiryas Joel's attorney, Donald Nichol, denied any infringement of religious rights.

"These people have been allowed to exercise their religious freedom even beyond the village statutes," he said.

Kiryas Joel was incorporated in 1977 by members of the Satmar Hasidic sect from Brooklyn. Few if any others live there. A village of large families, it is one of the fastest-growing places in the state, with a population of 23,000.

It also is listed as among the poorest places in the country and is heavily dependent on food stamps, Medicaid and federal housing vouchers. But it has little of the street crime or drug problems that other poor communities have.

The lawsuit says many of the dissidents — nine are named as plaintiffs — follow the teachings not of the grand rebbe, Aron Teiltelbaum, but his brother Zalman Teiltelbaum, who leads a Satmar group in Brooklyn. It says the dissidents comprise about 40 percent of the village population.

The lawsuit says the dissidents recently established a wedding hall outside the village where couples could be married by rabbis not sanctioned by the grand rebbe. Village officials then told the majority congregation to excommunicate the newlyweds, the lawsuit says. It says religious leaders also incited violence against the couples with "hateful" leaflets and loudspeaker announcements.

The lawsuit also says the village gives tax-exempt status to the main congregation but not the dissidents, disregards its own zoning law to advance the main congregation's activities and assesses sanitation fees against dissident organizations even when they use outside garbage companies.

It also alleges voting fraud, including intimidation of voters and busing in non-residents to vote.

The lawsuit asks that the village be dissolved, or that religious leaders not be permitted to hold government office for 25 years.

Nichol, the village attorney, said that proposed remedy would itself be religious discrimination.

"It would be like saying a Catholic can't be president," he said.

The lawsuit names as defendants the village, the main congregation and several village officials.

It does not name the grand rebbe as a defendant but calls him a "key non-party."

In a separate lawsuit, also filed Monday but in state court in Rockland County, Sussman targeted the grand rebbe of another Hasidic enclave, in New Square.

That lawsuit alleges that Grand Rebbe David Twersky directed a fiery attack on a villager who had begun praying at a synagogue other than the main synagogue in New Square, 30 miles from Manhattan.

On May 22, Aron Rottenberg suffered third-degree burns over half his body in what police said was an attempt to burn down his house. Another New Square resident, Shaul Spitzer, has been charged with attempted murder. The lawsuit alleges — as Sussman has previously, in a letter seeking a federal investigation — that Twersky was responsible.

Hank Sheinkopf, who advises some village leaders, said attorneys had not yet seen the lawsuit.

It seeks $36 million for Rottenberg and his family from Twersky and Spitzer.

Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Dissident-Jews-say-enclave-in-NY-oppresses-them-1422172.php#ixzz1PDGL9yDs

Dissident Jews say enclave in NY oppresses them

Originally published: June 13, 2011 4:38 PM
Updated: June 13, 2011 6:45 PM
By The Associated Press JIM FITZGERALD (Associated Press)

Quick ReadDissident Jews in Hasidic enclave in NY say it discriminates against them, should be dissolved

(AP) -- Dissidents in a Hasidic Jewish enclave in upstate New York demanded Monday that the village be dissolved on the grounds that its existence violates religious freedom.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court, the dissidents say the majority congregation has taken over village government in Kiryas Joel and selectively enforces tax, zoning, election and other laws to oppress them.

תוקן על ידי מנהל_ניק ב- 14/06/2011 04:38:35

_________________

Orthodox Leader, Arson Suspect Sued In Fire Bombing

As he lays in a hospital bed with third degree burns over half of his body, Aron Rottenberg, 43, has filed an $18 million lawsuit against the Grand Rebbe of the Hasidic Jewish community in the Village of New Square, and against a young man who allegedly targeted Rottenberg because he chose to pray outside the main synagogue of the tight-knit and ultra-insular village in Rockland County.

"It's a very painful sight, to see a man who for no reason other than where he wants to pray literally now bound, bound almost in a sheet you'd say, tightly bound to his body which covers skin grafts over 50 or 60 percent of his body. The man is in extraordinary pain yet finally got him to smile yesterday because getting him to laugh is too painful and he said to me 'I am going back, whenever I am released, I'm going back to live in my house'," defense attorney Michael Sussman said at a press conference in his Goshen, NY office.
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תוקן על ידי 1satmar ב- 14/06/2011 06:47:32

תוקן על ידי 1satmar ב- 14/06/2011 07:05:46

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תוקן על ידי מנהל_ניק ב- 15/06/2011 04:44:03

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תוקן על ידי 1satmar ב- 15/06/2011 05:20:24