“I would note,” the email read, “that their sect is notorious for misogyny and child abuse. I do fear their wanton destruction of the towns and school districts . . . they take over, like locusts—killing everything they encounter, draining every last resource, bleeding the beast (as they say internally regarding welfare), and destroying Forestburgh as we know and love it today.”
The email was from a resident of Forestburgh, New York, a small Hudson Valley municipality, and sent to Town Board Planning Chair Richard Robbins. Mr. Robbins forwarded it to others, with the comment, “I too have been thinking strategy about how to prevent Lost Lake from overwhelming the town.”
The “overwhelmers” and members of the “notorious sect” that is “bleeding the beast” and “destroying Forestburgh,” if you haven’t already guessed, are chasidim. Lost Lake is the site of a planned housing project.
In case you think that Mr. Robbins may have just been experiencing some late night lack of good judgment, he later assured constituents that they needn’t “be scared about the [ch]asidic threat.” Because “we’re energized and have the cash to fight and make their lives miserable… Bloomingberg [sic] was asleep: We’re on amphetamines.”
His reference there was to Bloomingburg, a neighboring town that settled a federal lawsuit for $2.9 million after the town was accused of trying to prevent new housing for chasidim.
Another Forestburgh resident wrote: “Dirty money from the Jewish mafia is involved, and you wonder why Germans did what they say they did.”
Those indications of hateful ugliness were cited by the US Department of Justice in a scathing March filing in support of the Jewish housing developers. This case began in 2020, when it became known that a Jewish developer had purchased the tract of land, which had already been deemed “shovel-ready.” A number of approvals were withdrawn and the town passed a series of new ordinances aimed at thwarting the 2,627-home Lost Lake project. A lawsuit was filed by the developer, accusing the town of violating the Federal Fair Housing Act.
The Justice Department attorneys allege that Forestburgh officials’ actions, including the reopening of a 14-year-old environmental review, the imposing of inflated tax assessments, and their repeated denials of building permits, were a coordinated effort, inspired by anti-Semitism, to sabotage the project.
Although the Trump DOJ and New York Attorney General Letitia James aren’t what anyone might call best of friends, Ms. James joined wholeheartedly in the federal accusation, writing to the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York that the assertion “that the Town of Forestburgh denied land use applications based on the religious identity of the developers and the potential use of the property by Orthodox Jewish residents is profoundly disturbing.”
Previously, Ms. James had demanded that Forestburgh revise a local law that imposes what her office described as discriminatory zoning restrictions specifically targeting houses of worship and Orthodox Jewish residents.
(Disclosure: Although I write in this space as an independent columnist, the developers’ rights during the yearslong legal battle over the proposed project have been vigorously championed throughout by Agudath Israel of America, which I serve as public affairs director.)
In defense of Forestburgh’s actions, its town supervisor, Dan Hogue, told the Albany Times-Union that the town zoning laws do “not specifically call out any race, religion or anybody” (stress on “specifically”). And he said that calling the town’s posture discriminatory “just reeks of political undertones.” He’s right about the reek, though not about its source.
Redolent of the same stench have been a number of attempted zonings-out of Orthodox Jews. Earlier this year, ordinances were passed and others proposed by the City of Linden in New Jersey. Linden’s mayor, Derek Armstead, was recorded as saying he wanted to “keep our community from being taken over by guys with big hats and curls.” Gang members of some sort, no doubt.
Decades ago, it was the Rockland County Village of Airmont that promulgated zoning ordinances prohibiting houses of worship in private homes—an effort, according to one local, aimed at “keep[ing] those Jews from Williamsburg out of here.” Three lawsuits ensued, the most recent one settled in 2023.
And ploys to keep Jews away were embraced, as well, in places like Long Beach, Blooming Grove and Chester, New York. And Ocean Township, New Jersey. And Beachwood, Ohio, and Hancock Park, California. I know I’ve left some others out. Apologies, but space is limited.
Not, though, apparently, ill will toward Jews.
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