Kiryas Joel - Upstate Hasids’ unorthodox war

Kiryas Joel Central Synagogue: Anti-Semitic neighbors are trying to shut them out

Kiryas Joel, NY - Hasidim living in an upstate Orthodox boomtown say anti-Semitic neighbors are trying to shut them out.

The Village of Kiryas Joel claims the adjacent village of Woodbury’s rezoning effort is nothing more than a slap in the face to local Jews.

More than 20,000 people are packed into a 1.1-square-mile radius in Kiryas Joel, an Orange County town of strictly observant large families who don’t drive.

Woodbury intentionally ignored the needs of area Orthodox Jews when it adopted rules this summer that limit dense building in favor of smaller, spread-out neighborhoods, a Kiryas Joel lawsuit against its neighbor contends.

The Orthodox families “need compact, walkable communities” and affordable housing, and Woodbury’s restrictions are “a concerted effort by the Village to exclude Hasidic Jews,” the lawsuit argues.

The new zoning means Woodbury isn’t doing “its fair share” to relieve the regional housing shortage, according to papers filed in the case, which Woodbury’s lawyers recently had moved to Manhattan federal court.

Woodbury is unfairly shifting the “burden on Kiryas Joel’s housing stock, infrastructure, community services and community character,” the suit says.

Each year, 150 new households are added in Kiryas Joel, where 70 percent of the residents live below the poverty line. Woodbury has half the population.

Woodbury Mayor Michael Queenan denied the anti-Semitism charges, and defended the zoning decision as “responsible growth.”

“I feel as if our Village of Woodbury is the David in the proverbial battle against the politically connected Goliath,” Queenan said. “The village . . . respects the way of life of those residents of the Village of Kiryas Joel, and we simply ask the same respect from them.”