The Hasidim are moving to New Jersey
And thanks to this article, we now know that they vote for Donald Trump!
Lakewood Township, near the Jersey Shore [which is two-thirds Jewish], voted for Donald J. Trump last year by the largest margin — 50 percentage points over Hillary Clinton — of any New Jersey community.
So the most pro-Trump township in New Jersey is also the most Jewish township in New Jersey.
It’s understandable, however, that not all of their secular neighbors are happy with a sudden influx of Yiddish-speaking weirdly-clothed Trump-voting religious nuts.
Lion of the Blogosphere 
The Hasidim/Haredim cannot and will not integrate with other proles. This is a problem.
And my negative rants about an unified America is a lost cause, and this community adds another a few brownie points as to why America is a LOST CAUSE.
JS
August 2, 2017 at 11:15 AM
Jews aren’t supposed to assimilate, obviously. Thus by itself doesn’t make America a lost cause.
Yakov
August 2, 2017 at 12:03 PM
Then why do you support Trump? For tribal reasons, of course, just as other people vote with the same passion.
JS
August 2, 2017 at 12:28 PM
Jews aren’t supposed to assimilate, obviously.
The intermarriage rate for secular Jews (Conservative, Reform, and non-affiliated) is over 75%.
Atheist Jews are probably well over 80% intermarried.
The Undiscovered Jew
August 2, 2017 at 5:07 PM
“Conservative” Jews aren’t secular. It’s probably the least understood branch of Judaism.
Lion of the Blogosphere
August 2, 2017 at 5:58 PM
“Conservative” Jews aren’t secular.
Between Orthodox and Reform Jews, Conservative denominations are closer to Reform.
The Undiscovered Jew
August 2, 2017 at 6:05 PM
Compared to Yakov Conservative Jews are secular…
The Undiscovered Jew
August 2, 2017 at 6:05 PM
AFAICT the ordering from most-secular to most-hardcore is
Unitarian Universalist = Reform
Quaker
Episcopalian
Congregationalist
Methodist
Presbyterian
Lutheran = Conservative
Catholic
Eastern Orthodox
Southern Baptist = Orthodox
Seventh-Day Adventist
Mormon
Pentecostal
Mennonite = Hasidic
Amish
snorlaxwp
August 2, 2017 at 7:42 PM
Oh and for completeness’ sake the Jehovah’s Witnesses after the Pentecostals. Leaving off black churches because that’s a somewhat orthogonal topic.
snorlaxwp
August 2, 2017 at 7:47 PM
AFAICT the ordering from most-secular to most-hardcore is
I’m not sure about the second half of your list. The but the first half seems about right to me.
The Undiscovered Jew
August 2, 2017 at 11:15 PM
62 families just show up in one shot?
peterike
August 2, 2017 at 11:21 AM
I dunno, but could be, if the new housing is ready in one shot. Our office manager moved over there. It’s huge now. NY is too expensive.
Yakov
August 2, 2017 at 12:02 PM
This whole article is ridiculous and frankly, disgusting.
Why is a problem that these 62 Jewish people are there verses some other people being there? The article cited no issues being caused by their behavior. Other than being “tight knit” and having “modest dress and customs” what crimes are being committed here?
” Residents complain that investors or real estate agents representing the ultra-Orthodox community have been ringing doorbells persistently, offering to buy properties at “Brooklyn prices.” Jersey City, Toms River and Jackson have all passed no-knock ordinances barring such inquiries under the threat of fines or have banned solicitations altogether.”
a. from the article it sounds like “Brooklyn prices” are 300% of market rate for the homes. Even if the offers are just 50% over market, people should be over joyed at getting the opportunity. This is not a problem.
b. These people are moving because they were priced out of Brooklyn by the #Resistance NY Times subscribers. Why isnt the article “uneasy” about the Brooklyn hipsters?
c. This “no knock” thing sounds like a free speech violation. Apparently the author couldnt be bothered to get a quote from a legal expert.
d. “…under the threat of fines or have banned solicitations altogether.” Another example of why this is a terrible article. Isnt the punishment for “banned altogether” having to pay a fine? Is the author under the impression that if you pass a law against an activity it never occurs again?
“Hasidim had opened a synagogue on the avenue despite a recent zoning change forbidding new houses of worship.”
How is that legal- anti-religious bigotry? I doubt it is since this is a commercial zoned area.
Once again something the author should have followed up on but didnt.
Lion o' the Turambar
August 2, 2017 at 2:55 PM
Yeah as I suspected this banning of Churches is illegal under Federal law:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_Land_Use_and_Institutionalized_Persons_Act
http://tucson.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/th-circuit-decision-zoning-rules-can-t-single-out-churches/article_7a333651-0e78-545d-b88b-5ffe072e32b6.html
Lion o' the Turambar
August 2, 2017 at 3:15 PM
“Why is a problem that these 62 Jewish people are there verses some other people being there?”
Presumably because the 62 are the trickle that comes before the flood.
But I do agree that there’s a double standard. If 62 Somalis showed up in Lewiston or Minneapolis, it would be covered differently. Residents who expressed concern would be mocked and derided and dismissed.
fortaleza84
August 2, 2017 at 4:48 PM
“If 62 Somalis showed up in Lewiston or Minneapolis, it would be covered differently. Residents who expressed concern would be mocked and derided and dismissed.”
I agree. Not that I like the Hasids, and they are monumental gibesmedat scammers of the first order, but this is true. It’s acceptable to pick on Hasids. Even at that 100% SJW site Gothamist, where they observe every Progressive shibboleth as if it were the will of God, they make fun of Hasids or bitch about them as lousy, cheating landlords. It’s weird. Somehow, they fall in with white guys as people you can smear to your hearts content. Who makes these rules?
peterike
August 2, 2017 at 5:02 PM
According to wikipedia Jersey City has 264,152 residents. So 62 seems pretty manageable.
It also has 3.3% Jews but 4.2% Muslims, who are described as “growing”.
Lion o' the Turambar
August 2, 2017 at 6:47 PM
“So 62 seems pretty manageable.”
By the way, you keep saying 62 people. It’s 62 FAMILIES. And an average Hasid family is what, five or six? So you’re looking at around 300 people or more, which is pretty sizable when they all show up at once.
peterike
August 3, 2017 at 9:09 AM
I would be delighted to try to speak yiddish with them if there were coming to Paris !
Bruno
August 2, 2017 at 12:42 PM
Good for them. From what I hear Jersey City is basically an unlivable hell hole. The Orthodox will bring civilization to the place. I only wish we could get a number of Italian families to buy up real estate in an area and establish a – I’ll call it this because I know this is what it would be called by Lion – “guido-town.” But unfortunately, you couldn’t get 62 Italian families united to do anything. Italians, both in Italy and the U.S. only have a small degree of unity if they feel oppressed. But once the oppression ends they become as materialistic and atomized as the rest of white America. All their “Italian pride” talk and “kiss me, I’m Italian” T-shirts, bumperstickers, etc… are a big mental masturbation effort. Sorry to be so graphic (I hope I’m not “doing a Mooch” with this comment!), but it’s the analogy that fits. People like yours truly, who are willing to take specific action for the IA community are far outnumbered by the mental masturbators.
maryk
August 2, 2017 at 1:03 PM
“Guido ghetto” does have a nice ring to it.
Anthony
August 2, 2017 at 2:39 PM
“Ghuitto”. They’ll all be ghuitto-fabulous, keeping it real in da ghuitto
driveallnight
August 2, 2017 at 10:42 PM
Ghetto is a guido word. It should be a no brainer.
JS
August 4, 2017 at 8:59 AM
Downtown Jersey City has been colonized by refugee hipsters. The Heights area by Arabs and Indians. (I have been told the no-knock ordinance was aimed at them.). Where are the Jews going to go? Greenville? (The Black ghetto.). It’s ripe for gentrification but there will be one hell of a fight before it happens.
Lionel of the Richiesphere
August 2, 2017 at 3:42 PM
We went to a town close to Lakewood, NJ during Christmas time last year and had to drive through the center of Lakewood. OMG! It was absolutely appalling. Just a complete mess and way, way, way too overcrowded. It’s really hard to describe what it’s like without being there.
JerseyGuy
August 2, 2017 at 2:31 PM
Interesting because a Times subscriber was forced to drive through Lakewood was is apparently still distraught over observing…. nothing.
” Miss Accountant Philadelphia, PA 11 minutes ago
I recently drove through Lakewood, NJ on my way to a sporting event on a Saturday. The streets where I drove were deserted. All the stores were closed. Buildings and signage was in Hebrew. Ads for new housing developments were in Hebrew. The stores had Hebrew signs and the professional buildings had Hebrew signs. Not a speck of English. It was unsettling… you could sense we weren’t welcomed or wanted. “
Lion o' the Turambar
August 2, 2017 at 3:23 PM
Non English signs should be illegal, whether Hebrew or wall-to-wall Chinese signs in Flushing, or Korean further East, or whatever.
peterike
August 2, 2017 at 4:58 PM
Once a Guido cop was on a beat late at night in Lakewood, so he sees a Jew walking in the middle of the street. He pulls over and goes:
– You shouldn’t be walking in the middle of the street – it’s unsafe.
– Oh, I was deep in thought and didn’t notice. Thank you.
– What’s you occupation?
– I’m a student here.
– In that big Yeshiva school over there?
– Yes.
– So how many years have you been studying for?
– 20.
– Wow! You must be the dummiest guy in the school!
Well, he was one of the best.
Yakov
August 2, 2017 at 4:02 PM
Now that’s funny!
maryk
August 2, 2017 at 4:41 PM
“I recently drove through Sometown, USA on my way to a sporting event on a Saturday. The streets where I drove were deserted. All the stores were closed. Buildings and signage was in Arabic. Ads for new housing developments were in Arabic. The stores had Hebrew signs and the professional buildings had Arabic signs. Not a speck of English. It was unsettling… you could sense we weren’t welcomed or wanted. “
Is a statement that no goodthinking Times subscriber will make.
ASF
August 2, 2017 at 4:48 PM
Given the huge difference in birthrates, I wonder how many more decades before people see the Hasidim as the “typical” Jew and secular Jews as the “strange” type of Jew?
Also, why don’t they ever try to establish communities in rural areas like the Amish? If you want an insular community where nobody will bother you that is the way to go.
PerezHBD
August 2, 2017 at 5:35 PM
“Also, why don’t they ever try to establish communities in rural areas like the Amish?”
Or at least replace the minivan with the horse and buggy. The Hasid’s are probably the worst drivers around.
Lewis Medlock
August 2, 2017 at 6:30 PM
Yes, they should move to Indiana or Pennsyltucky.
Anthony
August 2, 2017 at 10:37 PM
That’s a good question. If you want to maintain a non assimilated lifestyle than a rural community would seem to be the way to go.
Mike Street Station
August 2, 2017 at 6:53 PM
The lifestyle requires money. The Jews aren’t inclined to physical work. Two Jews are urinating, so one goes:
– What we are doing now, is this mental or physical activity?
– it’s obviously metal, because if it were physical, we would have gotten someone else to do it for us.
Yakov
August 2, 2017 at 7:51 PM
I heard the same joke once, except the subject was sex and not urination.
Lion of the Blogosphere
August 2, 2017 at 11:01 PM
Hasidim are not capable of self containment — farming. Simple 1-2-3 answer that anyone on this blog should know by now.
JS
August 2, 2017 at 8:47 PM
Hasidic Jews are awful to live around. Rude, clannish, and no sense of neighborliness. Of course none of that stops them from asking you for help when they need it. Don’t expect any gratitude.
Non-Hasidic Orthodox Jews aren’t so bad. They make good neighbors. And they seem to realize that being religious doesn’t have to mean they’re too busy to get their lawn mowed.
Jimi
August 2, 2017 at 5:39 PM
“Hasidic Jews are awful to live around.”
“Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America” by Stephen Bloom deals with the tremendous friction between the Hasids and Iowans when a whole bunch of Lubavitchers move from Brooklyn, NY to a small town in Iowa.
Lewis Medlock
August 3, 2017 at 6:26 PM
I’m loathe to criticize people who stick to themselves but… even the Jews in Israel don’t like hasids.
destructure
August 2, 2017 at 6:30 PM
The divide is more between ultra-orthodox and the rest, not Chassidim specifically.
Yakov
August 2, 2017 at 7:47 PM
There is a major, world famous, ultra-Orthodox Torah school, that trains rabbis, in that town. That’s the attraction for the Hasidim.
Daniel
August 2, 2017 at 6:48 PM
The schood is Lithuanian and non-chassidic. The attraction is cheap real estate and an established religious infrastructure.
Yakov
August 2, 2017 at 7:43 PM
Do they accept to speak to goys in yiddish ? Besides, I must look very jewish because some orthodox jews spot me on the street to proselytise me and they look always very astonished when I say I m not jewish ? (Then they are not interested any more in any conversation here … ) . Probably it would be the same in NYC.
Bruno
August 2, 2017 at 8:43 PM
He (Rabbi Chanina Ben Dosa) would say: Anyone from whom the spirit of creations find pleasure, from him the spirit of God finds pleasure. And anyone from whom the spirit of creations do not find pleasure, from him the spirit of God does not find pleasure. (Ethics of the Father’s 3:10).
It always amazed me how we, Jews, don’t take these words with due seriousness.
Yakov
August 2, 2017 at 10:16 PM
Hmm … your translation looks more literal than the Metsudah (Metsudah translations are always phony), but doesn’t make much sense. (The way you have it, “the spirit of creations” is in the active role, assessing the man, just as “the spirit of God” is in the active role, assessing the same man. So who is this “spirit of creations?” Some kind of Metatron-like lieutenant or lower-ranking demiurge?)
Metsudah has “He who is pleasing to his fellow men is pleasing also to God” — with “ruakh ha-makom” translated simply as “God” and “sheh-ruakh ha-briot” translated as “his fellow men”. Could it be “He who takes pleasure in the spirit of creations, the spirit of God takes pleasure in him?” This would distinguish the “spirit of creations” from God, so that we have something like “God likes people who like the stuff that God made.”
Garr
August 3, 2017 at 5:40 PM
Mezudah’s is a better translation, I was busy and just pasted the first thing that came up on the Internet.
The idea is that if people in general don’t like you, Almighty is not pleased with you either. So in our case, before screaming anti-semitism, a look in the mirror should be the first step to take. All one’s actions are a practical expression of one’s faith. If people object to your behavior, your interpretation of religion is likely wrong. This is what I think it says.
Yakov
August 3, 2017 at 8:40 PM
Oh, I get it. Maybe “from whom the spirit of the created …”? “the spirit of creations” sounds like some kind of angel, that’s all. I don’t understand how the “sheh-” works there. I guess you figure out which is the agent and which the recipient from the verb-ending and then understand the “sheh-” accordingly?
People don’t dislike Jews because they think “Jews cheat the system.” They dislike Jews because Jews are somewhat autistic and therefore socially cold and uncomfortable with people whom they haven’t pre-identified as socially safe “friendlies.” Then the Jew-dislikers come up with a deeper reason to justify their dislike.
“If people don’t like ya, God don’t like ya” is a pretty detestable saying. Maybe the people in question are other Jews, and the advice is given to a Jew, in order to emphasize the extreme importance of fitting into “the community.” When Jews and spectrum-y people in general make an extra effort to be liked by non-Jews/normals they just end up being seen as creepy and disruptive.
Non-Jews won’t like Jews until Moshiakh comes. That’s just how it is.
Garr
August 4, 2017 at 7:59 AM
This is old-school stuff. Secular Jews are disappearing into white gentile society, both culturally and genetically. Only real Jews will be left, the guys with beards and hats who dress in black and white.
Lion of the Blogosphere
August 4, 2017 at 8:02 AM
Both Garr and Yakov are from Coney Island, Brooklyn with religious themes. Gotta love the coincidence.
JS
August 4, 2017 at 8:16 AM
There are many reasons why people don’t like Jews. This Mishna is addressing an individual and saying: if you generally rub people the wrong way, your interpretation and application of religion is wrong. I think this is true.
Yakov
August 4, 2017 at 8:58 AM
Yakov, spectrum-y and ADHD-ish people “rub [normals] the wrong way.” But thanks for posting the quote and giving me something interesting to talk to someone about.
JS, I live in Sunset Park (Mexican neighborhood), and am “from” Albany, way upstate. Yakov quoting Perkei Avot is like the sound of a sad, mysterious flute playing far away in the woods at dusk.
You’re not wrong about the West’s emptiness. But this faint music reaches us from beyond the emptiness. Marvel movies transmit echoes from Ariosto and Ovid.
Garr
August 4, 2017 at 6:27 PM
The Mishna is addressing people without psychological disorders to blame for their problems.
Yakov
August 5, 2017 at 9:41 PM
In Montreal the Hasidics used to live in the Outremont neighbourhood, I’m assuming they still do–maybe JS can confirm. Outremont also happened to be the neighbourhood of choice for Montreal’s elite French and French old-money families and during the period I live there, these two communities absolutely did not get along. The French accused the Hasidics of being pushy and aggressive and the the Hasidics accused the Outremont French of anti-semitism. Mordecai Richler–famous Jewish Canadian writer chronicled many of these struggles between the French Catholics and Montreal’s Jews. Although having been born into an orthodox Jewish family himself, he often mocked and criticized Jews and especially the Orthodox in his writings.
Roli
August 3, 2017 at 3:17 AM
Outremont still has a Hasidic section. Recently, there was a lawsuit from a few if them who accused a French Canadian for anti-semitism and libel, when he said these people are savages on his blog — but was not found guilty.
JS
August 3, 2017 at 1:30 PM
You have to love the Québécois, they simply don’t understand the concept of liberal guilt.
Roli
August 3, 2017 at 10:53 PM