Another Rift in a Hasidic Community: Dissidents want split
Self-described dissidents of the Hasidic Jewish village of Kiryas Joel, in the upstate town of Monroe, say the village is run as an unconstitutional “theocracy” and should be dissolved.
Kiryas Joel is named after the Joel Teitelbaum, the founder of the ultraorthodox Satmar Hasidic sect of Judaism. Residents follow strict Jewish observance, speak primarily Yiddish, separate the sexes in public and marry and raise large families at a young age. In 2009, the U.S. Census reported that Kiryas Joel was the poorest place in the nation.
After Joel Teitelbaum died, his nephew Moses became the next grand rabbi. When Moses died, most Kiryas Joel residents followed his son Aron, but the dissidents disapproved of his leadership.
Many of the dissidents, who say they now make up 40 percent of the village population, follow Aron’s brother Zalman, who leads the largest Satmar congregation in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.
A dozen dissident plaintiffs, including a synagogue, a nonprofit group, a rabbi and several residents, say that village leaders have brutally and unconstitutionally harassed them because of their religious differences.
They say the village leaders rig elections and intimidate voters to exclude dissidents from village government, and selectively enforce laws to oppress the minority population.