I grew up attending school in the East Ramapo school district in the 70s and 80s, when those schools were among the best in New York State, if not the country. It's disgusting what the Hasidics have done to the district. And I say that as a reform Jew. And yes, property values in the district have suffered tremendously. I live on the other side of the country now, but the parents of a childhood friend in our once highly desirable upper middle class suburb, had a lot of trouble selling their long time home, eventually accepting a much more modest retirement than they had planned. I would be very concerned if I lived in that area.

Its not anti-semitism. Probably a misleading title.

Judaism is not what the people are opposing. They're opposing the situation this particular group presents because they care not to be a part of society yet they want to reap the benefits of the societies subsidies.

This is 30 minutes from my home, across the river thankfully. But right near my in-laws. Ive done quite a bit of reading on the Hasidic views. It is akin to a parasitic relationship with the local communities. They cannot even find it in their means (religion) to acknowledge or respect us "outsiders."

For other info, there have already been recent law enforcement raids on their communities for election fraud and tax fraud.

They have large families and are mostly on medicaid and large subsidies. Yet you should see the some of the cars they drive...and quite poorly up and down the thruway.

I also remember in Lakewood, NJ something like 2% of the total children in NJ yet use 15% of the state's funding for catastrophic child illness. Huge welfare fraud there as well.

These communities bankrupt their surrounding towns, and destroy value because of their practices. Theres also endless illegal practices. And they do not contribute to society. Thats why people don't want them coming in.

Kyrias Joel is also about 45 min away. Poorest town in America. About to be re-named Palm Tree soon. Basically had to be bribed by the local govt to stop annexing lands in exchange for dropped court cases. Hundreds of acres lost to the Hasidim. I can understand why people are giving pushback, ot say nothing of how they affect the school districts.

Everything you said is stuff I've heard before. The question mark in the title was intended to tease out the question you've answered. It's close to the line though right? A population is trying to reject entry to their community by members of a religion based on stereotypes of how they'll contribute (or not) and interract (or not). Effective redlining but, justified, in their view, because they believe the stereotypes to be accurate.

If you strip out the allegations of actual fraud (of which there are many, but for purposes of the thought exercise just ignore them), do we as a society have a mechanism to, or even an interest in, counteracting the effect of groups like this? (The FLDS would seem like the best analogy but, rightly or wrongly, my sense is the issues they cause are less acute because of the geography of Utah).

Your'e allowed to be poor
You're allowed to have a lot of kids
You're allowed to buy, sell and develop land in the free market
Adults are allowed to vote and to vote their interests (indeed that's almost always a good thing)

If a community wants a lot of space, doesn't want to pay a lot of property tax and doesn't care about the effect on traditional public schools, and if that community has the resources and organization to get what they want, does anyone have a right to stop them?

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"Are you sure we're going fast enough?" - Emil Zatopek

Ah I see what youre question was. Yes, you're right. You are allowed to be poor, and procreate, and not care about quality of living situations.

But opposing them is still not anti-semitism. People aren't giving push back because they are Jewish. There are plenty of Jewish people who do not live or practice like this. People are trying to mitigate an influx (too late?) of a subset who foster a culture that does not integrate with others outside of their own, yet want all of their resources. I guarantee if they contributed to society people wouldnt raise an eyebrow regardless of their religious practices.

When a portion of means comes through fraud and bribery, its hardly respectable.

So yes, by current laws (the illegal issues aside), they can continue, but laws change and the public is doing their part to exploit a group that is not doing their part to contribute and who believe they are the chosen people without a need for the rest of us. This has happened before in history, no? The people speak, vote, and things may change. Why is that an issue?

Its not hard to see why people want to stop them in their tracks.