While the Satmars of Williamsburg are trying to shield their helige eynaim against the filth perpetrated against them by Satan hipsters and their skinny jeans, the Skvere Chassidim in New Square New York enjoy an idylic life of holiness uninterrupted by the ills of society. Despite the fact that the media has tried to guilt them by placing them in one of the top 5 poorest towns in America, Skvere chassidim stand proud and are considered one of the last remaining bastions of authentic Torah Judaism in the world.
Unfortunately the liberal Jewish media has tried and failed to lampoon the Skvere Chassidim in numerous ways, for some reason they are obsessed with the fact that two thirds of the town is on welfare or some form of government assistance. I always thought the liberal Jewish media would praise those citizens for such support of New Deal type of programs, yet the antisemitism is blatant. When a man by accidentally burned down his house because his shabbos lamp wasn’t approved by the community kasharus board, he claimed that the Rebbe and his henchmen fire bombed his house to get him out of town. That scandal cost the community dearly in legal fees, but luckily their faith in their Rebbe was strong.
There are even some Jews, including some supposedly Orthodox ones, that claim New Square to be a cult. I’ve never been certain how Skvere could be a cult and Modern Orthodoxy wasn’t, but they claim that there are no freedoms to conduct one’s own business in town. These people do not realize that the Skvere chassidim have customs which may vary from their own and in the classic racist sentiment, many who do not understand, resort to name calling.
Did you know that Skvere Chassidim are one of the few sects within Orthodox Judaism that doesn’t sit shiva when one of their own leaves the path? They do this out of pure respect, they don’t want to bring the person into public view and have people talk loshon horah about them, they simply let them go on their on way without drawing attention to their mishaps.
I have heard diverse groups of Jews say that Skvere is their roll model for Judaism. Imagine a place in which men and women use separate sidewalks on their own volition. So tznius and holy are the towns members that they merely follow the halacha without being told. Such free will exists in New Square that instead of a dictator Rebbe like many other sects, they have a town mayor, board of trustees, town clerk , and a justice of peace. If not for such things, they become just like any other sect of Chassidim with no justice.
Skvere are the superstars of the Chassidim with their openness, hachnasos orchim, and acceptance of all Jews who are willing to abide by their simple rules. I hope that everyone can learn from the Skvere Chassidim and love all other Jews exactly as they do.
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Is this satire? About that poor miserable woman deprived of seeing her children and then committed suicide?
I can’t say, but let’s just say that someone emailed me to tell me that I got it all wrong and that Skvere was evil and that made my day.
I for one applaud them for taking on extra burdens. Not only are they preserving Torah Judaism, they are the last few stalwarts keeping Stalinism alive and relevant
Where is the satire in this post?
I have been to visit the rebbe a few times during his public hours and all the chassidim are super friendly and even act very polite and mensch like. The whole place is a big kiddish Hashem.
“I’ve never been certain how Skvere could be a cult and Modern Orthodoxy wasn’t” – When I was in (public) high school and attended “Hebrew High” in the evenings, we had a guest lecturer who talked about cult awareness. The first part of the lecture was differentiating a cult from other organizations and belief systems. The lecturer asked us to name groups, who we then analyzed to determine if they met the criteria of a cult or not. Among the groups named for analysis were Hare Krishna, Unification Church (Moonies), KKK, and others.
Among the criteria of a cult that I remember are:
1. Unusual ideology is not a criterion. People have all sorts of theologies and ideologies that are not accepted by the majority. They are not necessarily part of a cult. On the other hand, there are cults that espouse ideas that are not so different that are found in their society at large.
2. A charismatic leader without whom the group will fall apart. Deception in fund raising – Telling the donor how the funds will be used and using them for something else, usually the personal enrichment of the leader.
3. Separation or isolation from people who are not members or potential members, family included.
Modern Orthodox Judaism may have leaders who are charismatic, but the individual members do not neccessarily hang on their every word. They are consulted for educational purposes as experts in their field (Torah, Halacha). What the member does with the knowledge he/she aquires is up to him/her. If there are misappropration of funds, the perpetuator is subject to legal prosecution. MO is not isolationist ideologically, although practically, all groups are somewhat self-segregated, because people choose to associate with others with whom they share common interests, values, and goals.
The KKK also did not meet the criteria of a cult, because they are an idealogical organization that is not leader dependent, although the leader may have a big impact on the effectiveness of the organization. Also, if they ask you for donations, they will probably be honest and correct about how the funds will be used.
Do the Skver Chassidim or any Chassic group – other than the (living in this world) Rebbe-less Breslav – meet the criteria? I will leave that as an excercise for the reader.
Your satirical crtique of the disaster that is sqaure town is spot on however there is undeniable hypocracy from the liberal(jewish) media who have no problem with govt handouts for every monority group except orthodox jews.govt dependency is desrtuctive for any group.
The self-hating Jews who marry blonde shiksas hate yidden and toireh but love everyone else, especially Al Sharpton.
Let me give you a stick so you can beat that antisemitic strawman a little harder.
What liberals tend to despise about lots of frumma and social welfare programs is the utter shamelessness of the fraud and abuse. These “lights unto the Nations” do everything from religious-only marriages so their wives are technically single and can get WIC to taking over towns, sucking public education dry and using the funds to pay for religious indoctrination. We have three generations in some places who have no intention of ever working for a living and truly believe it’s ethical and religiously appropriate to steal as long as it’s from the government. It makes all Jews look bad.
If you think liberalism means “let’s give free things to every one even if they don’t do anything for it ever”, then you have no idea what liberalism is.