# Jews take over East Ramapo School District and Defund It **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 27, 2014, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-take-over-east-ramapo-school-district-and-defund-it/699714 "2014-09-27T13:30:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-take-over-east-ramapo-school-district-and-defund-it/699714/241 "2015-09-12T03:45:38Z")
Have not read this whole old thread but wonder how some would feel about a headline: “Christians Molest Schoolchildren” which then went on to discuss two specific priests abhorrent activity? Or “Blacks rape White child” to describe a specific case of two males who where Black who raped a 13 year old girl? And of course the headline above is [also accurate](http://www.jta.org/2015/02/19/news-opinion/united-states/in-rockland-county-non-orthodox-try-to-create-alternative-to-hasidic-dominance), but of more value. Better written though would be “Local non-Orthodox Jews fight for public school board oversight.” > [@](#): > > … about a year ago, non-Orthodox leaders decided it was time to take sides in the East Ramapo school board fight, with many publicly aligning themselves with their non-Jewish neighbors and lobbying for state intervention. … In late 2013, Rabbi Adam Baldachin of the Conservative Montebello Jewish Center led a group of rabbis who joined with the local NAACP chapter and Christian and Muslim leaders to organize a counterweight to the East Ramapo school board. The interfaith group, Rockland Clergy for Social Justice, which now includes 11 Conservative and Reform rabbis in the county, began holding public events and lobbying the state government in Albany to intervene with the school board. Retired teachers from at least one temple are volunteering to teach and help public school students in East Ramapo, the vast majority of whom are black or Latino. (Between 1989 and 2009, the proportion of non-white students in East Ramapo’s public schools skyrocketed from 38 percent to 93 percent due to an influx of immigrants and “white flight” from the district.) … ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-take-over-east-ramapo-school-district-and-defund-it/699714/242 "2015-09-12T04:26:49Z")
Uh “were Black” … boy that is bad. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-take-over-east-ramapo-school-district-and-defund-it/699714/243 "2015-09-12T06:23:16Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > They’re not congregating there because of the female swimmers. Or at least I hope they’re not. > > I guess I wasn’t clear - this is a water park, with sprinklers and the like. It is specifically and exclusively for children. Surely there are park employees, right? Couldn’t you complain to them? ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-take-over-east-ramapo-school-district-and-defund-it/699714/244 "2015-09-12T12:42:12Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Surely there are park employees, right? Couldn’t you complain to them? I suppose so. And I’ve been told that some people have complained. I’d rather avoid conflict, though, when my daughter is involved. I don’t want her to be the object of hostility she can’t possibly understand. So, for now, we go to the water park on Saturdays. And it will close for the year shortly anyway. I’d fight a lot harder when it comes to her education (and I am fighting, but our local school issues are another story that has nothing to do with this one). ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-take-over-east-ramapo-school-district-and-defund-it/699714/245 "2015-09-12T14:27:58Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Surely there are park employees, right? Couldn’t you complain to them? What exactly do you expect them to do about it? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-take-over-east-ramapo-school-district-and-defund-it/699714/246 "2015-09-12T14:45:26Z")
If it’s a city park, there should be rules about its use. If the Hasidim are preventing other taxpayers from using it in a reasonable manner then the city can and should get involved. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-take-over-east-ramapo-school-district-and-defund-it/699714/247 "2015-09-12T16:34:18Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > If it’s a city park, there should be rules about its use. If the Hasidim are preventing other taxpayers from using it in a reasonable manner then the city can and should get involved. The Hasidim in Brooklyn have been largely granted something akin to an Indian reservation in that they have their own [nation](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/10/outcast-3) within the US. They have their own security type police system, medical service, court system and schools (which are heavy on the religion instruction and largely devoid of any secular education). Politicians do not want to go against this voting bloc, and so this is permitted. I can’t imagine any other cult getting such treatment, but I suppose if Scientologists yielded such political power, they could do the same (and probably have to a lesser degree). ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-take-over-east-ramapo-school-district-and-defund-it/699714/248 "2015-09-12T22:21:25Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > It _is_ a scheming cabal. It’s a perfectly legal scheming cabal that is doing nothing wrong (nothing related to elections, at least), but it’s a cabal. Sure it’s a scheming cabal, but it sure isn’t a scheming cabal of Jews anymore than Cliven Bundy leads a scheming cabal of whites. The thread title is vastly misleading. That said, the New York Hasidim that I’ve encountered and a few of my Jewish friends have encountered have not been especially friendly to say the least. I’m not surprised that they have experienced a fair amount of friction with their neighbors. Nor am I surprised that members of the reform and conservative Jewish community have pushed back. It wouldn’t surprise me if certain members of the Orthodox Jewish community pushed back as well: I expect they have. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-take-over-east-ramapo-school-district-and-defund-it/699714/249 "2015-09-13T00:49:06Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Sure it’s a scheming cabal, but it sure isn’t a scheming cabal of Jews anymore than Cliven Bundy leads a scheming cabal of whites. > > The thread title is vastly misleading. How is it not, if the cabal doing the scheming is made up entirely of Jews? ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-take-over-east-ramapo-school-district-and-defund-it/699714/250 "2015-09-13T01:02:05Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > I suppose so. And I’ve been told that some people have complained. > > I’d rather avoid conflict, though, when my daughter is involved. I don’t want her to be the object of hostility she can’t possibly understand. > > So, for now, we go to the water park on Saturdays. And it will close for the year shortly anyway. > > I’d fight a lot harder when it comes to her education (and I am fighting, but our local school issues are another story that has nothing to do with this one). Just from the way you described the situation, I would think there’d be some kind of safety hazard by all those strollers and people blocking access to the water park. What happens if there’s an emergency? Has anybody brought also brought that to anyone’s attention or is the safety situation not as potentially dangerous as I imagine? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-take-over-east-ramapo-school-district-and-defund-it/699714/251 "2015-09-13T01:13:51Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > How is it not, if the cabal doing the scheming is made up entirely of Jews? For the same reason a gang made up of black people is not “Blacks taking over the city.” ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-take-over-east-ramapo-school-district-and-defund-it/699714/252 "2015-09-13T02:38:05Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > For the same reason a gang made up of black people is not “Blacks taking over the city.” Nobody would be objecting to the phrasing if it were a group of Mormons or Scientologists, and the title was “Scientologists take over school district yada yada”. It is what it is. Issues involving Jews don’t deserve to get handled with special kid gloves because they are Jews. If anything, the OP could have specified “Hasidic Jews”, but the title is still accurate as it stands. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-take-over-east-ramapo-school-district-and-defund-it/699714/253 "2015-09-13T03:06:12Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > How is it not, if the cabal doing the scheming is made up entirely of Jews? > [@Rigamarole](#): > > Nobody would be objecting to the phrasing if it were a group of Mormons or Scientologists, and the title was “Scientologists take over school district yada yada”. It is what it is. Issues involving Jews don’t deserve to get handled with special kid gloves because they are Jews. If anything, the OP could have specified “Hasidic Jews”, but the title is still accurate as it stands. Bullshit. How about “Whites take over East Ramapo School District and Defund It”. Just as accurate. Almost as misleading. Or howzabout characterizing a Westboro Baptist Church demonstration (you know, the bigots who show up at the funerals of soldiers in small towns) as, “Evangelical Christians Protest Military Funeral”. Or, hey, why not work the analogy I provided upthread? “Armed Whites Refuse to Pay Grazing Fees: Say the Government is Illegitimate”. The Hassidim are a tiny sect of American Jews: they are a subset of a subset. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-take-over-east-ramapo-school-district-and-defund-it/699714/254 "2015-09-13T04:28:01Z")
Change the title to “Hassidim take over…blah blah blah”. Makes more sense. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-take-over-east-ramapo-school-district-and-defund-it/699714/255 "2015-09-13T15:07:38Z")
The title of the thread is so much more interesting than the issues that spawned it. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-take-over-east-ramapo-school-district-and-defund-it/699714/256 "2015-09-13T15:54:17Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Exactly. I’m a Jew, and I’d be thankful if the OP didn’t associate me with those fucking _dossim_. I’m also a Jew, and I read the title and found the article said almost exactly what I would expect it to say. Maybe I should have been offended, but I wasn’t. And this is far from the worst thing some of these isolated Hasidic communities have done by taking over their local government. In this situation, it’s too bad they took over an existing community instead of incorporating their own town, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-take-over-east-ramapo-school-district-and-defund-it/699714/257 "2015-09-13T16:04:25Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Nobody would be objecting to the phrasing if it were a group of Mormons or Scientologists, and the title was “Scientologists take over school district yada yada”. It is what it is. How about a headline/thread title that reads “Mormons practice polygamy and sexually abuse underage women”? The last I heard, the Mormon Church renounced polygamy back in the 19th century, and only a small percentage of “fundamentalist” Mormons still embrace it despite sanctions from the main church. (your Scientology example might be more applicable) ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-take-over-east-ramapo-school-district-and-defund-it/699714/258 "2015-09-13T18:48:16Z")
The headline demonstrates what part of the story is the most relevant or important part of the story, at least in the mind of the writer/op. I guess some of us find it odd that the most relevant part of the story is that these people were Jewish … to some of us the relevant part is that _religious fundamentalists_ won control of a school board and then apparently acted in their own perceived best interests rather than in the best interests of the community at-large (including the best interests of those who are Jewish and not extreme Orthodox, other religions, and otherwise other.) “Jews” as a stand-alone is no more the key aspect of the identity pertinent to the story than is “White” or presumptively “People who never listened to Lawrence Welk” or also presumptively “Pro-Lifers” … “Jews” as a modifier to “Fundamentalist” may be of note because it is unusual for Jewish fundamentalists to do that in comparison to the standard operating procedure of the majority religion’s fundamentalists. When reporting or opening an op lots of things are true and accurate: what of those many things one decides to put as the spotlight is dependent upon the agenda of the writer/op. Note that [this article](http://www.alternet.org/belief/texas-fundamentalists-pushing-public-schools-teach-garden-eden-science) is not written as “Christians Pushing Public Schools to Teach That Garden of Eden Is Science” or even “Protestant Christians Pushing …” but “Texas Fundamentalists Pushing …” Likewise in [this story](http://www.rawstory.com/2015/07/alabama-governor-names-public-school-hating-christian-fundamentalist-to-oversee-public-education/). To headline the story as “Alabama governor names public school-hating Christian to oversee public education” would be missing the relevant part of the story (and would make one suspicious that the writer was a hard atheist who has an agenda against Christianity in general) … alternatively had they merely headlined it “Alabama governor names public school-hating fundamentalist to oversee public education” it would have worked just as well. Why did they not just use the accurate and true word of “Christian(s)” in those headlines? Or for that matter “Whites”? (Especially if it was being reported in a predominantly Black readership paper.) What would have been the response of many if they had? Would it have accurately communicated what was the most relevant part of the story? ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-take-over-east-ramapo-school-district-and-defund-it/699714/259 "2015-09-13T19:32:02Z")
Theists \> Monotheism \> Abrahamic religions \> Judaism \> Orthodox Judaism \> Ultra-orthodox Judaism \> Hasidim (There are also nonbelieving Jews, but set that aside.) > [@Bone](#): > > The title of the thread is so much more interesting than the issues that spawned it. Well, we are on page 6. **Not very neighborly** I think most people grok that blowing into an electoral unit, taking it over and playing political hardball is more than a little obnoxious. Maybe justified. To some extent constitutionally protected. But undiplomatic. Thankfully there’s absolutely no evidence that the group has gone full-blown [Rajneeshee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_Rajneeshee_bioterror_attack) and I don’t expect them to. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-take-over-east-ramapo-school-district-and-defund-it/699714/260 "2015-09-14T04:36:03Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > … “Jews” as a modifier to “Fundamentalist” may be of note because it is unusual for Jewish fundamentalists to do that in comparison to the standard operating procedure of the majority religion’s fundamentalists. … I realize that provisos must be noted … “successfully, in the States” … in Israel they in fact do that very often and have inordinate power for their numbers. Fundamentalists in the states, Christian and Jewish alike, only wish they could impose their will upon everyone else here to the degree the Israeli Haredi do! Good on the non-ultra-Orthodox Jewish community of the Ramapo School District for standing up and fighting back against the fundamentalist take-over. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-take-over-east-ramapo-school-district-and-defund-it/699714.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jews-take-over-east-ramapo-school-district-and-defund-it/699714.md?page=14)