All language subtitles for City.Of.Joel.2018.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC5.1-[YTS.MX]

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[ominous music]

[speaking in foreign language]

- [Male] After World War II,

Hungarian Jews that
survived the Holocaust,

they came home to their towns,

their family was gone,

their sisters,
brothers, siblings,

everything was gone.

Their children were killed,

their homes were ashes,

were taken over by their
previous neighbors.

They had no home,

they had nothing
to look forward to.

- [Male] Zero tolerance for
antisemitism in New York State.

- [Male] When they heard that
Rabbi Teitelbaum had survived,

that he came to
the United States,

that he came to New York,

they were drawn to him

like lost people
in a dark forest

are drawn to the light,

they were attracted
to him immediately.

- Goes back to my father,
Governor [mumbles]

- [Male] So they
all came to Brooklyn

to live around him.

He gave them hope.

He gave them the will to rebuild

out of the ashes
of the Holocaust.

[triumphant music]

[upbeat music]

- Juicy stop.

What do you want?

What'd you lose?

Oh you're stuck.

Here, let me take this off.

Go play with your rock.

She collects rocks.

I make hot sauce.

It's kind of a hobby right now.

I sell at local
farmer's markets.

[coughs]

I don't know if that's
a good advertisement

for my product or a bad one.

I work in sales and marketing

for an IT firm in New York city.

Fortunately, I get to work
from home quite a bit.

The commute from here
is kind of tough.

It's about two and a
half hours door to door.

We moved here for this.

We like the land and the privacy

and as much quiet as possible.

Imagine another 40,000 people,

it'd be problematic.

[singing in foreign language]

- It's not so easy to go
to God and to be in heaven.

According to the Talmud,

everybody when they're dying,

if they want to go to heaven,

you have to go
first through hell.

Are you aware of that?

- [Male] Mmhmm.

- This guy who lives
on the left side

has a business in New Jersey.

500 people works for him.

Over here across the street

is the wealthiest
guy in the community.

Bought both properties and
built over there for his kid's.

Nice house.

KJ has his own
bus transportation
system to Brooklyn.

This is one of the social halls.

Varing which costs a quarter
of a million dollars.

Costs over here $6,000.

This is the synagogue that
Joel Teitelbaum built in 1977.

This synagogue cost
to build $10 million.

He prayed over here,

he took a lot of years

till he was able to
pay all the mortgage.

Kiryas Joel is in Hebrew.

Kiryas Joel,

that mean the city of Joel,

the city of Joel.

Over here is a
family and a half.

Take a look over here.

One house down, 16 units.

This is a guy,

the wife passed away,

he decided tore down
the house, 15 units.

Over here was a
family and a half

and they built over
here 16 units by 11.

In the last 15 years,

we realized that it's
not enough capacity.

Over here was a house,

somebody passed
away who got cancer,

they sold the property

and they built over
here five houses.

Village of Kiryas Joel
is a mile by a mile

and 25,000 people
lives in that mile.

That's not normal.

- When I tell people who
don't live around here

what has happened

and the kinds of things
that are out there,

they really have a
hard time believing it.

My boys are 13 and 10 years old

and at Christmas, I
received a package

and my son thought
it was a package

from his grandparents
in Switzerland

'cause we were expecting one

and the mail takes
longer from Europe.

So my son quickly opened it

and I came in the room

and stood over his shoulder
as he opened this package

and in it was a note that said,

"Eat a bag of dicks."

And in it was a bag of
penis shaped gummy candy

and it was
anonymously sent to me

a few days after Christmas

and my son had to read that.

These were sent out in
February of this year

and the first page is
just an article about

that I'm hurting
local businesses.

The second page is really bad.

This is horrible imagery.

And then the third
page has my name on it,

Emily Convers wants
you to believe

her merry band of cryptic Nazis,

and as you can tell
this is horribly done,

the words are not even
staying on the page.

And the FBI is
finger printing them.

I left my phone in the kitchen.

I have a photo of the package.

Okay, this is the picture

of the inside of the box

that my son opened up a
few days after Christmas.

Regular people don't do this.

This is a charged
either hired person

or someone who has a lot to lose

from what we're doing.

- The outside people,

they don't understand
anything about our life.

We don't watch movies

but when there's a movie
like Fiddler on the Roof

or Yentl, that's supposed
to illustrate our life,

we just sit there and roll

and you know that most
of the people watching it

really believe it.

They really believe
there are sheets,

they really be all
those stupid things

that these things portray.

The Hasidic life revolves
around family and children.

My grandparents
have 13 children.

They're Auschwitz survivors.

Every child that was born

was a defeat to Hitler.

My husband and I
struggled for many years

to build our family

and it cost us a lot of money

and a lot of aggravation

and I can tell you first hand

the pain of not having children,

of not having a family.

Not having children is
just like in the bible

where we find where
Rachel said to Jacob,

"Give me a son or I'll be dead."

Not having children

is like feeling dead
in the community.

This is what is the driving
force behind growth.

- Kiryas Joel is a village
within the town of Monroe.

There are also power men
in the village of Monroe.

Members of the Satmar
community from Brooklyn

originally moved in over here

and that was 1977.

And in the mid-80s, they
essentially doubled in size.

They were about 350 acres

and they annexed
these areas here,

another 350 acres.

Right now a petition
was submitted

to the town of Monroe

seeking annexation of
507 additional acres

into the village of Kiryas Joel

and that's all of the gray
shaded areas on the map.

That would almost double
the size of Kiryas Joel

from 700 acres to 1,200 acres.

There's a high demand for
housing in Kiryas Joel.

Traditionally, the families
have eight children.

So obviously, there's
a need for homes.

The issue is they
began to develop

not single family homes
but multifamily homes

and apartment
buildings in the area.

With a current
population of 22,000,

we estimate that they could
easily double their population,

it could even go over 50,000.

We intentionally moved
to a larger lot of land

to be able to
enjoy the wildlife,

enjoy nature.

That has been
systematically torn down

in the village of Kiryas Joel

with whatever land
they had to develop.

We're concerned about
pollution, excess traffic,

quality of the water,
quality of the air.

So it's been very difficult
for me and my family.

- [Male] A town divided.

It's an ongoing, bitter
turf war in Orange County

between two communities

that we have been following
so closely for months.

- [Male] Imagine a town
that excludes everyone

except members of a
particular religion.

Certainly not in America.

Well, guess again.

There is such a town

and it's just 50 miles
north of New York City.

- [Female] It's a village,

little more than a square mile

that has rapidly grown in size

to more than 20,000 people

since it was founded in 1977.

- [Male] The controversial plan

to double the size of the
Orange County Hasidic community

of Kiryas Joel

goes beyond just culture shock.

- [Female] On one side,
there's allegations

of antisemitism.

On the other,

allegations of fraud
and political distrust

with local elected officials.

The reality is neither
community is going anywhere.

- [Male] Alright, alright,
thanks very much Blaise,

very important story here.

We'll stay with News
12 and news12.com

for continuing coverage
of our special report,

a town divided.

- 1996, I decided to
come to Kiryas Joel.

I wanted to go out in the woods.

So I came out here.

A religious Jew needs a place
where he can shop kosher food,

where he can go to a
shul, walking distance

because we don't
drive on the sabbath.

Where he can educate his kids

in the religious schools.

The Torah and the book
of codes, of ethics,

this is most of their education.

Where he has all these religious

facilities and
amenities that is needed

to practice religion
comfortably.

Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum,

his vision was that for
religious Hasidic people

to be in a big city

is a little dangerous.

He wanted that
when his followers,

the kids go out on the street,

not to be exposed
to boys and girls

huggling and
duggling and kissing

in those kind of styles of life

which eventually disturbs them.

Now, what happened

is the people that live
in the village are growing

and there is also people

that are being chased
out of Brooklyn

because the apartments are
selling for sky high over there

by the artist so-called

and they can't
afford to live there.

Matter of fact,

I am wondering how
people in our community

still live there,
that's the wonder.

- The plan is to do
annexation 507 acres.

What is the reason we
want to do so much?

I'm going to explain.

Why is gold more
expensive than silver?

Because you have more
silver than gold.

I want to make
sure the young kids

who's graduating
now and married now

and wants to buy an apartment

is able to buy an apartment.

More property, more developers,

more opportunities,
the price is cheaper.

When you have no
tomatoes from the farm,

is a pound tomatoes, 59 cents.

You have less, it's $1.50.

- Hello.

- [Female] How are you?

- Good, how are you doing?
- [Female] Good.

- Good to see you.

- [Female] I was
on my way to dinner

and I figured let
me pop in here.

- I'm so glad you did.

This is for Dennis McWatters,

the town council candidate.

He's running for the
fifth town board seat.

- Kiryas Joel has
traditionally voted as a block.

They hold court with
candidates before an election.

It's a very secret meeting,

nobody ever talks about it

and then they decide
based on a recommendation

of the mayor of Kiryas Joel

who they're going to tell

all of their
congregants to vote for.

- You have a county that's
split almost in half

democrat, republican,

and you have one block
that votes in a block

for either the republican
or the democrat,

you've got one village

deciding every election.

- [Female] They pull
all the strings.

- They pull all the strings.

I've never seen this in 35 years

that I've been living in Monroe.

- 35 years we've
been living together

and now they want
this big land grab.

- 48% of the population

is represented in
the town of Monroe.

The other 52% are
twisting in the wind.

- [Emily] That's why we
formed United Monroe.

- [Male] You having
a good turnout?

- Yeah, it's been a great
steady flow of people.

We decided that in order
to have representation

on our town board

that we would also need to
block vote and come together

and get republicans,
democrats and independents

to vote as one in a block

much the way Kiryas Joel does.

This is for Dennis McWatters.

- Okay.

- [Emily] He's the town council
candidate we're running.

- Thanks for coming down.

- Absolutely.

- [Emily] Immediately
after we voiced opposition

for the KJ leader said,

"Any opposition
to this annexation

"is based in antisemitism."

As though that's relevant
to the conversation

when it really isn't.

That's how ugly
politics in Monroe is.

- We have a United
Monroe Facebook page.

We use it usually to
make announcements

about the political
situation in Monroe

and surrounding Kiryas Joel.

And quite frequently,

some of the citizens from KJ

will enter the conversation

and it gets interesting,

sometimes it gets heated.

So Max entered into one of
these conversations with us

and basically at one
point I said to him,

"Hey, why don't we meet?"

- [Max] Hey John.
- [John] Oh Max.

- How are you?
- [John] Good, how are you?

- So good to see you.
- [John] Good to see you.

- Thanks for coming.

- Thank you, I
really appreciate it.

- [Max] Appreciate it too.

- It's like the peace talks.

- Not really.

It's two friends talking
among themselves, that's all.

- So you grew up in KJ, right?

- I grew up in KJ.

I lived there
until I got married

which was at age 20

but my entire family
still lives there

and my brother has a
business in town of Monroe,

my father also.

It's called Monroe
Orthotics and Prosthetics.

It's my brother and
my father together.

You probably know them.
- Do you know George Tanner?

- Of course.

- Oh okay, okay.

So your brother is
George Tanner's partner?

- He works for my brother, yeah.

- Okay, okay.

Alright, yeah sure.
- So see, close

small world, no?

- Yeah.

- I am not involved in politics,

I'm not involved
in community work.

I'm just an individual.

I was sitting and watching
from the sidelines

how this antiannexation
opposition grew,

does and says things that
are very, very unfair

and it bothered me very much.

To me, growing up in KJ,

this was like part of the deal.

We always knew that the
local people don't like us

and we just got to go our way.

And me personally,

I never really cared

until the last couple weeks.

But let's talk about
the town of Monroe.

Town of Monroe consists
of almost 22 square miles.

KJ makes up about 50% of
the population of Monroe.

Even with the annexation,

they will take up less than
two square miles, right?

So 50% of the
population of Monroe

living in two square miles.

Do you really believe

that they want to throw
you out of your home

and take over the entire town?

Do you really believe that?

- Okay, so I can have
empathy for your way of life.

What about mine?

I made the biggest investment
of my life, my home

to have a certain lifestyle
and peace and quiet

and a lot of people in
Monroe did the same thing

and you put out this
annexation petition

where I know the trees
are gonna come down,

there's gonna be roads,

there's gonna be
construction vehicles.

- Let's talk about
antisemitism for a minute.

I don't think that this
whole issue with annexation,

the strong opposition
to annexation

stems from antisemitism.

I don't believe
that, definitely not.

But what I do believe

is that the tensions
that are caused

by all these events

translate into overt
explicit antisemitism.

Okay here, okay brace yourself.

These are actual comments
written by real people

from upstate New York.

"They have lots of
babies like frogs.

"They do not work.

"They leech off the hard
working people of Orange County.

"They cheat, steal, lie.

"Fraud is their way of life.

"Pray and read religious
texts all day long.

"They mistreat their women,

"they abuse their children,

"circumvent our laws.

"They want to throw
us out of our homes,

"turn our rivers into sewers,

"troll and corrupt
our government.

"Their inferior gene pool
produces many children

"with special needs.

"They all drive fancy cars

"and they're very bad drivers."

This is real.

- [John] This is a
composite though,

this isn't one?

- This is a composite.

- Okay, so we answer
that on United Monroe.

We either delete it,

we've kicked people off the
page who say things like that.

- But don't you believe

that these people
deserve better lives?

Don't you believe that
these people need houses,

they need where to live?

- Sure they do, sure they do.

- [Max] So where should they go?

- [John] I think Max and
I both came away saying,

I met a nice guy today.

- John, can I stop you?

I apologize for
interrupting you.

I want to go back to the
antisemitism issue for a second.

- I don't know what
we can do further.

I tried to catch
up with him again

and he's expressed to me
that it's kind of hopeless.

- It's been said by a Pharaoh
in Egypt 3,000 years ago

Jews come in here, they
multiply and they grow,

they will take over our land.

That's why they were
enslaved, right?

If you read the whole testament.

And it's been said by
the United Monroe group.

It's word for word.

Orthodox Jews
perceive themselves

as a true continuation
of the Jewish tradition.

Hasidim belonged to
the ultraorthodox pod

of the Orthodox Jews

and as much as they try

to utilize today's society

for work and for business
and for other things,

they would keep general
culture at arm's length

because they see it as a
threat to their way of life.

Internally Hasidim organized
themselves around a rebel.

Rabbi Teitelbaum
was a very holy man

but he was a great
visionary too.

He said that
without Kiryas Joel,

he hadn't accomplished
anything on this Earth.

Kiryas Joel is not
an old time fort.

Kiryas Joel is all about being
able to find a sanctuary,

to find a safe,
quiet little place

in the vastness of
the United States

where we can lead our own lives

without any disturbance.

America has been the best thing

that has ever happened
to Orthodox Jews.

There's no question about that.

[fire crackling]

- [Male] In Egypt, there
was a lot of souls.

Those souls were spread
out all over the world.

We have to clean
all those souls.

Once they are all cleaned,

then the messiah will come.

Everything is tradition,

passover, everything, tradition.

God wants us to go around

and check the
house with a candle

to see if there's
any bread left over

and the only way to get
rid of it is burning it.

And we pray and we say,

"We took the hummus
out of our house,

"take out the hummus
from our heart."

- As it's been like
40 years or so,

we need more room

but on the other hand,

the town of Monroe,

they have the resources

but I don't know if I should say

not willing or not able

but they're just not gonna
give us what we need.

- [Female] Ed, you want
me to leave the stuff

at the end of the corridor?

- [Ed] What stuff?

- [Female] The chicken--

- [Ed] Yeah, leave
it there for now.

- What chicken?

- [Ed] The one you're gonna eat.

- My family moved to Monroe
in 1988 from Long Island

'cause they were picked on

relentlessly from people
in the neighborhood.

There was all sorts
of crazy shit,

not salt in the gas tank

but like destroying your lawn

and banging on your
windows at night

and wrecking your stuff

'cause they were Jews.

- [Female] Try this one.

Now this is a manischewitz.

- Okay got it.

- [Female] Yeah, I
hate manischewitz.

- Well why do we
have the worst stuff?

We've got the worst
food, the worst wine.

No, no, no.

Sometimes I get asked stuff like

well what does it
mean to be a Jew?

To me, it's all
about the culture.

That to me is what
it means to be a Jew

is that I follow
the culture of it.

The religion to me really
isn't even a component at all.

- [Male] You're supposed
to leave one chair empty

for the prophet Elijah.

So we have the empty chair

and we left the door open
of the apartment building

and a bum walked in and
sat down in the chair.

- He's not a bum,
a homeless person.

- [Ed] Well it was
a homeless person.

- This is transit
America, right?

We're becoming
increasingly polarized

and because of the
way we consume media,

we're able to
insulate ourselves.

And there's a danger there.

You can create your
own insular society

whether it's religious or not,

and not have to deal
with the outside world.

Kiryas Joel is a perfect
example of this, right.

And the problem of
that lies in well,

sooner or later,

you're gonna bump
into other people.

And now we're all polarized

so that when that bumping
occurs people are pissed

and now when you have a
religious group that rises,

it's got all this power,

it's no longer look at as,

no, I don't need to
worry about them,

now it's looked at, oh,
they're taking over.

- [Female] You know
what I used to do

with my coworkers
every passover?

- What's that?

- [Female] I bring
gefilte fish in for lunch.

- [Male] Yeah, that's
why you were so popular.

It's horrible.

- [Brandon] I wonder how
we figured out and said,

this is gonna be our tradition,

the shittiest looking
food on the planet

is gonna be ours.

- [Ed] They ate
that in the desert.

- Look, it's a
growing, bustling,

Kiryas Joel is a growing,
bustling community.

So they need to expand.

I understand that.

I think anyone would
sit there and go,

of course, of course
this needs to grow,

it's a 1.1 square mile village,

they need the space,

they've got these families.

But then there's other things

like there was a letter
that was distributed

saying it's time to
expand our holy borders.

Wait, what?

It's one of those things
where you're like,

what are you talking
about, holy borders?

Is this manifest destiny,

this is what's going on?

You're like, we don't know.

♪ Stand up, Hudson
Valley, stand up ♪

- Welcome to Stand
Up Hudson Valley.

I am John Allegro

and I'm here with Emily Convers,

hello Emily.

- [Emily] Hello John.

- Stand Up Hudson Valley
is a live call in podcast

and I am logging into
Facebook right now.

If there are any issues,
please message us.

Working people who
pay taxes and--

- They get it, they get
how serious this is.

What's been in the
headlines a lot recently

is the East Ramapo
School District

which from just about
everyone's perspective

is just unbelievably unfair.

In East Ramapo, the
religious population

grew so dramatically

that they didn't want to support

the budget of a public
school system in their area

because they're not using it

and therefore, voted themselves
onto the school board

and stripped the
school of everything.

The schools have been
sold off to the yeshivas,

a lot of money is funneled to
the private religious schools

and these kids can barely
graduate in four years.

- [John] It almost sounds
like a liquidation sale.

- Yeah.

In the town of Monroe,

the town council members

that have been elected

by the village of Kiryas Joel

are not Hasidic.

They're citizens of
the town of Monroe

who have been influenced by
the leadership of Kiryas Joel

and a couple of them in my view

seem like they
would not otherwise

be employable in
the private sector.

- It's just a question

of how long will
Supervisor Harley Doles

be able to contain himself

before he does what
he was elected to do.

- We don't know where Supervisor
Harley Doles came from.

He has no LinkedIn profile,

you can't do a
Google search of him

and we said, "Who is this guy?

"Where did he come from?

"What is he doing here?"

And then it soon became clear,

oh, he's working in the
village of Kiryas Joel.

It seems as though
he's been recruited

to do the job he's doing.

- Every play has
to have a villain.

Without having
somebody to blame,

then what's the
purpose of the play?

And Monroe is no different.

My wife and I had triplets

and we were living in Manhattan

and it was time to
be able to give them

what we considered
to be a better life.

And moving up here
the first day,

we realized that we
made the right decision.

Monroe is a beautiful
place to live.

It's also where the
clash of civilizations

is taking place more here
than anywhere else in America.

Being the supervisor,

an elected official
in the town of Monroe,

we have this difficult equation,

how do we protect the
rights of ourselves

and at the same time

being able to make sure

that those people
that are faith based

and that are very insular

are able to be accorded their
rights under the constitution,

under democracy

and we consider as
decent human beings.

I can't begin to
imagine what it's like

to be exterminated off
the face of the Earth.

I can't begin to
imagine what it's like

knowing that people hate you

for no other reason than the
religion that you practice.

I can't begin to imagine.

I know that as an evangelical,

people sometimes look at
us as a bunch of crackpots

and yet, if you
go to our church,

and we have almost
5,000 members,

it is an amazing place.

I was in office for
only a couple of weeks

before the proposal for the
annexation as submitted.

Now that was a shock to me.

But as an evangelical,

it was easy for me to see

that here was an
opportunity to be able to,

in my opinion, do good,

because at the end of the day,

that's what we're
commanded to do

and that's do good.

- [Male] Any discussion
or questions?

- [All] Ay.

- [Male] This is the
approval of the supervisor.

- What's in front of us tonight

is deciding on leading to see
what is the new annexation?

- We're trying to do this
differently than we did before.

When we started this
over a year ago,

we never knew what an
annexation encompassed,

we never knew the hurt
that could be generated

into the puzzle.

- We as residents of the town

have been put trough a
lot of stress and anxiety

about what is going to
become of our town, our homes

and our home values.

[audience applause]

I'd also like to talk--

- [Harvey] George,
do me a favor,

please turn off the mic.

Turn off the--

- [Female] No!

- [Female] 'Cause it's her turn.

- [Harvey] Miss Convers.

- Yes.

- [Female] Convers

- [Female] Convers.

- Miss Convers, I'm not
going to allow you to speak.

Miss Convers, I'm not going
to allow you to speak..

- [Female] That is
discrimination, that
is discrimination

- [Harley] Because about a
month and a half two months ago

you came up to this board,
- Get this all on video.

- And you said,

you may emotionally
abuse your families

but you're not going
to emotionally--

- [Emily] No that's
not what I said.

- This is the exact words.

- [Emily] No it isn't.

- What are the exact words then?

- [Female] You are
discriminating.

- [Emily] Well, if you're
gonna make an accusation,

you should have my exact words.

- Your exact words,

you may emotionally
abuse your families

but you're not
going to abuse us.

Those are your exact words.

- You are discriminating
against her.

- [Female] Harley, you are
prohibiting freedom of speech.

- [Female] Let her speak.

- You will not talk at
this cowboy meeting--

[cross talk]

- Do you have a statement
to make about this?

- I believe this is illegal.

- [Male] It is.

- [All] It is illegal.

- Emily Convers is a
symptom of a community

that fears for its life

and is willing to
listen to anyone

that's willing to
provide an answer

that they can embrace.

- [Female] We pay you.

- I just want you to
apologize for it, Emily.

- [Emily] I hear that you're
all looking for an apology

and I'm telling you right now,

you're never going to get it.

- I understand that.

I'm not surprised.

[clapping]

- Everyone has rights

and they will fight to the death

to be able to
protect their rights,

whether they're
Hasidic or non-Hasidic.

But as an elected official

who represents 50,000 people,

30,000 of them being Hasidic,

my job is to be able
to protect them.

- [Male] For the
statement you made.

[audience yelling]

- [Female] You apologize.

[audience yelling]

- [Male] Please do your job.

[ominous music]

- [Reporter] Tonight,
a different perspective
on a turf war

that has put two
communities in Orange County

at odds for months.

Will the price of expansion
bankrupt the county?

- [Reporter] Last year,

the village of Kiryas Joel

used more social services

than two cities and dozens
of towns and villages

in the county combined.

- [Male] The Satmars are saying,

we want to do it our own way.

We don't want
anyone else around.

We want total control.

They violated and
almost eliminated

the establishment clause
of the constitution.

The establishment clause

is an absolute separation
of church and state

and it was created because
as the country was formed

most of its people had come here

because of religious
persecution in Europe.

They had fled from countries

where the nation and the church

were the same thing.

For example, England.

[upbeat music]

- All the Jews who lives on Over

have to make the 14th day
of this month a party.

[upbeat music]

For every poor man, you
have to give charity.

This is very important.

Everybody who comes for Purim,

this is the most important
day to give charity.

Joel Teitelbaum
build a community

that everybody
has to be involved

in kindness and in charity.

Everybody wants to
be in a safe place.

[speaking in foreign language]

United Monroe, they
misleading the people.

In the last 15 years,

when we start to
realize land runs out,

we don't have enough,

they've got no choice
to build high density.

That's not our will and
that's not our wish.

- A gentleman from
Brooklyn contacted me

because he sees
the strife up here

and he wanted to be
some kind of mediator,

he knows a lot of
the players here.

And I kind of laughed

because anybody who's
talked to Jacob Freund

knows that there's no
having a conversation,

you're just listening
to a lecture.

- Give us opportunity
to do annexation.

I'm giving as a village
trustee, a commitment,

if they are going to do
annexation 507 acres,

it's not going to be anymore
five stories building

as long we have enough
property to do annexation.

- [Emily] How you doing?

Good to see you.

- [Male] I know you.

[people chattering]

- What some of you may not know

is that there was a lot of
very frightening propaganda

that was sent out to the
citizens of Kiryas Joel

accusing us of being hateful

and really horrible,
horrible things were said

to frighten them

and just to ensure
that they got out

and voted against us
which is really sad.

And I don't think our message

did reach the individual
citizens of Kiryas Joel.

Our message of we want to
represent everyone equally,

we want fairness,

we want an even playing field.

And we had considered writing
a very short little flyer

and getting it
translated in to Yiddish

saying we are your neighbors,

we wish to have an open dialogue

and the annexation
will affect us

or impact us negatively
in the future

and disseminate it somehow
within the village.

I don't think it can hurt.

The land in question
in the 507 acres

is primarily owned
by LLC corporations.

And the LLC corporations

are associated with
Kiryas Joel leadership.

So this is really a big
land development deal.

You're going from
an acre of land

where you could build one
house on it now in Monroe

and make maybe $100,000

to being able to build 20 units,

make $100 to $200,000 per unit.

That's major money maker.

And maybe we can get some people

within the village of
Kiryas Joel to say,

"I don't think I'd want to go
along with this plan anymore,"

or, "I think I'd like to
join with United Monroe

"in helping to stop this."

I know there's a
lot of intimidation,

I know there's a lot of fear

of speaking out and doing that

but it doesn't hurt to try.

- KJ is gonna be about,

right now it's about a half
mile up the hill from me.

And if it expands,

it's gonna be probably about
a quarter of a mile or less

up the hill

but it would also kind of expand
around behind my property,

or actually behind
these properties here

and we would be encircled by
this new expanded municipality.

So KJ would be around
us on two or three sides

and the village of
South Bowling Grove

would be behind us.

So it's not easy to move
nowadays financially.

So we'd have to really
figure that out.

- Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum
was a father and mother

for every Holocaust survivor.

And every year when
it's the anniversary

comes over here,

you have no idea,

this looks like Mecca
in the Islam world.

- It's a belief that
at the anniversary

of when he passed away,

his soul is coming
back to the grave.

People come to those graves

and ask soul, you are up
there, you're closer to God

I have a sick child,

I need better financial status,

I need that, I need that.

That's why people come here to,

not to pray to him

because we pray to
God and only to God

but sort of like lobbying.

- There is no separation
of church and state

in Kiryas Joel, zero.

Even in their own
comprehensive plan

in the village of Kiryas Joel

they call it the Holy City.

- The separation of
government and religion

was only to protect
their religion,

not to protect the government,

to protect the people that
practice that religion,

that was the meaning of it.

[singing in foreign language]

- I think that the leadership

actually get a lot
of play with that.

If you're claiming to be
doing what you're doing

because it's what God wants,

the religious people who
live there are gonna say,

"Hey, then let's do
it, this is great."

But unfortunately,
the people are being,

in my view, manipulated.

And there has been
violence in Kiryas Joel

against those who
step out of line.

- When Rebbi Joel died

and Rebbi Moses
Teitelbaum took over,

he appointed the two sons,

one to have authority in
Kiryas Joel, Grand Rebbe Aaron,

his other son,
Grand Rebbe Zalman

to have authority over Brooklyn.

All hell broke loose.

Because now KJ was somehow
separated and divided.

- In Kiryas Joel,
there's the main faction

and then the alliance.

And the alliance is made up

of the Zalman
Teitelbaum followers

and the Bene Joel.

And the Bene Joel are a
totally separate subgroup,

they're a smaller group.

- It's different
philosophy maybe, not even,

different movement,
different schools

but to be honest with
you, there's no hate.

I don't believe that
there is any hate

in the communities.

- [Reporter] Blessings
are being counted today.

78 people could've
perished in this blaze,

including 35 infants,

the oldest 10 days old.

But the fire finally
extinguished,

the heat has been turned
up in the conflict

between the congregation
and its dissidents.

The dissident leader accuses
the village leadership

of fostering an environment

that would encourage
such an act.

[phone ringing]

- [Levetsky] Hello.

- [Male] Mr. Levetsky,
hang up the phone on me.

You're gonna be
held responsible.

It's your office,

but the students are calling

in the Racid Hall Village.

You're gonna be
held responsible.

Every phony call that
the students are doing

to the rabbi of Sharmas

and to the whole village.

- [Reporter] Last year's
visit by the dissident rabbi

had 1,000 Hasidic men throwing
rocks and eggs at the rabbi,

his followers and police.

While tragedy has been
averted this time,

Walden expresses concern

that the next time
lives may be lost.

- Although there's
a lot less violence

in Kiryas Joel now,

there's still a lot of friction

among the factions.

And it turned out that
the dissident faction,

the alliance faction,

the minority faction,

were against annexation

because it meant
that all that land

would be just more land for
the main faction to control

and more land for them
to be disenfranchised.

They contacted us and said,

"We're against annexation too.

"Maybe we could work together."

Have to fight people for it.

- [Male] We're in the mosque.

- [Male] I'll take it.

- Our next guest is Rabbi Lobe.

Rabbi Lobe contacted me

shortly after we began our
outreach program in Kiryas Joel

and he was kind enough
to join us this evening

to say a few words.

[audience applause]

- The way of the Jewish people

according to the Torah

is to be very humble
under the neighbors,

under the government,

not to antagonize the neighbors

and not like the village
of KJ does, unfortunately.

But we want everybody know

that there are
many, many people,

hundreds and thousands
of people in KJ

who want to live peacefully,

who want to have
conversations on every topic.

We have to sit down and to talk
together with the neighbors

and to see how
things can be solved.

[audience applause]

- KJ was getting so
antsy and so worried

that they filed a
second annexation
petition for 164 acres

and that 164 acres

sits within the 507

and that 164 is the
only area in the 507

that has higher density.

It's zoned for possible
multifamily use.

- I have had very
pleasant interactions

with the Samar people.

My concern is we're
dealing with a government

that really runs like a racket

and they're used to
getting their way

and they haven't
gotten their way

and that's a huge win for us.

[singing in foreign language]

- I spoke to John Allegro
and I understand him.

But I said, "I am
a village trustee.

"Maybe we are able
to do a settlement.

"You bought the property

"for two, three hundred
thousand dollars.

"We'll pay you 700,000."

You can buy in a mile
from here a house

for $500,000 much
nicer than you have now

and plus you will make a
few hundred thousand bucks

and you can retire.

Nobody's losing money.

- Some of you may already know

that the village of Kiryas Joel

is seeking to annex
507 acres of land

from the town of Monroe.

What you may not realize

is how serious and
significant this battle is

for those of us who live in
Orange and Rockland counties.

Annexation will benefit
only one community

while it threatens the
infrastructure, environment

and quality of life for
the rest of our region.

The upcoming
November 4th election

is hugely important

for the good people of
Orange and Rockland counties.

We need to elect candidates

who oppose this annexation.

- What's gonna happen today?

Where you gonna put it?

[dramatic music]

- Finding ourselves awake
at 6:30 in the morning.

♪ I'm so hungry that
I just can't eat ♪

♪ I'm so thirsty
falling off my-- ♪

- [Emily] Outside of KJ,

we've got about 12,000
registered voters

and inside KJ, there's about
9,000 registered voters.

So if everybody came out
to vote, we'd have it.

We need to protect the schools,

not only for the kids

but for our home values.

- We're big supporters
of you guys.

We appreciate what you're doing.

[rock music]

- We ask United Monroe,

who's the United Monroe?

I don't want to say what I think

'cause it may not be nice.

But whatever I'm gonna say

I can back up with what I know.

There are some people

that are driven by what
I would label as hate.

What do I mean by that?

When I walk around the
lake in town with my kids

or my exercising,

all the ladies stop
their car and they yell,

"Go walk in your own park."

There's no logical
explanation for that.

- On this primary day,

voting in the Hasidic
village of Kiryas Joel

was closely scrutinized

by Department of
Justice officials.

News 12's Blaise
Gomez shows us why.

- It doesn't seem very private

when you can see over
the shoulder of voters

at the polls in Kiryas Joel.

Poll watchers aren't
alone here in Kiryas Joel.

You can also see there are
sheriff's deputy's on standby

as well as feds both
here in the village

and town of Monroe.

[rock music]

- Over 5,000 people
came out to vote

outside of KJ in
the town of Monroe.

That combined with the
dissident's decision within KJ,

about 30% of the electorate
decided at the last minute

to vote for the United Monroe
candidate, Dennis McWatters.

And Dennis won by a margin of
about 9,000 to 6,000 votes.

This was a big message

to Monroe town
supervisor Harley Doles

and the Kiryas Joel power elite

that they're not running
things politically

in Monroe and KJ anymore.

- United Monroe has
created a workshop of panic

and they've done a
hell of a good job

at being able to
create a supervillain

and the supervillain
isn't Harley Doles,

it's the Kiryas Joel community.

- Religion in Kiryas Joel

is definitely way
over the government

and people fear the rabbis
more than the priests.

I feel like for men
in the community,

it's a lot less difficult.

There are still men
in the community

that dress differently,

that choose not to
sit and learn all day,

that could go out
and do business

or leave and drive.

For women, it's a lot harder.

They control the way you dress,

they control who you talk to,

they control the friendships,

they control what you
read, what you eat,

almost what you think.

The controlling people
specifically for me,

it was the educators,
the people in school.

The girls are afraid of them.

I feel like that's
what really pushed me.

The hardest thing
for me about leaving

was my mindset

'cause you're coming
from a mindset

of everyone around
you is your enemy

and you really don't know much
about everyone around you,

about the world.

You don't watch TV,

you don't read books.

You know nothing.

My mother was lost
when she found out

that I'm going out with a guy.

One night, she locked me out,

she changed the
number on the lock

and she told me to
go with my boyfriend.

My boyfriend at the time was 17

and that feeling when
I had nowhere to go,

I was new to Brooklyn,

really didn't have many friends,

I had no idea how
the world works,

I had to go out on my
own, find a place to stay.

It felt terrible.

But if I'd be living in
Kiryas Joel right now

I'd probably be
expecting my third child,

cooking in the
kitchen for my husband

that I hardly ever talk to,

I'd have no ways of
expressing myself,

of having the
career that I want,

of doing what I like,

going where I want.

And right now my life is
so much better than that

and I can't even imagine
my worst nightmare

being there and
living that life.

- When I see outed people

trying to protect my rights,

it makes me laugh.

Do I look like a woman
that's been suppressed?

No I don't.

Was I afraid to get
up and speak my mind?

No I wasn't.

Did anyone tell me not to?

Absolutely not.

I'm a woman from the community.

If I would need someone
to help protect my rights,

I would go and ask for it.

I really don't
appreciate anyone saying

that they're
protecting my rights

when indeed, they're violating
my rights of privacy.

Women are born to be modest.

Females or women
that are not modest

is because they lost
their natural sensitivity

and their natural talents and
inclinations to be modest.

Every Jewish woman views
theirself as a princess

and we want to look good.

I can go out and
buy a designer suit,

nothing wrong with it.

I like to wear a designer suit,

I like to look good.

Why do I cover my hair?

Because we believe

that a woman needs to
be only for her husband

and not to attract other men

and hair is obviously the
most attractive thing.

So when a woman is married,

just like she wears her ring,

she has her hair covered
so other men know

that she's untouchable

'cause she's a married woman.

The Torah and the Talmud

they're just a guide
for a pure, happy life.

And we don't feel like
we're being suppressed.

I'm not gonna say

there aren't people that don't

but these people,

nobody holds them here.

And if I accept
this way of living,

then it's my right
to live this way.

- [Reporter] What
would effectively

doubling the size of Kiryas Joel

do to the environment?

How would it impact the
Hasidic village's neighbors?

Well tonight those
questions and concerns

are coming to a head

at a public forum about
the controversial plan

to annex 500 acres of
Monroe land to Kiryas Joel.

Dozens of people came out

to talk about why
they do or do not

support this proposed annexation

and give their opinion on this
very controversial matter.

- This is an opportunity
for everybody to be heard.

- It's totally unfair
to us, our children

and our future generations

to be cut off from
very important services

because a few people

who stand nothing to
lose from annexation

fight out of your hatred.

- The establishment clause
of the US constitution

prohibits religious states

and this is with good reason,

they make bad government.

- I am a son of an
Auschwitz survivor.

Hitler wanted to make
the world unified.

He killed six million of us

but he was not successful
to finish his plan.

[audience applause]

- This confrontation
is not about religion

and everybody here tonight
who tried to make it that way

should be ashamed of themselves.

- [Male] The issue
is not annexation.

The issue is keeping
the orthodox,

in particular, the freedom
out of the community.

That's what it is all about.

- There's nothing
special about me.

There's nothing special
about you either.

There's nothing special
about any of us.

We are all created equal.

[audience applause]

- [Male] The next speaker
please, next speaker.

- Anybody?

- [Reporter] Growing concerns
about the future of Monroe

ahead of a vote on a
controversial land deal.

- [Reporter] D Day is tonight.

Lawmakers will vote
on whether or not

to expand the ultra orthodox
Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel.

- It's kind of like
the culmination.

It's the crescendo.

- Okay hi everybody, thank
you so much for coming.

[crowd cheering]

When we get to KJ,

the idea is if we can get in

because word on the street

is that KJ's announced
that everyone,

all of their citizens,

should rush into the hall

and fill up as many
seats as possible.

And no matter how they vote,

we say nothing, not a word.

We don't boo, we
don't shout, nothing.

They want us to get mad,

they want us to get crazy.

They've accused us of all
kinds of horrible things,

they call us antisemitic,

we are not going to
fall into their traps.

[audience cheering]

[crowd chanting]

- [Emily] Tip
O'Neill said it best,

like all politics is local.

The things that are happening

in your immediate environment

are so much more life affecting

than the national elections
are in many cases.

- [Crowd] No annexation,

no annexation,

no annexation.

- That can send shock waves
throughout your region.

- How are you?

Thank you.

- [Crowd] Vote no, vote no,
vote no, vote no, vote no!

- [Crowd] Vote yes, vote
yes, vote yes, vote yes.

Vote yes, vote yes, vote
yes, vote yes, vote yes!

♪ From the mountains
to the prairies ♪

♪ To the oceans
white with foam ♪

♪ God bless America

♪ Our home sweet home

♪ God bless America

♪ Our home sweet home

- If you will
please have a seat.

Are we live?

Yes, we're live.

We're on.

Welcome and good evening.

My name is Harley Doles.

I'm the supervisor of
the town of Monroe.

[crowd booing]
[crowd applauding]

Tonight is the night

that we are going to do
the people's business

for all 40,000 plus people
in the town of Monroe.

- Okay, I'll make the motion.

I move that the town of Monroe

consent to the 163.8
acre annexation.

The town board hereby finding

that it is in the
overall public interest

and that it disapproved
the 507.4 acre petition.

The town board hereby finding

that it is not in the
overall public interest

to grant that petition.

Do I have a second?

- I'll second that
motion for discussion.

- [Harley] Mr. McWatters,
if you would like.

- I have friends on
both sides of the issue

and that makes me realize

that I will not
be able to satisfy

or appease everyone
with my vote.

I am troubled by the
apparent discrimination

that exists in the village

against certain members
of the Monroe family.

Folks, I am afraid that we,

including this board,

are all guilty of behaving
badly over the last 20 months.

I do not believe that
the best interest

of all of the
residents of Monroe

is now to be served
with a yes vote.

[audience applauding]

- I'd like to make
a few comments.

We as a community
have a deep division,

probably deeper
than I ever knew.

Now we will protect
the school system.

I will urge both school board,

change the school
boundary districts

if any annexation occurs.

Once that occurs,

change the boundaries,

issue will be resolved,

we can all move on.

It makes perfect sense.

[audience applauding]

- This is a role call vote

for the approval of 163
acres, Harley Doles, aye.

Rick Cologne.

- Aye.

- [Harley] Dennis McWatters.

- For the reasons I
stated before, no.

[audience applauding]

- [Harley] Gerard McCleate.

- Aye.

- [Harley] Daniel Burke.

- Aye.

[audience applauding]

- [Harley] Let
the record reflect

the vote is four
ayes and one nay.

The motion is passed.

Have a good evening.

[audience applauding]

- Traitor.

Traitor.

- So you don't want to comment?

- I don't want to talk to you.

- Oh wonderful, very
nice attitude, thank you.

Have a nice day.

- The town board voted yes
on 164 acre annexation.

They voted no on the 507
acre, on the larger one.

An annexation is
supposed to be considered

in the overall public interest

and they were throwing
words of compromise around.

We're not interested in that.

We're interested
in the rule of law.

- And that is hate
and it's not right.

- 28 years ago we got
kicked out of East Ramapo

and moved up here
for a better life

and now I'm being kicked
out with my children.

- Well, I am from East Ramapo,
I know what's going on.

- So am I.

- As a boy, I lived
in [mumbles] okay?

There's a lot of artistic people

coming into that area, okay.

Now we don't like it.

- You should not have 16 kids

if you can't support it.

- [Male] Who says so?

- Come on, come on,
that's an honest thing.

[cross talk]

- [Female] Okay, forget
about the number of children,

forget about the
number of children.

[ominous music]

- America is a good
place for the Jews.

The constitution
supports religion,

supports our way of life.

If we're lawful citizens

and we're doing what we
need to do spiritually,

I think that we will have all
the divine assistance needed

and I think that everything
will fall into place.

- Whenever you have a population

that's growing exponentially
more than another population,

that's your destiny.

And people will be buying
properties and developing

and that's sure to happen.

However, as long as I'm here

and as long as my fellow
activists are here,

we're gonna ensure that
things are done properly.

- The future of
Judaism in America

is definitely gonna lie
with the Orthodox Jews.

Kiryas Joel is definitely
gonna serve as a beacon

of light to the rest of
Jewish society in America

for many, many years.

- There is no longer
any objective truth.

There are objective truths

and that's something
which I think

we have to start
coming to terms with.

However, does the
truth ever even matter?

Because it depends on
what political opportunity

is presenting itself next.

[singing in foreign language]

[upbeat music]

[slow music]