MIDDLETOWN — A swastika is drawn on the face of a Jewish child. Jewish children are pelted with coins. They're assaulted and called vile names.
The suit – vigorously contested by Pine Bush – was first reported in December 2012 by the Times Herald-Record and chronicled in November by The New York Times, resulting in state and federal investigations that are ongoing.
A few miles from Pine Bush, bumper stickers with a red slash through a drawing of a Hasidic man show up in Bloomingburg, a village in eastern Sullivan County.
Some residents there are protesting a 396-home development being marketed to Hasidim that is already under construction.
Next to that development, a huge cross rises in a field.
Even though the developers see the stickers and cross as symbols of hate, those against the development say they're not anti-Semitic.
They say they fear the development will overwhelm their village of some 400 and their rural way of life.
Still, questions remain: Is there anti-Semitism in Pine Bush and Bloomingburg?
Can anti-Semitism and anti-Hasidic sentiment be separated?
Can you be anti-Hasidic and not anti-Semitic?
And finally, what, if anything, can be done to ease the tension in these communities?
These were among the questions posed recently to four local religious leaders who were invited to the Times Herald-Record:
Rabbi Joel Schwab of Temple Sinai in Middletown, which has members from Pine Bush;
Pastor Victor Dyman of the Middletown Seventh-day Adventist Church;
Sister Peggy Murphy, professor of religious studies at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, and
Dr. Quazi al Tariq, a founder of the Middletown Islamic Center.
They did not know about the cross in the field.
Pastor Victor Dyman of the Middletown Seventh-day Adventist Church;
Sister Peggy Murphy, professor of religious studies at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, and
Dr. Quazi al Tariq, a founder of the Middletown Islamic Center.
They did not know about the cross in the field.
Here are their answers, condensed for space:
Rabbi Joel Schwab
Can the Pine Bush and Bloomingburg situations be separated?
As for anti-Hasidic sentiment?
“This issue is us-versus-them. It's cultural tension between an insular community that keeps itself isolated from the outside world for cultural and historic reasons. That issue … is more difficult since there isn't a common body of discourse between the communities.”
“Are the people of Bloomingburg anti-Semitic? I don't think so. No more than the general run of the county.”
“Are the people of Bloomingburg anti-Semitic? I don't think so. No more than the general run of the county.”
Pastor Victor Dyman
He first speaks of his own discrimination.
As for charges of anti Semitism in Pine Bush and/or Bloomingburg?
“This is totally contradictory to basic Christian principal.”
Can the two issues be separated?
“In God's economy, there is no us-versus-them. Every family should be welcomed in our community. They are God's children.”
Sister Peggy Murphy
She, too, speaks of discrimination beyond Pine Bush and Bloomingburg, mentioning a quote she read about an Orange County town: “They didn't want the Chinese.”
As for anti-Hasidic sentiment?
“Mike Levine (the late Times Herald-Record executive editor) said, 'For many people in Kiryas Joel, the Holocaust happened 15 minutes ago … . There's a fear of losing their children to the secular world … . If people have suffered like that, who am I to say you're wrong for keeping yourselves separate?'”
As for linking Pine Bush and Bloomingburg?
As for linking Pine Bush and Bloomingburg?
“People (in Bloomingburg) may see (the development) as a violation of their civil rights. It's a separate issue: (They think) a couple of hundred people are coming in and subsuming our village.”
Dr. Quazi al Tariq
Dr. al Tariq, who is also a psychiatrist, repeatedly stressed education.
Can you separate the anti-Semitism charges in Pine Bush, and the reported anti-Hasidic sentiment in Bloomingburg?
“There are two issues. One, all religions are allowed their freedom, and you have to respect that freedom. You kill one person, you kill all mankind. You have to respect other religions more than you respect yours, so they can respect you.
“Two, in Monroe (home to the Hasidic Village of Kiryas Joel) there is a common fear. A lot of people believe if they (Kiryas Joel) grow bigger and bigger, no other community can enter. They fear it becomes one big colony.”
Finding common ground
At the end of the 90- minute conversation, we asked the religious leaders how tensions in the communities could be eased.
Rabbi Joel Schwab
He pointed to Sullivan County, where official lines of communication have been established between the Hasidic summer community and year-round residents.
He noted that he and other leaders have reached out to the Hasidim in Orange County, with little success.
“It has to be a two-way street. But it's hard. It's hard to get there.”
Dr. Quazi al Tariq
“In every state, there should be a basic curriculum that teaches what other religions are about ... . For my own community, mingling is very important. It is a responsibility on everyone's part. It is a time everyone should work together.”
Pastor Victor Dyman
“Both sides have to reach out a little.”
“Yes,” say Schwab, Murphy and Tariq.
Sister Peggy Murphy
But the last word for a solution to these seemingly unsolvable problems went to Sister Peggy Murphy.
Her suggestion was one all the leaders agreed with.
Her suggestion was one all the leaders agreed with.
“Pray,” she said.
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