If Their Word Were a Bridge, I'd be afraid to Cross It

A look back at how things operated in Monroe in the 1970s, which reveals how very little has changed when it comes to the behavior of hanhallah.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading concerning my Haredi friends in the Satmar sect, and their intersection with the history of Southern Orange County.

As noted the other day, when Attorney General Letitia James for the third time found herself working on behalf of Rebbe Aaron Teitelbaum, there is now nearly fifty years of history to demonstrate that hanhallah (the leadership of the Satmar) operates in bad faith.

Often, when hanhallah is called on acting in bad faith, they claim antisemitism. But, in most cases, that’s not what’s actually happening.

Today I’m going to share with you just one example of this, and it comes from a book written by Louis Grumet and John M. Caher. Mr. Grumet was the former executive director of the New York State School Boards Association. He was also special assistant to Governor Mario Cuomo, and the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet.

Mr. Grumet is not some fanatical antisemite. He’s a respect…