The Local Hate Group Lost In Court Tonight

Big news for all New York State residents: A New York Court tossed the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove's lawsuit against the Washingtonville School District.

Tonight's story is huge news for every New York State taxpayer: You won't have to worry about an astronomical tax increase to bus private school students on days when public schools are closed.

As you'll all recall, the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove (UJC) is not a registered non-profit organization. If you see any media outlets, call them that, please let the reporter know. It's not accurate to describe them as such. The UJC's status was revoked on May 15th, 2022, after three consecutive years of failing to file their Form 990s.

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According to the definitions of a hate group, as set forth by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) AND the FBI, the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove also qualifies as a hate group.

To reiterate that point:

Here is how SPLC defines a hate group, and for your information, I also added some helpful links that demonstrate UJC's hateful actions.

A hate group is an organization that—based on its official statements or principles, the statements of its leaders, or its activities—has beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics. We do not list individuals as hate groups, only organizations. The organizations on the SPLC list vilify others because of their race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity—prejudices that strike at the heart of our democratic values and fracture society along its most fragile fault lines. The FBI uses similar criteria in its definition of a hate crime: [A] criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity. [Emphasis and links added.]

Under both the FBI's definition and the SPLC's, the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove is a hate group. Given that "statements of its leaders" are used to help define hate groups, I'd also like to direct your attention to the following exchange from last week's Village of South Blooming Grove meeting:

Mr. Isaac Ekstein is a plaintiff in United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove vs. Washingtonville School District and president of the United Jewish Community.

He also runs the South Blooming Grove Village Board with Joel Stern (the other plaintiff in the lawsuit against Washingtonville School District.)

Mr. Ekstein, during a hearing on fair housing, said this to SBG resident Chis Maderia:

Chris Maderia: “I’m concerned about all these fees, what’s making it attractive to bring new residents into this village if we keep showing people that they got to pay fees, and fees, and fees, and fees.”

Ekstein: “So you’re trying to preserve the village so nobody has to come in, so it’s just for the people who live here. That’s what you’re trying to do, right?”

Maderia: “No. Well, I do want a diverse group of people …”

Ekstein: (interrupting) “That’s not our job. … That’s not our job.” (Emphasis added.)

Can you imagine any public official in America saying it's not their job to uphold Fair Housing and have any political career after doing so?

It's not our job to uphold Fair Housing.

I'll let you decide if that sounds like something the leader of a hate group might say if they were also a government employee.

But wouldn't you know it? I have some good news to share.

The United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove lost in court today.

Mr. Ekstein and Mr. Stern lost today.

There aren't many victories in this game, so you should celebrate them when they come.

Public school districts across New York State will NOT have to supply busing for private school students on the days when public schools are closed.

This Court of Appeals decision reversed a lower court ruling in favor of Stern and Ekstein, which, if you recall, occurred around the time of the Blooming Grove Land Preservation tax debacle.

Mr. Stern and Mr. Ekstein, perhaps on behalf of Hanhallah (Zalman Teitelbaum), wanted that busing.

So much so that Stern and Ekstein lied to our friends in the Yiddish-speaking community to deceive them, stating that if the lawsuit succeeded, school taxes would not rise.

If you're interested, here is another instance where Ekstein, as president of the UJC, misled our haredi friends.

And here is Mr. Ekstein and Mr. Stern's organization—despite both serving as liaisons to the Washingtonville Central School District on behalf of South Blooming Grove taxpayers—advocating for our Yiddish-speaking friends to vote against the public school budget under false pretenses.

These men have demonstrated, again and again, an active disregard for all residents of Southern Orange County, haredi and non-haredi alike.

But for today, and today only, Mr. Joel Stern and Mr. Isaac Ekstein, aka Yitzchok Ekstein, can fairly be called what they are in court:

Losers.