A classic American story is turned on its head because of… the Jews
Since CIA honcho George Tenet told the White House that it was a slam dunk that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, I am always leery of calling something a gimme, slam dunk, grand slam, or anything similar. But I will take the risk of using these descriptions regarding a recent story about Jews moving to Florida. According to the details I have, a group of Chassidic Jews recently moved into a new town near Lake Okeechobee in Florida. Eighty families left New York and Canada to make their way to their new town, with more apparently coming. The number generally thrown around is $100 million for 520 acres and the development of homes, schools and other facilities. I think that it is a true American success story. Others are complaining that there is something wrong with Jews wanting to live together. Jake Lang told Jewish Americans to "assimilate or go home". Where would that be?
The reason why I call it a success has to do with the mechanics. I don’t know anyone involved in the building of the town or the move there. That said, it would appear that a group of Jews decided that New York was no longer what it once was. Many Jews and non-Jews concluded the same because of COVID and higher taxes from both the city and state. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has mentioned on multiple occasions that folks from blue states like New York and California are making their way to the sun and beaches of Florida. So you have a group that has decided that its surroundings are not so supportive. One of the greatest features of American history and life has been mobility. There are many places where one cannot move, or it is very difficult to do so. Not so in America, where mobility is one of the country’s greatest features. Those involved no doubt bought the land, went through all appropriate zoning and legal obligations, built according to local building regulations, and paid for the new town either with their own money and/or loans taken out from banks. All of this screams of America. I have not heard any of the detractors suggesting that the land was stolen or that some politician was bribed or that the new homes and schools are not up to code. Everything was done red, white and blue.
Those who complain don’t like the idea of Jews living together or somehow think that there is something anti-American about US citizens choosing to live together, pay taxes, and not in any way preach or suggest taking control of the US government or putting non-Jews under Jewish law. Ben Shapiro recently made mention of Noahide Laws, and there are seven of them versus the 613 Torah commandments expected of a Jew. Jews have no interest in taking over the US government or forcing non-Jewish women to cover their hair or make non-Jews eat kosher food and not work on Saturday. That behavior is Muslim, not Jewish. Why would Jews want to live together? Jewish communities have needs: schools, usually a kosher butcher, stores with lots of kosher food, synagogues, study halls. There is a critical mass of people needed to underwrite and support such institutions. Many of my friends have noted the enormous difference in expense for educating children in the US and Israel. In Israel, teachers are paid less and the government shoulders some of the financial burden. In the US, families that join together to establish a school must undertake the salaries of teachers and staff and upkeep of physical plant. When I was paying around $3,000 a year for school, my friends in New Jersey were dropping $30,000.
I would imagine that many of those who have moved to the Sunshine State were friends and neighbors back in New York. Was there a problem when they all lived in predominantly Jewish areas like Borough Park and Monsey? Nobody said boo about lots of Jews being in proximity to one another. But when they used their resources to buy land, develop it, and make it orthodox-friendly, then traditional Jew haters were shocked, shocked. Nobody has a problem with the over-55 requirement of Sun City, Arizona. There are plenty of areas developed for ethnic and religious groups as per their needs and financial resources. But when the Jews do it, and the story reaches the news, then somehow something must be wrong. And that something is the continued existence of the Jewish people.
A Jew bouncing around the world and going by protests will be told to go back to Israel or to get out of Israel because it belongs to the Arabs. He will be told to go back to Poland, though no one in his family for the past thousand years ever lived in or had dealings in Poland. He will be told with a smile that it’s a shame that Hitler didn’t finish the job, and the cooing sound of “intifada revolution” is a very boring way of saying that they want him dead in the most violent and horrific way possible. During the second intifada, Jews were blown up, shot, burned to death, stoned, run over, and stabbed. Those who complain about the new Jewish town and their like-minded mindless lefties and Muslims have no interest in Jews dying from old age.
The articles that should have appeared in the press should have focused on Jews leaving New York for the fields of Florida. While it’s nice to have all you need in town, there has been no place in America for Jews like New York. New York had it all, and the city reflected its large Jewish population. But that was then. My cousins who live outside of the city say that they rarely go into town and that they actively avoid it. New York has changed, and with an Islamist mayor and a large antisemitic foreign population, being Jewish in New York today is not what it once was. All places change; the only question is if they change for the better. Independent of the new Floridian town, billions of dollars of tax revenue have fled New York due to crime, a dirty city, and a vibe that is not inviting. Why should I go to a restaurant to have people scream at me over a bowl of soup and tell me that I am a baby killer and a Gazan conqueror? Off to Miami.
For its history, America has allowed its citizens to choose their associations. And again, on the assumption that everything was done legally and financially in a kosher and transparent manner, there is no reason why orthodox Jews should be singled out for choosing to live together. Many nursing homes have themes, including some being “more Jewish” than others. One accomplishment before I left Madison was to get an older Jewish fellow to a nursing home in Chicago where they had kosher food and other residents who could speak Yiddish with him. Blacks, Asians, Irish, and others often enjoy being in the company of people with similar backgrounds. Why can’t Jews do the same?
In Israel, there has been a funny trend. Because cities like Jerusalem and Bnei Brak — the two biggest centers of ultraorthodox Jews — are so expensive, many young families move to towns way out in the north and south of the country. And as a result, schools, restaurants and other facilities spring up. Freedom of association is a hallmark of the West but not of the left. Obama and Biden wanted very much to put low-income housing in high-income areas so as to tell the locals that the federal government will choose their neighbors.