The sheer chutzpah of asking for money from the very Jews New Square considers too problematic to live near, or expose to its children, cannot be ignored.
A fundraising letter from Merkaz Hakollelim Dshikun Square recently arrived in mailboxes throughout the Monsey community.
The appeal describes kollel families struggling “to clothe their children, put food on the table, and cover the huge daily expenses.” With Yom Tov approaching, it asks outside donors to help these families celebrate with dignity.
The need is real. These families deserve help.
But the letter raises an unavoidable question:
There Is Plenty of Money, Just Not for This!
New Square’s leadership has spent years advancing a policy designed to prevent other frum families from settling near the village.
Within the Mile has documented numerous properties connected to that campaign, homes acquired to preserve New Square’s claimed “isolation” and protect its supposed spiritual “purity.”
These are not inexpensive properties.
Consider 6 Durante Court, purchased for $810,000. Article HERE
The property sits directly across the street from a neighborhood shul. Local residents view the purchase not merely as another acquisition within the mile, but as a deliberate attempt to interfere with and disrupt the surrounding Jewish community.
That is one house.
How many struggling families could receive food, clothing and Yom Tov assistance from $810,000? How many children could be properly dressed, refrigerators filled and worried parents given room to breathe?
Instead, the property was purchased across from a shul serving the very community New Square wishes to keep away, and now a fundraising letter is being sent to those same Jews asking them to finance food and clothing inside New Square.
Do Not Blame the Families
The struggling kollel families are not responsible for these priorities.
They should not be shamed, and they should not be left without food or clothing.
The responsibility belongs to the leadership and wealthy supporters who can apparently mobilize extraordinary resources whenever another house becomes available within the mile, but then turn to outsiders when families inside New Square cannot afford basic necessities.
No one is claiming that this particular Yom Tov fund purchased these houses.
The issue is communal priorities. Article HERE
When $810,000 can be found to purchase one property across the street from a neighborhood shul, it is difficult to accept that the surrounding community must then be asked to cover food and clothing, especially while being told that its own families must stay away to protect New Square’s “purity.”
You cannot treat neighboring Jews as a spiritual contamination and then address your fundraising appeal to them as “Dear Friend.”
Return the Envelope to the Ashpa like the dead Sheretz it is!
Anyone receiving this appeal should not simply throw it into the garbage.
Keep the return envelope.
Send it back with a respectful note explaining why you will not participate until New Square changes its priorities.
The note can say:
> I fully support helping families afford food, clothing and Yom Tov necessities. However, New Square-linked buyers continue spending enormous sums purchasing properties around the village as part of the so-called mile policy.
6 Durante Court, located directly across the street from a neighborhood shul, was purchased for $810,000.
Before asking surrounding families for donations, please sell this property, or another property acquired for the mile, and use the proceeds to support your own struggling families.
The same Jews being asked to finance your charitable needs should not simultaneously be treated as too impure to live near you.
Send the envelope back.
Let them see the address. Let them see the purchase price. Let them explain why $810,000 was available to purchase a house across from a shul, while outside donations are needed to provide their own families with food and clothing.
Feed the families. Clothe the children. Sell the houses. *End the mile.*
Why is New Square asking surrounding communities to pay for food and clothing while enormous sums are being spent purchasing houses around the village for the so-called “mile”?
