I mentioned the other day the growing demographic divide in the New York City area Jewish community, which has a rapidly growing Orthodox community and stagnant if not shrinking “secular” community.
That demographic shift has political implications as Orthodox Jews are not a core Democratic constituency.
It also is sparking something of in inter-Borough (for those outside NYC, call it an inter-county) feud, as the Orthodox Jews tend to live outside Manhattan.
Via The Times of Israel, an “ultra-Orthodox” group has taken it one step further, Billboard warns Jews of NYC’s dangers:
A group of ultra-Orthodox Jews are behind a bright red billboard sign that was recently erected alongside the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. On it is written in Hebrew: “Dear Jew: You are entering a dangerous place. Shield your eyes.” For added emphasis, “Shield your eyes” also appears in English.The dear Jews being addressed by the sign are likely the ones who commute to Manhattan from Brooklyn for work.Josh Nathan-Kazis postulates in the Forward that the sign, sponsored by an organization called the Congregation of Yad Moshe (which appears to have ties to State Assemblyman Dov Hikind), is part of an offensive by Haredi Brooklyn against secular Jewish Manhattan. “While Brooklyn’s Jewish community is exploding, Manhattan’s is shrinking. And judging in part by the highway billboard, the ascendant Brooklynites have little regard for the declining Manhattanites,” Nathan-Kazis wrote.“Hoping to preserve its massive growth, the ultra-Orthodox community has been on a war footing in recent months, striking back against web access in its homes and yeshivas by holding a massive anti-Internet rally and promulgating new bans against web use,” he further commented.
You will be hearing more about this tension in the political realm in the years to come.
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