Why Are Satmars Calling New Hasidic Town ‘Palm Tree’?
Image by Wikipedia
By Josh Nathan-Kazis November 10, 2017
Residents of the New York town of Monroe voted this week to carve out a portion of their town to create a brand new one with an unusual name: Palm Tree.
So why will a village 50 miles north of New York City bear the name of a tropical tree that is particularly ill-suited to the climate?
Palm Tree was created after a many-decade battle between longtime Monroe locals and the residents of the Satmar Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel, which was located within Monroe. As the population of Kiryas Joel exploded, the village government has come into increasing conflict with the rest of Monroe over a wide range of issues.
Palm Tree will finally separate the Satmar Hasidim from the rest of Monroe, creating a new town that encompasses Kiryas Joel and some nearby acreage.
Kiryas Joel is named for Grand Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, the Satmar Hasidic leader who founded the village. So why Palm Tree? “Teitelbaum,” which is also the last name of Grand Rabbi Aron Teitelbaum, Joel’s nephew and successor in Kiryas Joel, translates from Yiddish as “Date Palm.”
The palm tree has previously served as a logo for Satmar groups in Williamsburg and in Kiryas Joel.
Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at nathankazis@forward.com or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
