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1,200 Satmar Hassidic Families to Establish Village in New Jersey

June 29, 1959
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
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A group of 1,260 ultra-orthodox families, driven from the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn by new public housing projects, plans to create a village in this New Jersey suburban area where they can live according to the strict rules of the followers of the Satmarer Rebbe without outside interference.

Congregation Yetel Lev D’Satmar signed a lease for land here on which they hope to break ground in December for their village with the first 500 families scheduled to move into their new homes early in 1960. The site is a 250-acre dairy farm.

The village will include a synagogue, a day school, a ritual bathing establishment, a bakery and shops. The move was inspired by the Satmar Rebbe, who feared that the congregation would be dispersed as city development projects developed in the Williamsburg area. Most of the members are needle trade workers. They hope to establish factories here but until then they will commute by bus to New York City 50 miles away.

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