Beltway Confidential

Village plans to immolate itself to prevent takeover by Hasidic Jews

By Timothy P. Carney

Published September 24, 2014 4:44pm ET

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Village plans to immolate itself to prevent takeover by Hasidic Jews — Hasidic Jewish men walk along the street in the Stamford Hill area of north London on Jan. 19, 2011 in London, England. The small village of Bloomingburg, N.Y., could soon become a community for ultra-orthodox Hasidic Jews. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty images) | Oli Scarff

On one level, the Sept. 30 referendum in Bloomingburg, N.Y., is a sort of boring governing question — whether the village of Bloomingburg should fold itself into the larger, surrounding town of Mamakating.

Dig a little bit deeper, and it gets more intriguing. There’s a big developer here, who wants to build nearly 400 townhomes in a village of 420 people. Joining with Mamkating gives Bloomingburg the ability to block the development.

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Judaism New York Religion Timothy P. Carney