Hamodia - LAKEWOOD - A recently formed group known as “Rise Up Ocean County” (RUOC) has drawn accusations of anti-Semitism with a movie trailer released online as a preview to what it says will be a full-length documentary on the growth of the Orthodox community in Lakewood and surrounding towns. Drawing particular ire was an opening monologue of one clip that adapts the words of a well-known Holocaust era poem by German cleric, Martin Niemoller, lamenting the results of failing to combat evil that affects others until confronted with it personally. However, Rise Up Ocean County’s narrator applied the theme to the cause of grassroots movements in towns surrounding Lakewood that discourage residents from selling their homes to Orthodox Jews...........
.. .. RUOC first launched its website and social media presence this past October. Its development was tracked by some community activists, but was largely ignored until the release of the film clips last week and the announcement of the full-length documentary in mid-February. While other internet forums have attempted to shine a negative light on Ocean County’s rapidly growing Orthodox presence, RUOC’s level of “professionalism” has elicited a higher level of concern.
“Most of what’s out there against Orthodox Jews is very amateur and rough around the edges. But it’s clear that a lot of time and resources were put into this, and the result is something that is peddling hate, but doing it in a way that could appeal — and I think has appealed — to a broader audience,” a local activist who requested anonymity told Hamodia.
RUOC emphatically denies any accusations of anti-Semitism, saying in a response to an inquiry from Hamodia that it is focused on “behavior, not religion.”
“If similar material were posted regarding the growth of black or Hispanic communities, of course we would not be able to escape being labeled racist. It is the knee-jerk response whenever we discuss any demographic, but saying that we are doesn’t make it so,” wrote an anonymous responder from the group’s “media inquiry” email address. “Given the identical circumstances that exist in Lakewood today and the same projected population explosion, rest assured that our pictures, videos and posts would reflect the majority population. And yes, if it was obese white Christians, we would feature them.”
RUOC’s spokesman said that the group “welcome[s]” growth based on Lakewood’s “4,000 live births per year,” but says the projected growth from “outside of the area, primarily Brooklyn” is “not organic.”
“The amount of new homes, the strain on infrastructure and public schools and the destruction of a delicately balanced environment are our concerns,” he said. In response to what form of action RUOC advocates, the spokesman said that it encourages residents to attend relevant public government meetings to assert “public pressure to do everything in their [local government’s] power to slow and properly manage the projected growth.”
Rabbi Weisberg said that despite public denials of anti-Semitism in their public forums, the content of the films defies such statements.
“Their words and their actions don’t match,” he said. “It seems their goal is to operate under an air of legitimacy and to play on the latent dislike of Jews that some people have. That’s why it’s important that it gets called out for its blatant anti-Semitism, so that no half-respectable person is comfortable being associated with them.”
While focusing chiefly on overdevelopment and related “quality of life” issues, RUOC’s website seems to take a general interest in highlighting negative views of Orthodox Judaism, featuring a link to a film glorifying individuals who have abandoned Torah observance and prominently displaying a large advertisement for an organization that “assists” people seeking to leave the Orthodox community.
Several observers who have followed its development have said that, although the group claims over 4,000 Facebook members, they believe that far fewer are Ocean County residents who are actively involved in RUOC or who subscribe to its message.
Read more at Hamodia.com
Who says it is antisemitism? Maybe they have legitimate claims ? Wait till the whole movie is released, and then we'll see. And if it is, and then rightly condemned, it will not mean much. The holocaust card has been pulled falesly too many times by the frum anti-Trump nuts on social media, that now it means nothing even in regard to an actual, truthful case of antisemitism. Its the boy who cried wolf.
ReplyDeleteIts not antisemitic. Its anti Menashe Miller and Meir Lichtenstein.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that very often some anti semitic tropes get mixed in with the message that rise up is trying to convey, we must look at what is causing these attitudes. They are not totally baseless. They are also not calling for acts of hate. And the Niemoller poem that was used to convey their feelings, while it may seem anti semitic and offensive, I was surprised that all the "experts" about anti semitism werent honest about the history of it. It was a poem by a German theologian who opposed the Nazi regime. The poem never mentioned Jews. The poem is simply about tyranny and speaking up about those that take advantage of others. Those that were quoted in the Mishpacha and other articles about how offended they were about the use of that poem, should look at themselves and see what they are doing to cause this hatred. Perhaps they are the bad apples that need to be removed so we can all live in harmony with our neighbors.
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