New Square, New York
New Square, New York
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2277443

New Square, New York

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2277443

New Square, New York

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New Square, New York

New Square (Yiddish: שיכון סקווירא, romanizedShikun Skvir) is an all-Hasidic village in the town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located north of Hillcrest, east of Viola, south of New Hempstead, and west of New City. As of the 2020 United States census, it had a population of 9,679. Its inhabitants are predominantly members of the Skverer Hasidic movement who seek to maintain a Hasidic lifestyle disconnected from the secular world. It is the poorest town (measured by median income) in New York, and the eighth poorest in the United States. It also has the highest poverty rate, at 64.4%.

New Square is named after the Ukrainian town Skvyra, where the Skverer Hasidic group originated. The founders intended to name the settlement New Skvir, but a typist's error anglicized the name. New Square was established in 1954, when the Zemach David Corporation, representing Skverer Grand Rabbi Yakov Yosef Twersky, purchased a 130-acre (0.53 km2) dairy farm near Spring Valley, New York, in the town of Ramapo. At that time, most Skverer members lived in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. New Square's founders had felt that the Hasidic community in Williamsburg was being "threatened by assimilation", as The New York Times later described it. Construction began in 1956, and the first four families moved to New Square in December 1956. In 1958, the settlement had 68 houses.

The development of New Square was obstructed by Ramapo's zoning regulations, which forbade the construction of multi-family houses and the use of basements for shops and stores. Multiple families sharing single-family houses said that they belonged to extended families, and businesses in private homes had to be secret. In 1959, the community asked for a building permit to expand its synagogue, located in the basement of a Cape Cod-style house. The Ramapo town attorney requested condemnation of the entire New Square community, claiming that it threatened sewage lines. In response, the community requested incorporation as a village, but Ramapo town officials refused to allow it. In 1961, a New York state court ruled in favor of New Square, and the village was incorporated in July of that year.

After incorporating, New Square set its own zoning and building codes, legalizing the existing houses, and the liens disappeared. Lots were sold, and new houses were built. The basement businesses could trade openly, and new businesses were founded, including a watch assembly plant and a cap manufacturer. Three knitting mills and a used car lot opened, but most men continued to go to work in New York City. A Kollel was opened in 1963. In 1968, Grand Rabbi Yakov Yosef Twersky died; he was succeeded as Grand Rabbi by his son David Twersky.

In New Square's first mayoral election in 1961, Mates Friesel was chosen unopposed. Friesel was re-elected every two years until his death in 2015, thereby becoming one of the longest-serving mayors in the United States.

The population of New Square is made up exclusively of Hasidic Jews, mostly from the Skverer Hasidic movement, who wish to maintain a Hasidic lifestyle while keeping outside influences to a minimum. The predominant language spoken in New Square is Yiddish.

Young people typically marry around 18 to 20 years of age. Girls finish high school at around age 17, and then marry. Custom dictates that women who marry men from other Hasidic communities leave New Square. Some women who left New Square settled in the Borough Park community in Brooklyn and the Monsey community in Ramapo, where the community is not as tightly knit. Men who marry women from outside of the community are encouraged to leave New Square. This is due to a shortage of space; thus, new housing is granted to couples of which both members are from the community.

In 2005, the community's rabbinical court ruled that women should not drive cars. In a 2003 article, Lisa W. Foderaro of The New York Times described New Square as "extremely insular", and said that the community's residents do not own televisions or radios.

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