Stuart Cohnen

[Stuart Cohnen @StuartCohnen]

https://t.co/TBNJ0jOEn8

[AP @Average_NY_Guy]

Let me tell you a little bit about Kiryas Joel.

Kiryas Joel was founded in the mid-1970s by Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, the Satmar Rebbe, as an intentional act of preservation and responsibility. Post-war NYC had become loud, immodest, and chaotic, and he believed that a serious Torah-centered life, especially one focused on raising large families, couldn’t realistically survive there long term. Instead of protesting culture or demanding the city change, the community chose separation and self-governance. They bought land in Orange County and built an entire town from the ground up around shared values.

Homes, schools, shuls, mikvaos, and social institutions were all planned with families in mind. Everything was built within walking distance and oriented around community life.

Today, Kiryas Joel is one of the fastest-growing municipalities in NY. The population is overwhelmingly young. Families are large. Streets are full of children. And there’s essentially no crime. Not low crime. No meaningful crime. No violent crime. No gangs. No carjackings. No muggings. Break-ins are extremely rare. Police presence is minimal because it’s basically unnecessary. Social accountability, shared norms, and strong family structures do what policing often fails to do elsewhere.

Children walk alone. Elderly residents move freely. Parents don’t live in fear. It isn’t enforced by surveillance or force, but by culture.

What truly sets Kiryas Joel apart, though, isn’t just safety. It’s moral infrastructure.

The community is widely known in the Jewish world for adopting children with Down syndrome. The rate of adoption is extraordinary. Families routinely step forward to take in these unfortunate and special children that others might refuse. These children come not only from Satmar families but from Jewish communities across the country. They aren’t hidden. They attend family events. They’re part of daily life. They’re treated with dignity and patience, not pity. In a world that endlessly lectures about inclusion, Kiryas Joel practices it quietly and consistently.

The chesed network is massive and deeply embedded.

Hatzalah operates entirely on a volunteer basis and is completely free. EMTs respond within minutes. No insurance discussions. No billing. No forms mailed later. Lives are saved because that’s the obligation, not because there’s profit involved.

Sha’arei Chemla and Hamaspik are homes and schools for special-needs children, giving them structure, safety, education, and dignity. These aren’t institutions that warehouse people. They’re carefully run environments focused on care, development, and long-term stability. Children who would otherwise be forgotten are raised, educated, and protected in a way most societies struggle to provide, even with massive government budgets.

There are organized chesed groups that drive patients hundreds of miles to major hospitals and specialists, often overnight, often repeatedly, at no cost. Volunteers take days off work, sleep in cars, and do it without recognition. There are medical advocates who sit with families in hospitals, translate medical language, and fight bureaucracies on their behalf, all for free.

Interest-free loan funds help families cover weddings, medical emergencies, housing needs, and business setbacks. Food distribution networks ensure that no family goes hungry, especially before Shabbos and Yom Tov. Clothing drives, furniture exchanges, and emergency response teams operate year-round.

It all runs on trust, obligation, and volunteers.

And this isn’t a community built on poverty or dependency, no matter how some have tried to paint it.

Kiryas Joel produces significant economic output. Many multimillion-dollar companies are owned by people from the community or run by residents who live there. The owners of Mehadrin and KJ Meat are based in the community. Fabuwood, owned by Joel Epstein, grew into one of the largest cabinetry manufacturers in the United States. Akiva Klein, one of the largest Amazon sellers in the country, operates a massive national e-commerce business competing at the highest level of modern retail. Beyond these recognizable names, there are large logistics and trucking companies, national wholesalers, importers, manufacturers, and major real-estate operators with portfolios across New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, and beyond. Together, these businesses employ thousands of people nationwide and move enormous volumes of goods, all while remaining largely invisible to the public eye.

Men work. Women work. Teenagers volunteer. Responsibility starts young. Charity is expected. Family stability is assumed. Elders provide continuity. Young couples receive support. The community plans long term.

Haters will focus on what Kiryas Joel isn’t. It isn’t flashy. It isn’t loud. It doesn’t perform morality for outsiders. It doesn’t apologize for wanting separation, discipline, or a life built around values that aren’t negotiable.

They call it a “closed” town. They call it “segregated,” “backwards,” or “dependent.” They obsess over voting patterns, poverty statistics completely out of context, language, dress, and demographics, while carefully and deliberately ignoring outcomes.

They never mention the absence of crime.
They never mention children walking freely at night.
They never mention families adopting special-needs children no one else wanted.
They never mention volunteer emergency services that arrive faster than most paid departments.
They never mention chesed networks that quietly replace entire welfare bureaucracies.
They never mention businesses employing thousands of people across the country.

But if you judge societies by outcomes instead of aesthetics, the results are hard to ignore.

A town with basically no crime.
Children raised without fear.
An unmatched culture of chesed and good deeds.
Families adopting the most vulnerable.
Economic productivity without chaos.
Social order without force.

You don’t have to agree with their lifestyle.
You don’t have to want to live there.

But taken honestly, without bias, the conclusion is simple.

It works.

[Stuart Cohnen @StuartCohnen]

@koshercockney He needs a diet

[Kosher @koshercockney]

IRGC regime spokesperson:

“Israel is using ghosts, demons and witches to eliminate our leaders."

It’s true, we have that Jewdoo Voodoo.

[Hillel Neuer @HillelNeuer]

Amnesty International reveals new campaign poster

[Arsen Ostrovsky @Ostrov_A]

As always, the world will scold us publicly.
And thank Israel privately.

[Stuart Cohnen @StuartCohnen]

@RockefellerUniv @leslievosshall @mcgovernmit Congratulations

[Stuart Cohnen @StuartCohnen]

@realrabbilinda @Joelmpetlin Since Chanuka predates Christmas and New Year's, those holidays should be celebrated 5 days later

[Stuart Cohnen @StuartCohnen]

@alantennenberg Lol

[Stuart Cohnen @StuartCohnen]

@Joelmpetlin @X Until 120

[Stuart Cohnen @StuartCohnen]

@jacklanger מנחה

[Stuart Cohnen @StuartCohnen]

@AriFleischer @Joelmpetlin Will Chuck demand that the PA have elections? Time to get of Abas!

[Stuart Cohnen @StuartCohnen]

@TorahJudaism Amaratzim.

[Stuart Cohnen @StuartCohnen]

@DansDeals Great deal. Thanks

[DansDeals @DansDeals]

⚠️ Apply Now Before 5/24 Waiver And The Best Ever Bonus Goes Away! Readers Have Earned $6,570, Don’t Miss Out! ⚠️

https://t.co/311slNjWwV

[Israel ישראל @Israel]

For 14 days our children, parents, grandparents, and loved one have been held hostage by terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

They are afraid and alone.

We need to bring them home now.

Share.

#HamasisISIS

[Stuart Cohnen @StuartCohnen]

@TeamViewer_help After being on hold for 20 minutes, you drop the call. How do I cancel my subscription? I want out!

[Blue Square Alliance Against Hate @BlueSquareHQ]

With antisemitism on the rise globally, it’s crucial for the Jewish community to know they’re not fighting alone. Retweet this video with #StandUptoJewishHate to show your support.

[Stuart Cohnen @StuartCohnen]

@Joelmpetlin @LoHudLegal @nancyrockland @MidHudsonNews @News12HV @rocklanddems Bd"e, I saw him recently in Boca