The media has spent years uncovering the horrors of Lev Tahor — a group whose name has become synonymous with religious coercion, blind obedience, and emotional manipulation. Their tactics are documented and condemned worldwide.
But what if similar behaviors were taking root right here in our backyard, right here in Monsey, under the banner of holiness and spiritual growth?
What if the same patterns of control, secrecy, and spiritual coercion were driving an organized effort to dominate neighborhoods and push out fellow Jews?
Welcome to the “Mile Campaign.”
The Basics They Don’t Want You to Ask About
Let’s start with the truth:
No average Skver chassid wakes up in the morning with a burning desire to buy a house just to make another Jew uncomfortable. They’re not inherently cruel — and certainly not wealthy real estate moguls.
So how is it happening?
Because they are convinced and instructed — pressured to act in ways that defy both conscience and halacha.
Homes are being purchased through questionable financing methods, often under communal direction, not personal initiative. The people themselves aren’t the villains. They are the tools of a machine — one that has crossed a dangerous moral line.
The Cult-Like Parallels
Cults thrive on one principle: obedience over understanding.
They convince followers that any act — no matter how deceitful or destructive — can be justified if it “serves the group.”
That’s what’s happening here.
When leaders dictate where you can live, what you can buy, and who your neighbors should be, that’s control — not faith.
When people are told that acting deceptively is a mitzvah because it benefits “the cause,” that’s not Torah — that’s indoctrination.
When dissenters are shunned, silenced, or spiritually threatened, the pattern is unmistakable.
This is cult-like behavior, plain and simple.
And while Lev Tahor is small and easy to condemn, Skver has the advantage of hiding behind the veneer of mainstream respectability.
They’re powerful, connected, and outwardly “holy.” But holiness without honesty is dangerous — and what’s happening now threatens to corrupt everything truly sacred about Klal Yisroel.
The Moral Line Has Been Crossed
Buying homes with the purpose of hurting other Jews — of deliberately destabilizing peaceful neighborhoods — is not a Jewish value.
It’s not chessed. It’s not kiruv. It’s not even strategy.
It’s a violation of the most basic moral and halachic principles that define us as a people.
Every day this campaign continues, it tears at the fabric of Jewish unity.
It sends a chilling message: power matters more than truth.
And for what?
Why Has the Media Been Mostly Silent?
The media eagerly condemns Lev Tahor — and rightfully so. But when a large, “mainstream” community engages in similar tactics, suddenly there’s hesitation.
Because Skver isn’t a fringe sect; it’s influential. It commands respect, admiration, and fear.
That influence isn’t just social — it’s financial and political.
Skver’s network wields significant financial backing and voting leverage, which often keeps journalists, askanim, and even elected officials cautious.
But silence in the face of wrongdoing is complicity.
And after months of public outcry, they have yet to even justify what they are doing, let alone issue an apology and put it to an abrupt end.
Journalists, askanim, and community leaders must speak up — and ordinary people must too.
Klal Yisrael cannot allow this to continue.
It’s Time to Say What Everyone Knows
Since the public began raising awareness, there’s been a noticeable shift.
Many who once aligned themselves with this campaign have quietly stepped back, realizing how wrong it is — how un-Jewish it is.
The more sunlight we bring, the less power this system has.
Because real Judaism doesn’t need secrecy.
It doesn’t need deception.
It doesn’t need to trample one Jew to elevate another.
Religion built on coercion isn’t faith — it’s control.
And control masquerading as holiness is the oldest trick in the cult playbook.
The Bottom Line
The goal isn’t to demonize individuals or cause harm to New Square (although inevitably it is at this point).
It’s to break the system — to stop the Mile Campaign, expose its tactics, and allow hundreds of families to once again live in peace.
Because every moment this continues, the chillul Hashem grows deeper — all due to the negligence of New Square continuing in their radical, cult-like practices that don’t belong in the United States and definitely not in the middle of a beautiful, Torah-dik community named Monsey.
3 Comments
So true
Lev Tahor as wicked, sick & twisted as they were never harmed their neighbors so it’s a bit over the top to use them as a model for your problem with New Square which is only the harm they are inflicting on their adjacent frum yidden.
In response to Perplexed: If you can manage to emerge from the quicksand just a bit, with minimal effort you’ll discover that similar monkey-biz of the L.T. sort, has also been perpetrated in the shtetl you so admire. Sorry to disillusion you, but it’s not just the half-mile neighbors who have suffered. On second thought, your words seem to indicate that your sympathies are very much biased toward perps!