Monsey (New York) מאנסי

Overview

Monsey is a hamlet (census-designated place) in the Town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York ^[1]. According to the 2020 Census, Monsey had 26,954 residents, with a median age of 15.7 ^[1]. The name comes from the "Monsey" band of the Lenape Indians who once lived in the area; the railroad station that bore the name was built in 1841 ^[1][2].

The First Yeshiva

In 1943 Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz bought a property in Monsey with the goal of raising the standard of melamdim. The institute, "Aish Dos," consisted of two buildings on 16 acres of land; in 1944 it was reestablished as "Beis Medrash Elyon" — the first Jewish institution in Monsey ^[1].

Growth

In the 1950s Monsey was still a town "with one traffic light" and one yeshiva ^[1]. The migration began in the late 1940s, when Orthodox Jews from New York City sought cheaper land for their fast-growing communities, where they could live according to halacha without conflict with their neighbors ^[1]. In 1979 Rabbi Azriel Tauber and a group of baalei batim purchased land for the American campus of Yeshivas Ohr Somayach ^[1]. By 1997 Monsey had 112 shuls and 45 yeshivas ^[1].

Hasidic Courts

According to English Wikipedia, Monsey is the largest center of Chassidus in America outside New York City, with some 5,400 households ^[1]. The larger Hasidic communities in Monsey are Satmar, Vizhnitz-Monsey, Sanz and Belz, and the Rebbes of Berditchev, Lizhensk, Nikolsburg, Sambor, Sassov, Shinev, Spinka-Monsey, Stanislav and others also live there ^[1]. Vizhnitz has a cemetery in Monsey ^[1], and the Vizhnitzer Rebbe Rabbi Mordechai Hager (1922–2018) lived in Monsey ^[1]. The renowned gaon Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky lived in Monsey from 1967 until his passing in 1986 ^[1].

Because Monsey has the largest Orthodox community in Rockland County, the name "Monsey" is often used for the whole Orthodox area, including neighboring places such as Spring Valley, Airmont and Viola ^[1].

The 2019 Attack

On December 28, 2019, a stabbing attack took place at a Chanukah celebration in the home of a Hasidic Rebbe; four people were wounded, and one of them died ^[1].