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Kiryas Joel vandals attack car because of how woman dresses
















A native of this Satmar Hasidic village, Toby Greenberg is not unfamiliar with the strict mores of her ultra-Orthodox community.

But she never expected to be persecuted for choosing to dress slightly differently.

Unlike most Kiryas Joel women, who wear long, dark dresses or skirts and simple blouses in public, Greenberg, 25, wears colorful shirts, wigs and denim skirts.

And that, in the eyes of a clandestine group of inquisitors, constitutes immoral behavior.

Greenberg and her husband, Yoel, awoke Tuesday morning to find the tires of their silver Chevy Impala slashed and white oil-based paint splashed on their new, black Mazda CX-7.

Written in white paint on the Mazda were Hebrew words that Greenberg interpreted in English as "get out" and "defiled person."

State police Sgt. Warner Hein said troopers are treating the incident as criminal mischief and are interviewing residents for potential leads.

Troopers are also investigating another incident that occurred about a month ago, in which fliers slandering Greenberg were thrown on Kiryas Joel's streets.

Just before this week's vandalism, Greenberg and her husband received several letters — one was hand-delivered by a Hasidic man.

The man told them that he and 24 other men have decided that the couple should leave Kiryas Joel immediately.

"He had a lot of guts coming up here in person," Yoel said.

Kiryas Joel, a village in the Town of Monroe, is populated by about 20,000 observant Satmar Hasidic Jews.

Kiryas Joel residents hold fast to strict customs considered by many other Hasidim as outdated or archaic.

The Greenbergs said they do not believe that their persecutors are representative of Kiryas Joel, but are rather a fringe group of radicals who have taken it upon themselves to make an example of them.

The couple at first suspected the attacks to be the work of Vaad Hatznius, the equivalent of a morality police group in the village.

But when Toby's family confronted members of the group, they denied responsibility for the acts, she said.

Still, Vaad Hatznius has been suspected of acting through other agents of the community to achieve its ends, she said.

Speaking with a reporter yesterday, Toby wore a bright pink Tommy Hilfiger long-sleeved shirt, a denim skirt with ruffles at the knees and a wig with a copper tint.

Yoel, who works in construction, stood by her, as their 1-year-old daughter, Zlaty, played.

The couple at first thought about ignoring the threats, but changed their minds after their cars were vandalized.

"I want these people arrested," Toby said.

"I want them to pay for my damaged property and to pay for what they are putting my family through."

Professor Sam Heilman, an expert in Hasidic culture at the City University of New York, said Toby Greenberg's plight is not unusual given Kiryas Joel's suspiciousness of change, no matter how slight.

"The whole image she is projecting with her clothing is that of someone who's at home in the modern world, and there are many who are afraid of that in Kiryas Joel," he said.
























An earlier warning to the woman

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070907/NEWS/709070320