Sunday, August 02, 2015
New Square Mayor Mates Friesel dies at 91
Death ended Mates Friesel's electoral reign Saturday as this Hasidic Jewish community's only mayor since residents formed the Ramapo village in 1961. He was 91.
Friesel, who ran a travel business, won election unopposed as mayor from 1961 until his last two-year term in November 2013. He became one of the longest serving mayors in the country, due to the lack of challengers in the community.
Deputy Mayor Israel Spitzer said Sunday he visited Friesel in the hospital last week, a final talk between teacher and student. He said Friesel died of cardiac arrest.
"He was my mentor," Spitzer said. "As much as I learned from him, I didn't learn enough. He gave me a very thoughtful farewell and all types of blessings."
Spitzer is Friesel's likely successor, but he said no decisions will be made until after the seven-day period of mourning.
A funeral service was held Sunday in the village's synagogue followed by his burial in the Skver cemetery. Under Jewish law, people are buried within 24 hours of death.
Spitzer called Friesel a "humble person who put the community and individuals first." He said Friesel came to the United States from Poland and is survived by his wife, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Friesel was one of the founders of the Rockland community in the mid-1950s, when grand rabbi Yaakov Yosef Twersky sent a group of followers from Williamsburg in Brooklyn to a 130-acre dairy farm bought along Route 45 in Ramapo. Twersky led his followers to the United States from the Ukraine after the Holocaust and World War II.
The pioneers started building houses and incorporated in 1961 following a battle with Ramapo over the construction of its large synagogue. New Square was the country's first predominately Hasidic Jewish village. The community later bought the former hospital building on Route 45 for village offices and classrooms, while building a community clinic with government money.
The community also went through a federal investigation into the theft of government funds and phony school programs in which several prominent members were convicted of crimes and served prison sentences. The village also has been expanding for more housing, buying land in the Catskills, and looking to build a new poultry processing plant, which is opposed by its neighbors.
Rockland Emergency Services Coordinator Gordon Wren Jr., a former Ramapo building inspector, recalled Friesel meeting with former President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s on a presidential airplane. Candidates and political leaders have traditionally traveled to New Square to meet with the grand rabbi, now David Twersky, who took over as leader of the worldwide sect upon his father's death in 1968.
"That showed how much political reach he had as mayor of the community to meet with the president of the United States," Wren said. "He rarely spoke publicly. He was a pioneer of the village. Most of the people who settled New Square were survivors of the concentration camps."
Kaser Trustee Shlomo Koenig, the deputy mayor of Rockland's other Hasidic Jewish village, called Friesel a "statesman," and a community leader who could "get things done."
"He was a nice man and he had a way of talking to people," Koenig said. "He accomplished things in a positive manner, not for himself but to help build his community."
Bruce Levine, a former Rockland legislator whose father was the medical doctor for the New Square grand rabbi, said Friesel led by example.
"He provided a stabilizing influence on politics with New Square," Levine said. "He would be part of the meeting with Jimmy Carter or statewide leaders because he was the type of credible person they'd want there."
http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/2015/08/02/new-square-mayor-mates-friesel-dies-91/31015257/
Friesel, who ran a travel business, won election unopposed as mayor from 1961 until his last two-year term in November 2013. He became one of the longest serving mayors in the country, due to the lack of challengers in the community.
Deputy Mayor Israel Spitzer said Sunday he visited Friesel in the hospital last week, a final talk between teacher and student. He said Friesel died of cardiac arrest.
"He was my mentor," Spitzer said. "As much as I learned from him, I didn't learn enough. He gave me a very thoughtful farewell and all types of blessings."
Spitzer is Friesel's likely successor, but he said no decisions will be made until after the seven-day period of mourning.
A funeral service was held Sunday in the village's synagogue followed by his burial in the Skver cemetery. Under Jewish law, people are buried within 24 hours of death.
Spitzer called Friesel a "humble person who put the community and individuals first." He said Friesel came to the United States from Poland and is survived by his wife, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Friesel was one of the founders of the Rockland community in the mid-1950s, when grand rabbi Yaakov Yosef Twersky sent a group of followers from Williamsburg in Brooklyn to a 130-acre dairy farm bought along Route 45 in Ramapo. Twersky led his followers to the United States from the Ukraine after the Holocaust and World War II.
The pioneers started building houses and incorporated in 1961 following a battle with Ramapo over the construction of its large synagogue. New Square was the country's first predominately Hasidic Jewish village. The community later bought the former hospital building on Route 45 for village offices and classrooms, while building a community clinic with government money.
The community also went through a federal investigation into the theft of government funds and phony school programs in which several prominent members were convicted of crimes and served prison sentences. The village also has been expanding for more housing, buying land in the Catskills, and looking to build a new poultry processing plant, which is opposed by its neighbors.
Rockland Emergency Services Coordinator Gordon Wren Jr., a former Ramapo building inspector, recalled Friesel meeting with former President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s on a presidential airplane. Candidates and political leaders have traditionally traveled to New Square to meet with the grand rabbi, now David Twersky, who took over as leader of the worldwide sect upon his father's death in 1968.
"That showed how much political reach he had as mayor of the community to meet with the president of the United States," Wren said. "He rarely spoke publicly. He was a pioneer of the village. Most of the people who settled New Square were survivors of the concentration camps."
Kaser Trustee Shlomo Koenig, the deputy mayor of Rockland's other Hasidic Jewish village, called Friesel a "statesman," and a community leader who could "get things done."
"He was a nice man and he had a way of talking to people," Koenig said. "He accomplished things in a positive manner, not for himself but to help build his community."
Bruce Levine, a former Rockland legislator whose father was the medical doctor for the New Square grand rabbi, said Friesel led by example.
"He provided a stabilizing influence on politics with New Square," Levine said. "He would be part of the meeting with Jimmy Carter or statewide leaders because he was the type of credible person they'd want there."
http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/2015/08/02/new-square-mayor-mates-friesel-dies-91/31015257/
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