Palm Tree becomes first official ultra-Orthodox town in America

Last year, residents of Kiryas Joel overwhelmingly voted in favor of separating from the town of Monroe to become Palm Tree

The Hasidic community of Kiryas Joel in New York became what is said to be the first official ultra-Orthodox town in the United States.

Kiryas Joel on January 1 became the town of Palm Tree, when it officially split from the Town of Monroe, located in New York’s Orange County, the Times Herald-Record reported on Saturday.

The new town is made up of the 164 acres Kiryas Joel had annexed from Monroe, as well as 56 additional acres.

Kiryas Joel’s roots date back to the mid-1970s, when Hasidic Jews began settling in the area, under the guidance of Satmar Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum.

Illustrative: Boys stand outside a school on July 1, 2014, in Kiryas Joel, NY.(AP Photo/Mike Groll)

Over 80 percent of Monroe voters in November 2017 backed a measure to make Kiryas Joel, a village of more than 20,000 Yiddish-speaking Jews associated with the Satmar Hasidic sect, the state’s first new town in 35 years.

Palm Tree, the town’s name, is an English translation of the Satmar rabbi’s surname, Teitelbaum.