A fateful year for New York, and its Jewish community
he year drawing to a close has been one of the most fateful for New York and its Jewish community.
It was the year that socialism gained newfound popularity. It was the year the city’s yeshivah system faced its first significant challenge since its miraculous establishment in the wake of the Holocaust. It was also the year that measles made a comeback due to the gullibility of a few anti-vaxxers.
Democrats won control of the New York state senate in 5779, remaking a chamber that has served as a moderating force in Albany for the past half century. A group of radical Democrats bulldozed into the senate, decimating the longtime GOP majority and destroying a breakaway group of moderate Democrats in the process. The new crop of legislators included one socialist who fantasized in an interview about a state with no private home ownership.
The consequences of full Democratic control were immediate. The legislature passed laws that made it harder to turn a profit in the real estate market, threatening one of the state’s key industries. The senate also passed the Child Victims Act, a law that gives victims a new window to sue their abusers, but may also threaten the future of the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts, and some private schools. The senate also voted to allow illegal immigrants to obtain drivers licenses, and set a hard cap of zero carbon emissions by 2040, a goal considered economically catastrophic and practically unfeasible.
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