New Square (Yiddish: שיכון סקווירא, romanized: Shikun Skvir) is an all-Hasidic village in the town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States.

[5] New Square is named after the Ukrainian town Skvyra, where the Skverer Hasidic group originated.

[6] New Square was established in 1954,[7] when the Zemach David Corporation, representing Skverer Grand Rabbi Yakov Yosef Twersky, purchased a 130-acre (0.53 km2) dairy farm near Spring Valley, New York, in the town of Ramapo.

[8] New Square's founders had felt that the Hasidic community in Williamsburg was being "threatened by assimilation", as The New York Times later described it.

[10] The development of New Square was obstructed by Ramapo's zoning regulations, which forbade the construction of multi-family houses and the use of basements for shops and stores.

In 1959, the community asked for a building permit to expand its synagogue, located in the basement of a Cape Cod-style house.

The Ramapo town attorney requested condemnation of the entire New Square community, claiming that it threatened sewage lines.

In response, the community requested incorporation as a village, but Ramapo town officials refused to allow it.

In 1961, a New York state court ruled in favor of New Square,[11] and the village was incorporated in July of that year.

After incorporating, New Square set its own zoning and building codes, legalizing the existing houses, and the liens disappeared.

Three knitting mills and a used car lot opened, but most men continued to go to work in New York City.

Custom dictates that women who marry men from other Hasidic communities leave New Square.

[15] In a 2003 article, Lisa W. Foderaro of The New York Times described New Square as "extremely insular", and said that the community's residents do not own televisions or radios.

Some 70.0% of New Square residents live in poverty, and 77.1% of area households rely on SNAP benefits to afford food.

In comparison, 15.1% of Americans live below the poverty line, and 13.0% of households nationwide receive SNAP benefits.

[20] According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 0.4 square mile (0.9 km2), all land.

[22][full citation needed] Robert Zeliger of Rockland Magazine described New Square in 2007 as "a densely packed haven where Hasidic residents live largely by their own customs and laws".

The justice of the peace mainly handles harassment cases perpetrated by outsiders within New Square.

Further hazards stem from the fact that the town has only one main access road (Washington Avenue), and the failure of some residents to yield to emergency vehicles, or to the crowd of people on the streets surrounding an incident.

[30] Generally, conformity by those who do not comply voluntarily is enforced by the powers of the kehillah, a council appointed by the rebbe, whose members control most community institutions.

[31] Those who have not conformed voluntarily have faced vigilante justice, as exemplified by the New Square arson attack and other incidents.

The rebbe has denounced this practice, saying, "The use of force and violence to make a point or settle an argument violates Skver's most fundamental principles.

[37] Four Hasidic men from New Square—Benjamin Berger, Jacob Elbaum, David Goldstein, and Kalmen Stern—created a non-existent Jewish school and enrolled thousands of students, to receive US$30 million in education grants, subsidies, and loans from the U.S. federal government.

A statement by village representatives accused authorities of having a vendetta against New Square residents, and acting "in a manner remindful of the Holocaust," during the investigations.

[42] Michael Duffy and Karen Tumulty of Time Magazine said that "as far as anyone knows, that was a campaign event only; no pardons were mentioned".

[47] The New York State Department of Health cited the property which was used as a summer camp for girls for "numerous, persistent, and serious violations", including inoperable fire alarms, pervasive mold, and water running over electrical boxes.

In addition to problems with the health department, some local residents have also voiced opposition to the building of a Hasidic village.