Haredi residents of Rockland County in New York breathed a sigh of relief this week after Michael Diederich failed in his bid to be elected as the region’s next district attorney.
Retired Judge Thomas Walsh won the election, running on the Democratic, Republican and Conservative party lines, as well as getting major support from the local Hasidic Jewish community.
Rockland County includes Monsey, Spring Valley, New Square, and all the surrounding areas where a large haredi population resides.
According to members of the local haredi community, Diederich said clearly on the eve of the election that if elected he would personally fight against haredi education and development.
According to local media, the religious community and others felt Diederich's emphasis on the Hasidic Jewish community in his campaign was anti-Semitic. He vehemently denied the classification.
Meanwhile, haredi locals were elected to key administrative positions, headed by Rabbi Aron Ben-Zion Weider, who was re-elected as Rockland County Legislator.
"We are grateful to God for the past and pray for the future. The haredi public has been saved from the harms of haters of the religious. With God’s help and with the power of the public we were able to spoil their evil thoughts," Weider said.
"The mobilization of the public was extremely amazing. Only with the power of unity will we be able to meet the important challenges and tasks now facing haredi Judaism in the region," he added.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)