Kiryas Joel; Some History

History professor Richard Hull will give a free public lecture Tuesday that focuses on the Satmar Hasidic movement, the latest in a series of presentations in which he traces the history and culture of the religious community that populates the Village of Kiryas Joel.

Hull, a New York University professor who serves as Warwick’s town historian, will speak at 7 p.m. at the Woodbury Senior Center, 16 County Route 105 in Highland Mills.

His lecture, titled “The Satmar of Kiryas Joel: A Historical and Cultural Perspective,” explores the origins of the Satmar community in Eastern Europe, its flight to the U.S. after the ravages of the Holocaust, and the subsequent migration of community members from Brooklyn to Orange and Rockland counties.

Hull delivered a similar lecture in Cornwall in November. He previously had given a speech on Kiryas Joel and the Satmar movement in Warwick in 2011, hoping to bring a scholarly analysis and historical context to the public discussion about Orange County’s fast-growing Hasidic community.

Chris McKenna