Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on May 5, 2020

Remember when we used to go to shul, Mommy?

Its Shabbat morning and my children are repeating the same weekly ritual which now seems to have replaced the practice of actually attending synagogue. While my husband and I pray, they pepper us with questions, comments and reminders about the world that once was. They wax poetic about the hotpotato kugelat the weeklykiddush.

Prayers are great anywhere, I tell them. And though it doesnt come out of the kitchen in a two-foot long pan, I remind them that my kugel isnt half bad.

But what my children miss is not just the Shabbat services and observances they are also missing the synagogue itself.

I study urban planning, so I have a framework for understanding what my children are yearning for. I know that social interactions are deeply shaped by physical environments. The design of a city the built and natural infrastructure, the designated uses of specific spaces affects the ways that people experience one another and themselves. And what does and does not get built, the amount of space that is dedicated to specific functions and the general flow of the city are fundamentally shaped by what the people within the city believe to be important.

The earliest cities were intended to serve as centers of worship and religious practice. Ziggurats, pyramids, temples, churches, mosques and other religious buildings not only served as a statement to the importance of the religion they were also formally and informally used as mechanisms to maintain religious observance and social cohesion. Either directly, through sermons or practices, or indirectly, through communal gatherings and peer pressure, physical infrastructure plays a significant role in the enduring practice of religion.

So, its clear to me that months of isolation from synagogues, schools, religious non-profits and other internal social spaces even the very cities in which they are located will affect the Jewish community for longer than the virus requires.

With such an abrupt and extended interruption in practice and the decentralization of observance, can we expect that people will simply snap back when buildings reopen? Or will people find it difficult to readjust to the expectations of institutional Judaism having been without the communal aspect of the lifestyle for so many months?

Can we expect that people will simply snap back when buildings reopen?

What we know about public space suggests that the latter case is more likely. After months of distance prayer and individualized religious practice, we will grow distant from the social processes that our physical institutions enabled us to maintain.

By nature, individual household standards often differ from those that are enforced through institutions and communal systems. Even for those who can and do utilize technology to engage in prayers, learning and communal events, the experience just isnt the same.

Changes to our Jewish space now overwhelmingly personal and individualized will likely mean changes in the ways we are Jews together. But this new state of Jewish life presents opportunities: When we return to them, we can use our physical institutions to strengthen individual growth and education, giving people the tools to thoughtfully engage with ritual, practice and belief.

Rather than disregard the value of individualized and personal spaces, we can think more creatively about how to create communal spaces that are as flexible, understanding and thoughtful as our personal living rooms. Spaces that encourage us to expand our mindfulness of the needs of others, that thrive on transparency and openness spaces that enable us to avoid the perpetuation of hidden crises, financial debt and under-addressed mental health concerns.

We can redesign the physical layouts of synagogues to maximize the inclusion of people with disabilities, women, and children. We can set up prayer and communal spaces to allow people to interact with one another and encourage more thoughtfulness. We can use communal event landscapes such as a kiddush to engage in thoughtful conversations about food and housing insecurity.

These efforts will require leaders to adapt and bring new voices to the table. And we might be surprised to see that thoughtful design choices can actually enable, rather than hinder, inclusion, personalization and religious adherence.

We cannot pursue or achieve these goals if we maintain a desire and expectation to return to business as usual once the immediate health crisis has ended. Just as COVID-19 has forced us to rethink the ways we live our secular lives, revitalizing our community after this crisis will require our leaders to reconsider their own deeply held views on religious life.

I dont want my children to spend every Shabbat trying to remember what once was. But with a bit of thoughtful work, they will gain tremendously from the Jewish spaces that can be.

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When we're done mourning the loss of social spaces, let's redesign them - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on May 5, 2020

handout

The recurring talk show sparked accusations of sexism.

A synagogue in Florida revised a slogan for an all-male panel after a tagline linking women and whininess drew criticism from feminists who are trying to address what they see as a lack of gender equity in Jewish communal work, such as education, philanthropy and the pulpit.

As part of a ramped-up slate of online offerings amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Orthodox Young Israel of Hollywood-Fort Lauderdale is offering a a virtual talk show hosted by a rotating panel of male rabbis, called Rabbis in Quarantine Getting Coffee. Organizers advertised the show with the tagline Its like The View, without all the whining, referring to a popular daytime talk show hosted by a panel of women. The name of the series is also an allusion to a pop-culture hit: comedian Jerry Seinfelds series, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.

On social media, many criticized the tagline, pointing out the longstanding use of words like whining to demean women who are outspoken in public and arguing that it is sexist to publicize an all-male show by mocking an all-female one in such a gendered way. One critic wrote on the synagogues Facebook page that the advertisement plays off of stereotypes about womens emotions and demeanors, and asserts that women in general are whiny.

Avi Frier, the Program Director at Young Israel and host of the talk show, said he had written the tagline, which changes with each episode of the show, without thinking about gender one bit. He added that many online reviews of The View describe the shows content in a similar manner. Frier shared the advertisement just before turning off his phone for Shabbat on May 1, and only became aware of mounting criticism when he checked Facebook the next night. I thought, That was a huge mistake, that wasnt what I meant to say, he said.

Frier immediately changed the events tagline to Sometimes its okay to laugh at the rabbi.

While 70% of employees of Jewish organizations of women, they hold only 30% of executive roles. In the past, feminist Jews have called out all-male panel rosters and encouraged male allies to boycott them.

However, others pointed out that it would have been hard for Young Israel to avoid a manel when creating a talk show for rabbis, as mainstream Orthodoxy allows only men to be rabbis.

The people who will attend this event are those who want to hear from these rabbis. If you dont want to listen to an all-male panel, dont attend, wrote one poster on the synagogues Facebook page.

Irene Katz Connelly is an editorial fellow at the Forward. You can contact her at connelly@forward.com.

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Posted By admin on May 5, 2020

One hundred years ago last month, the leaders of a handful of powerful countries convened at San Remo, a sleepy town on the Italian Riviera. Together, they sealed the fate of the massive territories confiscated from the Ottoman Empire following its defeat in the First World War.

It was on April 25, 1920, that the San Remo Resolution waspassedby the Allied Supreme Council, establishing Western mandates over Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The last two were theoretically designated for provisional independence, while Palestine was granted to the Zionist movement to establish a Jewish homeland.The Mandatory (power) will be responsible for putting into effect the (Balfour) declaration originally made on Nov. 8, 1917, by the British Government, and adopted by the other Allied Powers, in favor of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, the resolution read.

Thus, the San Remo Resolution gave greater international recognition to Britains unilateral decision, three years earlier, to grant Palestine to the Zionist Federation for the purpose of establishing a Jewish homeland in exchange for Zionist support during the Great War.Just as in the Balfour Declaration, a cursory mention was made of the unfortunate inhabitants of Palestine, whose historic homeland was being confiscated and handed over to colonial settlers.

The establishment of that Jewish homeland, according to San Remo, hinged on some vague understanding that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine. This sentence merely served as a poor attempt at appearing politically balanced, while in reality no enforcement mechanism was ever put in place to ensure that this understanding was ever respected or implemented.

In fact, one could argue that the Wests engagement with the question of Israel and Palestine has followed the San Remo prototype where the Zionist movement (and later Israel) is granted its political objectives based on unenforceable conditions that are never either respected or implemented ever since. Notice how the vast majority of UN resolutions pertaining to Palestinian rights are passed by the General Assembly, not the Security Council, where the US is one of five veto-wielding powers, always ready to strike down any attempt at enforcing international law. It is this historical dichotomy that has led to the current political deadlock.

Palestinian leaderships, one after the other, have miserably failed to change this stifling paradigm. Decades before the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA), countless delegations comprised of those claiming to represent the Palestinian people traveled to Europe to appeal to one government or another, plead the Palestinian case and demand fairness.

What has changed since then?On Feb. 20, the Trump administrationissuedits own version of the Balfour Declaration.The American plan which would againfloutinternational law paves the way for further Israeli colonial annexations of the Occupied Territories. It brazenly threatens Palestinians that, if they do not cooperate, they will be punished severely. In fact, they already have been, with Washingtoncuttingall funding to the PA and to international institutions that provide them with critical aid.

Some may rightly argue that the Trump plan and the San Remo Resolution are not identical, in the sense that Trumps proposal was unilateral, while the former was the outcome of a political consensus among various countries, including the UK, France and Italy. However, two important points must be taken into account. Firstly, the initial Balfour Declaration was also a unilateral move it just took Britains allies three years to embrace and validate Londons illegal decision to grant Palestine to the Zionists. The question now is how long will it take for Europe to do the same with Trumps plan? Secondly, the spirit of all these declarations, promises, resolutions and deals is the same, with superpowers deciding, by virtue of their own massive influence, to rearrange the historical rights of nations. In some ways, the colonialism of old has never truly died.

The PA, like previous Palestinian leaderships, is presented with the proverbial carrot and stick. In March, US President Donald Trumps son-in-law Jared KushnertoldPalestinians that, if they did not return to the (non-existent) negotiations with Israel, the US would support Israels annexation of the West Bank.

For nearly three decades now, and certainly since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, the PA has chosen the carrot. Now that the US has decided to change the rules of the game altogether, Mahmoud Abbas PA is facing its most serious threat yet: Bowing down to Kushner or insisting on returning to a dead political paradigm that was constructed, and then abandoned, by Washington.

The crisis within the Palestinian leadership is met with utter clarity on the part of Israel. The new Israeli coalition government consisting of former rivals Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz hasagreedthat annexing large parts of the West Bank and Jordan Valley is just a matter of time. They are merely waiting for the American nod. They are unlikely to have to wait long, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeosaidon April 22 that the annexation of Palestinian territories was an Israeli decision.

Frankly, it matters little. The 21st-century Balfour Declaration has already been made it is now only a matter of making it the new uncontested reality.Perhaps it is time for the Palestinian leadership to understand that groveling at the feet of those who inherited the San Remo Resolution has never been the answer. Perhaps it is time for a serious rethink.

Please Donate Today Did you enjoy this article? Then please consider donating today to ensure that Eurasia Review can continue to be able to provide similar content.

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Posted By admin on May 5, 2020

Browse > Home / News / After prolonged battle, Israel approves work to make Cave of the Patriarchs accessible to disabled

May 4, 2020 by Aryeh Savir - TPS

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After months of battling, Defence Minister Naphtali Bennett has approved construction work on the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron which will make it accessible to people with disabilities.

The area near the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, where Israeli Border Police officers thwarted a stabbing attack. Hebron, Feb 3, 2019. Photo by Tzipi Schlissel/TPS

The holy site is currently accessible only by a long set of stairs.

Bennett instructed Maj. Gen. Kamil Abu Rukun, head of the IDFs Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), to carry out all the actions required to expropriate the land needed for the structure that will make the site accessible.

I would like to advance the issue without delay, Bennett wrote to COGAT on Sunday.

The Ministers green light was given after the Justice Ministry gave its approval a few weeks ago, and after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz gave their agreement over the weekend.

Bennett stated that for years, the development of the Cave of the Patriarchs was delayed, it is time to move forward.

We are giving a green light for the construction of an elevator to stop the long-standing discrimination at the site. Any person, with disabilities or without, should be given the opportunity to visit the cave, which is an important Jewish heritage site, he added.

This is what development looks like in deeds and not in words, he concluded.

Member of Knesset Michal Shir congratulated Bennett who responded to the moral call to make the Cave of the Patriarchs accessible.

I hope that already during the upcoming Tishrei holidays, those with disabilities will be able to visit the site like anyone else, and even if it is delayed better late than never, she said.

Israel was hesitant in moving forward with this relatively small project because of the possible diplomatic fallout.

Hanan Ashrawi, Member of the PLO Executive Committee, described work to make the Cave of the Patriarchs accessible to disabled people as Israeli aggression.

Israels approval of the confiscation of Islamic Waqf land belonging to the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron is an egregious assault on Palestinian land and a grave violation of international law as well as signed agreements, she stated last month.

This is a provocative and irresponsible action that will stoke religious sensitivities, she added.

She called on UNESCO and responsible international actors to assume its obligations under international law to defend the Ibrahimi Mosque and its vicinity from this act of thievery.

The Palestinian Authority has denied any Jewish connection to the site.

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Posted By admin on May 5, 2020

JERUSALEM (JTA) A vicious rumor has been making the rounds: Hasidim are neglecting to take the coronavirus pandemic seriously because we are selfish.

But as someone born and bred in the Satmar community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, who now lives in Jerusalem and writes for Yiddish publications, I can say thats wrong. There are many reasons why the COVID-19 outbreak has been worse in communities like mine than elsewhere, and why the response has unfortunately been slower. But none of them have to do with a lack of care for others.

The first major obstacle is access to information. There are virtually no televisions in Hasidic households, as well as very limited access to the internet. Many people werent aware of the developments leading up to the crisis, the severity of the situation and official announcements as quickly as those who live in constantly online communities.

The second major reason this pandemic has spread rapidly in our communities has to do with physical space and social interaction. The average Hasid comes in contact with hundreds of fellow community members daily starting with morning prayers and continuing through communal learning, weddings and celebrations. This is especially true on holidays like Purim, which this year fell out when the outbreak was just beginning to spread in Israel and the United States.

Generational trauma also has a huge effect on my communitys ability to accept extreme measures imposed from the outside. Shutting down synagogues and schools inevitably brings up dark memories in a community that consists primarily of descendants of Holocaust and persecution survivors. Its natural that leaders are extremely reluctant to accept such measures.

We certainly have a lot of lessons to learn, and its easy to jump to conclusions. But to say that my community doesnt value human life or is being selfish reflects a fundamental lack of understanding. Replacing vilification with understanding would help us play the role we deeply want to in the collective effort to slow the spread of this terrible pandemic.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

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Posted By admin on May 5, 2020

Controversy erupted on Tuesday night after thousands of people in Brooklyn marched in a funeral procession, in violation of social distancing rules, honoring a late rabbi affiliated with the Satmar sect of Haredi Orthodox Judaism (sometimes referred to as Ultra-Orthodox).

The Satmars are adherents of Hasidism, a mystical branch of Orthodox Judaism with dozens of different groups that often reject modernity and closely adhere to the teachings and rulings of their rabbi-leader, or rebbe.

The Satmar dynasty was founded in whats now Satu Mare, Romania, by Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum in 1905. Teitelbaum survived the Holocaust and made his way to America after the conclusion of the war, settling in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg. From there, Satmar grew to be one of the largest Hasidic groups in the world.

In addition to the hullabaloo over the funeral, the Satmars have also been in the news recently because of the popularity of Unorthodox, a Netflix miniseries based on the memoir of Deborah Feldman, a former Satmar who left the community and moved to Berlin. The miniseries has attracted both acclaim and criticism for its depiction of Satmar life.

By the 1970s, the Satmar population had grown so large that they began constructing a village in upstate New York called Kiryas Joel. The all-Hasidic city would allow the Satmars to be more isolated from the secular world than living in crowded, cosmopolitan Brooklyn.

But after Teitelbaums nephew and successor Moshe died in 2006, two of Moshes sons both vied to lead the group. Eventually, a schism occurred. Generally speaking, Aharon Teitelbaum leads the Satmars of Kiryas Joel, while Zalman Teitelbaum leads the Satmar of Williamsburg.

Both branches of Satmar Hasidism are staunch anti-Zionists - they oppose the existence of the state of Israel on theological grounds. They also are among the strictest at maintaining separation from the secular community. This has caused some tensions in recent years.

The Jewish population of Kiryas Joel grew so big that Jews were able to be voted into the majority of the local school board, leading to years of fights over alleged favoritism. And in in Williamsburg, distrust of secular media and the municipal government, as well as crowded living conditions, contributed to one of the largest measles outbreaks in modern New York history.

The cramped quarters in both Williamsburg and Kiryas Joel the latter being one of the poorest and highest-density municipalities in the country likely exacerbated the spread of COVID-19 among the Satmars, including infecting Aharon Teitelbaum. Indeed, while most New York Orthodox rabbis ordered their followers to comply with social distancing regulations, some Satmar yeshivas stayed open in secret.

Indeed, one of the Satmars top priorities has been preventing local governments from regulating their yeshivas, which in many cases receive state funding for their special education programs. New York law requires that private schools like yeshivas provide education that is substantially equivalent to public schools. Many people who have left the Satmar community have alleged that Satmar yeshivas barely, if at all, teach secular subjects like English and math. Yeshiva advocates often argue either that that is not true, or that the schools Talmudic lessons (which, for example, often include logic puzzles) provide all the information someone needs to survive in the modern world.

Because of their dense geographic concentration and strict adherence to the rulings of their rebbe, the Satmars are one of the most powerful voting blocs in New York City, and to a lesser extent New York state. Both Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have cultivated ties to Satmar leaders; in their recent elections, de Blasio and Cuomo vastly overperformed in Satmar-heavy areas. In turn, the city and state leaders have been criticized for not cracking down on yeshivas that dont meet the substantial equivalency requirement.

Correction: A previous version of this article claimed that the author of Unorthodox was Deborah Goldman. Her name is Deborah Feldman.

Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor of the Forward. Contact him at pink@forward.com or follow him on Twitter @aidenpink

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Who are the Satmar, a Hasidic Jewish sect in the news and the TV show 'Unorthodox' - Forward

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Posted By admin on May 5, 2020

Mayor Bill de Blasio personally helped disperse a crowded Hasidic funeral in Williamsburg on Tuesday night, sending thousands of mourners scattering on Bedford Avenue before issuing a stern warning on Twitter to "the Jewish community, and all communities."

Something absolutely unacceptable happened in Williamsburg tonite [sic]: a large funeral gathering in the middle of this pandemic, de Blasio wrote. What I saw WILL NOT be tolerated so long as we are fighting the Coronavirus.

Twelve summonses were issued to those violating social distancing restrictions, according to Police Commissioner Dermott Shea. There were no arrests. "We cannot have what we had last night," Shea told reporters on Wednesday. "We will not tolerate it."

But according to Hasidic community leaders, the police department actually approved and helped coordinate the procession, which was held for local rabbi Chaim Mertz. Hours before the intervention, the NYPD's Community Affairs Unit erected barricades in the area and worked with Shomrim, an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood patrol group, to ensure the funeral could take place.

NYPD Community Affairs coordinating with Shomrim, before de Blasio ordered the funeral dispersed via Tipster

"We had an understanding with the police department that the Shomrim patrol would have 50 members and make sure everyone is wearing masks," Rabbi Abe Friedman, a Williamsburg community leader, told Gothamist. "We can't cancel a funeral of a very prominent rabbi, it's not realistic."

"It was supposed to be a very organized, safe, very short final goodbye," he added. "Unfortunately, some people overacted and saw tons of people on the street and started dispersing the crowd and that caused a very big issue."

Since the pandemic began, the NYPD has repeatedly broken up well-attended funeral gatherings in Brooklyn's ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, which have seen some of the highest rates of COVID-19 deaths. A police spokesperson would not say why the funeral was allowed to take place, or how the department decides to enforce social distancing laws.

Earlier this month, three people were arrested in Bed Stuy for allegedly "hanging out" with a group of roughly 25 people and refusing multiple orders to disperse. One of the women arrested said she spent 36 hours in a crowded cell with no protective equipment to guard against the virus.

Cuomo has since increased the fines for flouting social distancing rules from $500 to $1,000. The NYPD has not responded to repeated inquiries about the total number of summonses and arrests issued for the violations, including breakdowns by race and neighborhood.

"The next gathering will be met with summonses and arrests, period. Thats true in every community," de Blasio said on Wednesday. "If you have a large gathering hundreds of people, thousands of people were not even going to have a warning."

Some local officials questioned the NYPD's handling of Tuesday's incident asking why the department had condoned an event, only to have de Blasio swoop in and break it up.

"Approving a crowded funeral during the pandemic was the first mistake, but lumping together and singling out the Jewish community for criticism and then threatening arrests is a terrible response," Brooklyn Councilman Brad Lander told Gothamist. "Threatening to lock up people in a crowded cell in order to prevent them from attending a crowded funeral (or congregating in a crowded park) is a cruel and counterproductive policy."

"Leading with policing to address a public health crisis is just not the answer," he continued. "What's needed for physical distancing is social solidarity, not threats of incarceration."

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Posted By admin on May 5, 2020

On Tuesday, throngs of Hasidic Jews (specifically Satmar, which is one of many Hasidic sects) gathered to witness the funeral of a deeply respected rabbi from their community who died from COVID-19. Roughly 2,500 people came to the funeral, standing shoulder to shoulder, in violation of the states social-distancing guidelines to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Sadly, this was not an isolated incident. Rather, stories of Hasidic and Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) Jews gathering for everything from funerals to weddings have proliferated in the media.

But what happened next on Tuesday only made matters worse. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) tweeted a bullheaded message to the Jewish community, and all communities that the time for warnings has passed, and said police would arrest people gathering in large groups.

The explosion was immediate (one thatI myself took part in) and powerful: Jews have a scary history of being blamed for many societal ills, and one of those happens to be literal ills. When the bubonic plague hit, Jews were blamed for its spread, and the backlash was so severe that, in total,at least 200 Jewish communities were wiped out. In one incident,2,000 Jews were burned alive.

And there is no doubt that the mayors statement was problematic at best: There are over 1 million Jews in New York City, and speaking of them as if they are a monolith is dangerous, especially in a city that has become known forrising violent anti-Semitism. Experts say theres been a global spike in anti-Semitic sentiment since COVID-19 began to spread. Its understandable that Jews are touchy about political leaders saying something even verging on anti-Semitism during a plague.

De Blasio apologized as he should have. But the debate didnt solve a very real problem as the city and the world grapples with the coronavirus pandemic. Measures meant to protect people are often up against centuries of cultural norms that may conflict with them. They need to pierce through community distrust of governments, and individuals own desire to dictate the terms of their lives.

Thats true everywhere and its true among Hasidic communities of New York. Blaming them for a pandemics spread isnt going to fix the issues that allowed Tuesdays funeral gathering to happen.

Demetrius Freeman for HuffPostThe Hasidic community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

The funeral on Tuesday was not a one-off incident. Here in New York, large gatherings of Hasidic Jews, fromfunerals toreligious institutions, have consistently made headlines.

These gatherings have led to disaster. Williamsburg, Borough Park and Crown Heights (the three major Hasidic neighborhoods in Brooklyn) have experienced horrific death tolls. Other Hasidic Jews and I have heard of weddings and other mass gatherings followed shortly by a rash of infections and deaths.

This is a systemic problem that wont go away just by pointing out that other areas of New Yorkhave had moments of people gathering, or that they are a minority within the community (both of which are true, but have little relevance in a discussion about communal dynamics).

Many leaders were slow to act, and even when they did, it has been clear that they were unwilling or unable to stand up to the extremists in their communities who refuse to listen.

One example is Chabad, the Hasidic community I used to belong to, where the center of religious life is an institution called 770 (due to its address on 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights). The late rebbe (religious leader of Hasidic sects) centered the building, and in many ways sent the message that the building itself had a special level of holiness. This makes the building a vibrant, exciting location: Jews from all over the world congregate there, and on Shabbat it is often packed to the brim despite its size.

All of that makes it a horrific place for a virus to spread. And it would seem obvious to anyone that such a building must be shut down during a pandemic. But the bais din, a court of appointed rabbis that oversees issues concerning Jewish law in communities, did not immediately call for its closure when social distancing was implemented, but rather only that those 65 or older should not enter. And in a show of defiance, one of the leaders of 770 insisted that it would remain open until the arrival of the Messiah.

770 leaders were met with quick backlash from their own community, which led to a closure, and the bais din quickly changed its messaging. But every day the building remained open was another day that risked subjecting visitors to infections and deaths. Worse, there are still groups praying outside of the building itself, in defiance of the bais dins order. 770 is, painfully, the location with the second most social distancing complaints in the city, after Central Park.

And while the rabbis claim their hands are tied, theyre not coming down hard on those who violate their decrees. Rather, they describe young men gathering outside 770 as lost puppies. In other words, if they wanted to create more of an outcry, they could. But they wont.

This dynamic exists in other Hasidic communities in varying ways. In one Satmar community, a rebbe was seen baking matzo among a large group of people, without any social distancing, shortly after being diagnosed with the coronavirus. Some schools have remained open, and when parents have tried to report it to the authorities, they were reportedly directed instead to de Blasios Jewish community liaison.

However, it would be wrong to imply that Hasidic communities have, as a rule, refused to follow social distancing guidelines. De Blasios tweet wouldnt have been fixed by simply saying Hasidic rather than Jewish.

Demetrius Freeman for HuffPostA man wears a mask in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on April 29.

Hasidic communities are not monolithic.Yet it is all too easy to see them this way because Hasidic Jews appear monolithic to the outside world due to their otherness and separateness.

This issue can be seen even in the way many rise to their defense. Stories of these same Hasidic Jews volunteering in droves to donate plasmahave been used to paint them all as heroic and angelic. But often the language used is the same as with those who blame all Hasidic Jews, implying that these communities are one-dimensional.

The reality is that Hasidic communities are like other societies: They have systemic problems, and they have systemic strengths. Whether one outweighs the other is worth discussing, but not in the context of whether they are or arent collectively responsible for a pandemics spread.

This one-dimensional, disconnected and inhuman approach to Hasidic Jews doesnt just fuel hate and dismissal. It also helps feed the very systemic problems that must be urgently addressed if these gatherings are to finally stop.

Activists in Brooklyn Hasidic communities have spent years advocating on issues like sexual abuse and divorce.

Many have suffered greatly for their activism, and some so severely that theyve either stopped their activism or left their communities entirely.

Take the example ofa woman who had testified against Nechemya Weberman, a well-respected therapist in the Satmar communitywho was convicted of 59 counts of sexual abuse, including against minors, as writer Shira Hanau detailed in a piece last week. For her bravery, the woman was rewarded with repeatedly being called an informant (a serious accusation) in the middle of Rosh Hashanah services, causing her to finally leave in the middle of her prayers. Her father lost his job and her nieces were thrown out of school. She and her husband described many other such examples of harassment since.

More often than not, the biggest cudgel used to silence these voices is the danger of airing dirty laundry. There is a deep fear of outsiders seeing problems within Hasidic communities, which often leads to people becoming more invested in muzzling activists than in stopping actual problems.

This happened to me, as an activist in Crown Heights who spoke up about social distancing problems in my community. And Ive seen it happen to other activists who worked tirelessly to stamp out gatherings that were taking place in their communities. One, a journalist, would walk into synagogues where men were holding prayersand videotape them in an effort to deter them from gathering. Others would quietly pass on images of weddings to other Jews with an audience, like The New York Times Bari Weiss,who would then share them with their online followers.

All of this was done in the interest of saving lives. But when powerful people like de Blasio call out all Jews publicly, they give credence and power to those who would rather keep issues hidden than face them. The mayor, in essence, handed those anti-activists a gift: He sent the message that airing dirty laundry is, in fact, dangerous, when the actual danger is in choosing to violate social distancing guidelines, and in the ways latent anti-Semitism comes to the fore during disasters.

The only solution, then, to the problems these Hasidic communities are facing, and the only way forward if the non-Jewish and non-Hasidic worlds want to actually make any change in these domains, is to finally treat Hasidic Jews as humans. Not just humans, but human societies.

Humans are complicated, with unique flaws and strengths. So too are human societies. Few are fully angelic or fully evil. None can be defined by one aspect. And all are strengthened when the angels within are elevated and the demons within are exorcised.

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Why Singling Out A Hasidic Funeral Won't Make The Community Healthier - HuffPost

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Posted By admin on May 5, 2020

With readers turning to their home viewing options more than ever, this daily feature provides one new movie each day worth checking out on a majorstreamingplatform.

In 2014, documentarians Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady stumbled upon a small article about the New York City-based organization Footsteps, which assists those looking to leave an ultra-Orthodox religion (including both Hasidic and Haredi groups in the Jewish faith). The filmmakers are well known for their ability to earn the trust of cloistered communities (from the Christian extremists of Jesus Camp to the tight-knit creative denizens of Detropia), and they had long been intrigued by the ultra-Orthodox community that makes up dense pockets of NYC, but had never found a way to crack its insular world. Then they found a program that assists people already looking to leave.

The result of that discovery was One of Us, a documentary that focused on a trio of Hasidic Jews, each attempting to break away from their community, while facing tremendous backlash from their former tribe. For fans of Netflixs recent scripted (but fact-based) hit, Unorthodox, Ewing and Gradys film offers another window into a world that has long resisted outside intrusion and entertainment-based portrayals.

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And for those who have already ripped through the popular miniseries, its still more essential viewing about a people yearning to be seen and understood. Loosely based on Deborah Feldmans memoir Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots, Unorthodox follows 19-year-old Jewish woman Esty (played by breakout Shira Haas), who flees her ultra-Orthodox Brooklyn community for the promise of a secular life in Berlin.

Unorthodox

Netflix

In just four episodes, the series takes both Esty and the audience through a gamut of emotions and experiences that have played out for many ultra-Orthodox Jews seeking a life outside their closed-off communities. Estys path is, however, unique when compared to many others who attempt a similar endeavor: Shes able to not only leave Williamsburg, but the country (she makes a break for Germany), where she has family (her estranged mother) already living outside the confines of their religion. Estys path is in no way easy, and the Maria Schrader-directed series takes pains to portray that in elegant, respectful ways, but it offers just one look at what happens when someone seeks to leave the only world theyve ever known.

But what happens when someone like Esty has nowhere to go? One of Us answers that question with three heartbreaking examples. Ewing and Grady spent months getting to know possible subjects they attended various Footsteps meetings without cameras to earn trust and learn more about the world they wanted to investigate before settling on three people with distinctly different stories.

The result is a wide-ranging look at a particular world that only further expands the situations explored in Unorthodox. Subjects Etty, Luzer, and Ari have their own unique reasons for leaving Ettys are the most devastating, and will likely strike the deepest chord in Unorthodox admirers but the fallout from their choices comes with discomfiting similarity. Unlike Esty, they are not able to decamp from New York City, often still staying inside the world they are attempting to leave, adding yet another layer of worry and fear to their already-fraught existences.

During production, the trio would often take refuge at Ewing and Gradys office, and even during editing, the films subjects would occasionally stop by for a moment of respite before returning to the very places and people they were trying to escape. Perhaps thats why there is a level of immediacy to the film, even today, that is hard to shake, the yearning to be free never quite fully resolved.

Something about this one is a different experience for us, Ewing told IndieWire in 2017. Partly because our subjects live here, and theres contact and were involved in their lives right now. Its like an ongoing saga. The movie is over, but it really still feels like were in the middle of it.

One of Us is currently streaming on Netflix.

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Stream of the Day: Unorthodox Fans Should Watch One of Us, Another Stirring Real-Life Renouncement - IndieWire

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Posted By admin on May 5, 2020

[This briefing has ended. For the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak in the New York area, read Fridays live coverage.]

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on Thursday that the New York City subway would halt service from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. each night starting Wednesday, May 6, so that all trains could be disinfected.

The policy will interrupt service on one of the few subways in the world that runs around the clock. It is believed to be the first time that New York Citys subway has had a regularly scheduled, systemwide halt in the 52 years since the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees it, was created.

This is as ambitious as anything weve ever undertaken, Mr. Cuomo said at his daily briefing.

The announcement followed days of tension between state and city leaders over homeless people using subway trains as a form of shelter during the coronavirus pandemic, creating what many people felt were unsanitary conditions. Mr. Cuomo called the situation disgusting earlier in the week.

Advocates have said that many homeless people are avoiding the citys shelter system because they fear getting sick, especially in dormitory-style shelters where the virus has infected many and killed dozens.

In discussing the plan, Mr. Cuomo said that shuttle buses, so-called dollar vans and even for-hire vehicles would provide what he described as an essential connector to take essential workers to their jobs when the subway is not running.

The governor also said that Mayor Bill de Blasio would help lead the effort to coordinate transportation during the nightly halt.

Its a heck of an undertaking by the mayor and I applaud him for his ambition here in stepping up and taking this on, Mr. Cuomo said.

Mr. de Blasio, who called in to the briefing, said the initiative would be helpful to homeless people, whose life on the subway he called an unacceptable reality.

Advocates for homeless people called the move counterproductive, and they again urged the mayor to move more people from shelters and into hotel rooms. They also argued that an increase in police officers to help clear out trains and stations overnight would undermine any effort to help homeless people.

By involving law enforcement officers, the initiative will discourage people from engaging with the accompanying outreach teams for fear of being criminalized, said Peter Malvan, who is homeless and an advocate for those in similar circumstances.

The governor said in an afternoon interview on 1010 WINS that the authority would pay any added cost associated with the plan and would post the routes for the essential connector on its website once the shutdown started.

The authority introduced new measures on Wednesday meant to address homeless peoples use of the subway for shelter. Riders will be barred from remaining in a station for more than an hour, and large wheeled carts, like shopping or grocery carts, have been banned from the system, officials said.

Dermot F. Shea, the police commissioner, said on Thursday that the officers had been ejecting many people from the transit system lately, about 180 a day in the past three weeks, compared with 50 to 60 a week in January.

On the front lines: Danny Montalvo, 57, deliveryman.

The Times is regularly profiling essential workers in the New York region during the pandemic.

Where do you live? Bayside, Queens.

Where do you work? U.P.S., for 26 years.

Are you nervous doing your job now?

I dont scare easy. I was working on 9/11 when the two planes flew over my head. But this is different. Were on the front lines now delivering packages to residents and the companies that are still open, be it medical supplies, food, Pampers for kids.

Do people appreciate you more now?

It feels good when youre delivering to million-dollar apartments and the person says, Hey UPS, we appreciate what you do.

Then you have people who look at you and step to the side and pull their masks on, because they think you might be infected but they still want their packages.

Has anything gotten easier?

Theres no traffic, and the citys not ticketing us for double parking.

The N.Y.P.D. enforced social-distancing rules in Hasidic communities.

The police broke up a large public funeral and issued six summonses in Brooklyn neighborhoods with large Hasidic populations on Thursday, a day after Mayor Bill de Blasio said officers would increase their enforcement of social-distancing rules.

Mr. de Blasios vow to crack down on those who violated the rules, made after he personally oversaw the dispersal of a funeral in the Williamsburg section on Tuesday, was criticized for the language he used in making it and for who it appeared to be primarily directed at.

My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed, Mr. de Blasio said in a tweet. I have instructed the N.Y.P.D. to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups.

The funeral that was broken up, in Borough Park, was for a rabbi who died earlier in the day, a law enforcement official said.

Officers, the official said, had quickly dispersed around 150 people who had gathered to watch the rabbis funeral procession pass by, but video posted on social media showed tension between Hasidic men and officers, who were shouting at each other in the street.

Separately, in Williamsburg, officers found large groups of worshipers concealed in two synagogues that had their doors chained shut and black garbage bags taped over their windows, the official said.

When officers arrived, worshipers at both synagogues fled through side entrances, the official said. Officers found more than 100 children at one of the synagogues.

One of the synagogues, Congregation Yetev Lev DSatmar, received two fire code violations for chaining its doors shut, and one person there was issued a summons for violating social-distancing rules, the official said.

The second synagogue, Congregation Darkei Tshivo of Dinov, was issued three fire code violations for chaining its doors, and five people received summonses, the official said.

Gov. Ned Lamont of Connecticut on Thursday outlined a plan for restarting the states economy that would begin with some retailers, offices, hair and nail salons, outdoor restaurants and outdoor recreation facilities reopening by May 20 if coronavirus infections and hospitalizations continue to decline.

The potential openings which would require the businesses in question to reduce capacity, clean regularly and ensure adequate social distance between patrons would be the first of four stages in gradually easing restrictions that have brought much of life to a halt.

The final stage in the process, Mr. Lamont said, might not come for at least 10 months.

The governor offered a few examples of measures that could be required of specific businesses allowed to reopen in the plans first phase: Restaurants can have outdoor seating only and no bar service. Retails shops must strictly limit how many customers they let in. Universities may resume research programs only.

Mr. Lamont emphasized that businesses would not be required to open.

Were just saying that you have a green light to open if you want to, he said. He added: Nobody is obviously required to go. And I think a lot of people are going to self-select.

As of Thursday, when 89 new deaths were reported, 2,257 people had died of the virus in Connecticut. Mr. Lamont said that 1,650 virus patients remained hospitalized in the state.

Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey said on Thursday that the state had recorded 460 new virus-related deaths, a sharp one-day increase and the most the state had reported in a single day so far.

Extraordinary, Mr. Murphy said of the deaths. This is the single biggest day that weve had.

The spike came in a week when Mr. Murphy, encouraged by other measures showing New Jersey making progress in fighting the virus, began to sketch out how the state might reopen in the weeks ahead.

The plans include state and county parks reopening on Saturday, a move Mr. Murphy attributed to steady declines in virus-related hospitalizations and the rate of positive tests.

The number of patients on ventilators, 1,271, reached its lowest point since April 4, he said, and the number of new cases reported was 40 percent below the states peak.

New Jersey has had the second-highest number of virus cases in the United States, behind only New York. So far, at least 7,228 people have died of the virus in New Jersey, a figure Mr. Murphy called staggering.

The only way we can get New Jersey on the road back is if we all continue to practice social distancing over the coming weeks, to really bend this curve down and to keep it going down, Mr. Murphy said.

New Jerseys new one-day high in deaths coincided with New York officials reporting another drop in the number of fatalities there.

Thursday was the first time that New Jersey recorded more virus-related deaths than New York, but the total came with some caveats.

Dr. Ed Lifshitz, the medical director of New Jerseys health department, said the daily death tally was a very backward-looking indicator because it could take weeks to confirm that a person had died of the virus.

Today was an unusual jump due to essentially catching up with some of that data that is coming in, he said, adding that he could not provide a breakdown of how many of the deaths reported on Thursday had come in recent days except that it was a significant number.

Mr. Murphy warned weeks ago that both the outbreak in New Jersey and the states efforts to fight it trailed what was happening in New York.

Were a couple of beats behind New York, he said on April 13 at a news conference with Mr. Cuomo and several other governors.

At the time, the number of deaths in New York was surging even as hospitalizations had started to level off.

Mr. Murphy announced the record one-day death toll hours after meeting with President Trump at the White House, where the president showered Mr. Murphy with praise but stopped short of offering more financial assistance to New Jersey.

At his briefing later, Mr. Murphy said the federal government would provide New Jersey with 550,000 new test kits for the coronavirus and 750,000 swabs.

But Mr. Trump was noncommittal when the governor told him New Jersey would need $20 billion to $30 billion in federal aid to achieve a full economic recovery. The president focused instead on Mr. Murphys background in finance.

You cant have a better representative than this man, that I can tell you, Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. Plus, hes an old Goldman Sachs guy.

Mr. Murphy, who spent 23 years at Goldman, praised Mr. Trumps leadership through the pandemic.

In an interview on the Fox News show Fox and Friends before the meeting, Mr. Murphy, a Democrat, struck a diplomatic tone, calling his relationship with the Trump administration a partnership thats going to have to continue for many months.

Mr. Trump and other top Republicans like Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, have said they oppose to giving states led by Democrats more aid.

Why should the people and taxpayers of America be bailing out poorly run states (like Illinois, as example) and cities, in all cases Democrat run and managed, when most of the other states are not looking for bailout help? the president wrote on Twitter on Monday.

Deaths and hospitalizations continue to fall in New York.

Here are the daily coronavirus statistics that Mr. Cuomo released on Thursday:

306 more people died of the virus in New York, down from the 330 reported on Wednesday. It was the lowest one-day toll since March 30.

The number of virus patients newly admitted to hospitals declined, after having ticked up slightly on Wednesday.

The number of virus patients in hospitals dropped for the 17th straight day and is now below 12,000, down nearly 40 percent from the middle of the month, when nearly 19,000 virus patients were hospitalized.

New York has passed 300,000 confirmed virus cases and has tested over 900,000 people, or about 5 percent of the states population.

As New Yorkers stay home, air quality improves.

The coronavirus has changed New York in countless ways, most of them unpleasant. But city officials this week released one new set of statistics that offer a piece of good news: As New Yorkers have stayed home, the citys air quality has significantly improved.

The city measures air quality at sites around the city, and monitors show that the levels of particulate matter, which contribute to health problems including lung cancer and heart attacks, have plummeted.

From the beginning of February weeks before the city confirmed its first case of the virus to the end of March around the time restaurants and schools were shuttered levels of particulate matter dropped both in Midtown and at Queens College by about 60 percent, according to the data released by the city.

Air quality has worsened slightly in April, according to the data, but has not approached February levels.

Researchers noted that it is not unusual for levels of particulate matter to fall as winter turns to spring, but that high-traffic areas such as Midtown tend to have consistently higher levels of particulate matter that low-traffic areas like Queens.

This year, the two air quality in both places has tracked much more closely than usual, they said.

Officials also observed what they called a sizable decrease in nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant that emanates mostly from traffic. (The city has previously reported major decreases in traffic at the busiest bridges and tunnels.)

At a site along the Long Island Expressway in Queens, levels of nitrogen dioxide decreased by more than half between February and April, according to city data.

Mr. de Blasio announced a series of initiatives on Thursday in the citys continuing fight against the coronavirus.

At his morning briefing, Mr. de Blasio said:

City workers who have been patrolling public spaces will distribute up to 275,000 face coverings starting this week. More than 100,000 will be handed out at parks.

Two new virus testing sites one in Coney Island and one in Inwood in Manhattan will open this weekend. By next week, 11 community testing sites will be operating citywide.

New Yorks Citi Bike program will open more than 100 new stations in places like the Bronx and Upper Manhattan to aid essential workers, who will be given free one-year memberships thanks to a donation from Citibank and Mastercard.

Facebook has donated $6.5 million to a grant program for small businesses.

Mr. de Blasio briefly assailed Mr. Trump for urging the country to reopen. He called the presidents White House briefings incoherent, and said, You watch the briefings and its the magical mystery tour.

The graphics department at The New York Times, which is responsible for the tracking chart we run every day showing total virus cases and deaths in New York State, has changed its counting method.

As of Thursday morning, the tracker at the top of our briefing includes people in New York City who died without having tested positive but whom the City Health Department considers probable victims of the virus.

The citys latest figures show 5,302 of those probable deaths. That number is now being included in both the case count and the death count in our tracker.

The actual number of people who have contracted the virus, and the number who have died of it, are both unknown but are almost certainly higher than any of the official statistics.

That number, which presumably includes both people who died of the virus and indirect victims who died because they could not get adequate health care in an overwhelmed system, is thousands higher than the 17,000 deaths the city was counting, including probable deaths.

Reporting was contributed by Jonah Engel Bromwich, Maria Cramer, Jim Dwyer, Alan Feuer, Michael Gold, Christina Goldbaum, Annie Karni, Andy Newman, Azi Paybarah, Ashley Southall, Liam Stack, Matt Stevens and Nikita Stewart.

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Subway to Stop for 4 Hours Every Night So Cars Can Be Cleaned - The New York Times

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