NYC Imposes Additional Requirements on Private Schools in Predominantly Jewish Neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn
But the City did not impose restrictions on similarly situated, non-Jewish neighborhoods in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island
Last week, on the eve of Yom Kippur, I blogged about New York City's plans to impose heightened restrictions on Jewish neighborhoods in New York.
Yesterday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, flagged the "20 hotspot Zip Codes" with positive cases (Kings County is Brooklyn).
Yesterday, the New York City Commission of Health and Mental Hygiene imposed a series of new restrictions on eight of these zip codes in Brooklyn and Queens. I will list the positivity rate in each zip code, as well as the number of positive tests.
- Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn: 11219 (5%, 12) and 11204 (6%, 13).
- Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn: 11210 (4%, 7) and 11230 (8%, 29).
- Gravesend neighborhood of Brooklyn: 11223 (4%, 11).
- Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn: 11229 (4%, 11)
- Kew Gardens neighborhood of Queens: 11415 (this zip code is not listed on Governor Cuomo's tweet)
- Far Rockaway neighborhood of Queens: 11691 (3%, 7)
All of these zip codes are in predominantly Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens.
The Commissioner did not impose restrictions on six neighborhoods in New York that had comparable positivity rates and positive tests:
- The Marine Basin neighborhood in Brooklyn: 11234 (4%, 10).
- Two neighborhoods in the Bronx: 10465 (4%, 5) and 10462 (3%, 7).
- The Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan: 10040 (4%, 7).
- Two neighborhoods in Staten Island: 10306 (3%, 5) and 10304 (3%, 6). (I grew up very close to these zip codes).
These neighborhoods are not predominantly Jewish.
The restrictions on private schools in this area are very onerous.
All non-public schools in the affected zip codes must comply with the following additional requirements:
- All individuals on the school premises must remain at least 6 feet apart at all times, except: in emergencies or when doing so would create a safety hazard; or when physical barriers are put in place between individuals in accordance with New York State guidance for in-person instruction at pre-k to Grade 12 schools during the COVID-19 public health emergency; and
- Face coverings are required in school buildings at al times, except for individuals who cannot wear a face covering because of developmental, medical or age reasons;
- Coordinating with the Department and the Test + Trace Corps to identify, isolate and prevent the spread of COVID-19; and
- Following the protocols established by the Department for opening and closing classrooms and schools if a student or staff is confirmed with COVID-19, and excluding students and staff who have symptoms or are confirmed with COVID-19 or have been identified as a close contact to someone with COVID-19.
Students, teachers and staff having close contact with confirmed cases of COVID-19 must quarantine for 14 days from such contact, in accordance with the New York State Department of Health's guidelines for precautionary quarantine.
This order shall be effective immediately and remain in effect through the end of the 2020-2021 school year, including any summer school sessions during 2021, or such earlier time as I may indicate….
An attorney in New York told me that if read literally, it is impossible to comply with these rules.
Get the TROs ready.
Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky and several of his close relatives, including two of his grandsons, have been diagnosed with COVID-19!!!
ReplyDelete...like Trump, he is feeling gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood!..
Volokh's talmid Blackman at Reason Magazine veisst nisht vos er shreibt.
ReplyDeleteHe thinks a large chunk of 11234 known as Marine Park is still mostly Irish & Italian - but that has not been the case for many years. It is mostly yeshivish today including many ex-Boro Parkers who made millions selling to Chassidishe. Maybe he thinks because Mendel Epstein's son has a shul there it still has a din of Sicilian La Cosa Nostra. Most of the zip code is actually not inhabited by people at all, like Floyd Bennett Field & the swamps of Jamaica Bay. Mill Basin might not be so yeshivish but is full of SYs & Modern Orthodox. The Flatlands has a large frum population today. Bergen Beach is some Modern Orthodox plus tons of DIBs.
Blackman misidentifies 10040 as Inwood, which it is not. It is half Washington Heights & half Fort George where the Heights crowd also live.
10462 is the still frum Pelham Parkway section of the Bronx. The other half of the zip code is Parkchester. Although the Young Israel & the other Modern Orthodox shuls closed, it is still full of kargeh alter shmageggies between the ages of 88 to 100+ who refuse to move out. There is actually a Muslim center that gives them space to daven.
He does have a point about 10465. That's the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx which is all Italian. Though the Marina del Ray wedding hall there has many heimishe chassunos which could have spread through the local staff.
Just last night the State added the northern suburban zip code that includes the mostly Jewish town of Harrison, home of Young Israel of Westchester. It's not like the Modern Orthodox are immune. Teaneck has a higher infection rate than Lakewood, at least in the official tallies in Trenton.
Orthodox Jews Mock COVID-19 in Pre-Sukkoth Israel 2020!
ReplyDelete!!! מיר טאָן ניט געבן אַ פאַרשילטן וועגן אַ ניט-ייִדיש גענעראל און זיין ווערטער !!!
Mendel Epstein's boy has been cashing in when there is a shakedown / fixed case at the "beis din". He offers toain services $$$$. Mendel being locked up does not preclude this lucrative gravy train.
ReplyDelete"Street Corner Crazy" is out of the picture and the Prodfather is in suspended animation. But Street Corner Profiteer is alive & kicking in Marine Park.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljIQo1OHkTI&feature=youtu.be&t=82
& I'll lift you up for "a zelche makkos"
Thursday, a poster shared on social media accused ultra-Orthodox politicians of having blood on their hands. It was deleted a short while later.
ReplyDeleteThe poster, which featured images of Arye Deri and Gerrorist Agudah Fresser Yaakov Litzman, was criticism of their coronavirus policies.
The poster is up!
ReplyDeleteAn infamous alter bochur was a long time member of his parents' shul, the Young Israel of Parkchester, da Bronx. As reported by the NY Times, Harvey N. Berish was arrested for molesting 4 local boys. He was later convicted. He eventually moved to California in search of new victims. He was a guru in the boys marching band industry, whose personal band performed at the 2nd inauguration of President Richard Nixon. Berish's band, the Knickerbockers Drum & Bugle Corps, also won the national championship in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and was sent by the State Department to perform overseas.
ReplyDeleteLatest figure from 24 hours ago: Charedim now comprise 40% of Israeli infections, up from 34%.
ReplyDeletehttps://static.timesofisrael.com/www/uploads/2020/09/F200913DC04-640x400.jpg
ReplyDeleteScene from 2 weeks ago of a bunch of Lelover ferds with the Rebbe's brother R' Meilech Biderman.
This place makes Satmar KJ look like flying First Class on Swiss Air.
Newspapers reporting Virus Czar Ronni Gamzu is aware of 3 Chassidussen who plan on illegally procedding tonight with jam packed Tischen / Simchas Bais Hashoyevah.
ReplyDeleteNo word yet if they managed to throw in a gratuitous insult against Cuomo.
Hadassah Hospital Chief of Internal Medicine, Dr. Dror Mevorach, is reporting that at least 1000 Gerrorists were infected while davening with the Rebbe on Rosh Hashana alone, in their wooden Fred Flintshtein shoes, not just the gabbai & the Rebbe's molester son who was removed from the Gerrorist yeshiva.
ReplyDeleteThe report of the 3 Chassidussen is from a Walla! reporter who snooped around Meah Shearim & saw setting up in secret locations by Slonim, Toldos Aharon & Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok.
ReplyDeleteSlonim I'm not surprised, those cousins of the dysfunctional Ner Yishmoel Weinbergs.
I'm hearing from Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok in NY that the Rebbe means well, instructing masks & social distancing. But they are making a huge mistake. Not only has the virus mutated to become much more contagious, but these containment measures don't work when there is a mega-plume from thousands of people crammed in like sardines!
Did you hear the virus joke going around Crown Heights? Whether it's true or not, many Lubavs over the years have accused Shmarya of not having had a Bris Milah. They say now that Shmarya is bent out of shape over reports that Avrohom Avinu plans on going Sukkah hopping tonight & tomorrow during lockdown in Israel, so he is frustratedly trying to open a case against Avrohom with a government agency who will take him seriously. Shmarya you see, would according to his accusers, have a special animus against Avrohom, not just for the crime of being the very first Haredi, but also for only coming to the defense of those who are gemalt.
ReplyDeletehttps://static.timesofisrael.com/www/uploads/2020/10/F201001YS11-e1601621719833-640x400.jpg
ReplyDeleteFree virus particles & plenty of them!
The Dati Leumi news site Srugim reported that thousands of Charedim returned home Monday night after spending Yom Kippur in en masse davening in contravention of guidelines. An army of buses took them back to Charedi neighborhoods under the guise of heading for "demonstrations", which are currently permitted under the law.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.jewishtelegraph.com/trav201219_1.html
Haaretz reports that the figure is actually in TENS OF THOUSANDS of yeshiva students.
Makes sense, as his son Avrohom Chaim Levin of Telz Chicago blinded himself to the evils of molesters. And his grandson Pinny Lipschutz makes himself blind to just about everything else!
ReplyDeleteR' Lazer may have said this late in life as Pinny has kvetched umpteen times in the Yated how his grandfather didn't get along with kimat all of the rabbonei Detroit who were constantly roydef him. Pinny goes on to gloat how the ayneklach of many of those rabbonim turned out to be huge losers & lowlives. Pinny won't chronicle it in the Yated but it happens to be true. The Detroit rooted lowlives could take up many pages on UOJ.
https://torah.org/learning/pirkei-avos-chapter2-9/
By Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld
I once heard R. Berel Wein quoting I believe his father-in-law (Detroit rabbi R' Lazer Levin), that to survive, a rabbi must be deaf, blind, and half-of-the-time mute. If you notice everything amiss and speak out against everything unjust, you will never be at peace and no one will be able to put up with you.
Chabad Coronavirus New Messianic Flag!
ReplyDeleteיחי אלהינו מורנו ורבינו מלך המשיח לעולם ועד
That Fred Flintstone comparison cracks me up. I remember one Amerikanner in Brisk, who after seeing the shpiel by Gerrer tish with the wood clogs, came back in excited disbelief to yeshiva: "Normala mentchen? Normala mentchen?"
ReplyDeleteReb Shai Fishman: Why am I not Chassidic?
ReplyDelete(In Monsey, Vizhnitz is the worst behaved out of all the Transylvanian peasants since the pandemic arrived, which is saying A LOT!)
ReplyDeleteAnother Charedi event broken up by police was held motzaei Yom Kippur in Bnei Brak, with a large gathering of the Vizhnitz Chassidus. Videos of the event showed many people close together without masks.
MK Yaakov Tessler (UTJ), a representative of the Agudah Fresser Vizhnitzers in the Knesset, "lambasted" the breaking up of the event in Bnei Brak.
Tessler told the Walla! news site that the event was for members of a yeshiva who'd been together for 2 months in capsules. He went on to lament what he called the "lack of awareness" in the wider population regarding capsules.
The capsule program was designed to allow yeshiva students to begin studies the last 10 days in August in, ostensibly, isolated groups. They were allowed to enter the capsules only after receiving a negative virus test, and only allowed to return home in late September with another confirmed negative test in order to prevent spreading the virus to the general population.
However, an investigative report indicates many failed to get that second negative result. It also said there were numerous reports of students breaking their capsules throughout the period, coming & going from the yeshivas, while 30,000+ students at yeshivas not authorized under the program took part in studies regardless.
The report also said 5,000+ students in the capsule program have been diagnosed as virus carriers over the past month.
Police arrested 13 in Bnei Brak on Sunday, during violent clashes that erupted as police shut a synagogue in the Charedi city, where 100s prayed in violation of the coronavirus lockdown.
ReplyDeleteBesides violating restrictions on gatherings in enclosed spaces, police said most worshipers weren't wearing masks or adhering to social distancing. After cops began handing out fines, worshipers “began resisting & disturbing public order,” according to police.
Charedi men at the synagogue called officers “Nazis” & urged them to “go back to Germany,” according to footage.
Clips showed worshipers again gathering in the synagogue, despite police effort to close it down.
Police also raided a synagogue in Bnei Brak belonging to Ponevezh Yeshiva, where 24+ men prayed inside against regulations. The yeshiva is on break but the synagogue was in use by a hardline group known as the Jerusalem "Peleg" Faction.
One administrator was fined NIS 5,000 & an unspecified number gathered there were also hit with fines, Hebrew reports said.
Violent clashes also broke out in Charedi Jerusalem, as police enforced the lockdown.
Police used stun grenades to disperse a gathering, according to Channel 12.
Footage by Channel 12 showed 100s of Charedi protesters in Mea Shearim.
Police said 4 were arrested for disturbances, blocking traffic & burning trash in the Jerusalem neighborhood.
There were also clashes earlier Sunday, as police stepped up enforcement against widespread flouting of virus rules in the Charedi community, in synagogues & other institutions.
Some spiritual leaders, concerned that adhering to lockdown would cause many to halt Torah studies, ordered synagogues / yeshivas to stay open & to shun those who report violations to authorities, according to Channel 13.
In Beitar Illit, officers dispersing illegal gatherings clashed with the community & arrested several.
Two were arrested hurling stones at a police vehicle & causing damage.
“During dispersal of dozens in Beitar Illit, rocks & objects were thrown at forces. A suspect seen throwing a concrete block at a police car was arrested.”
Channel 13 reported one of its film crews was assaulted by a mob of Charedi men near Mea Shearim. The reporters were forced to escape on foot, as the crowd smashed the windows of their car.
Criticism of Charedim is been growing. Reports show a significant number disregard lockdown restrictions during Sukkot, including to host mass gatherings.
And as police step up enforcement, there's increasing anger in the Charedi community.
The Charedi community sees sky-high infection rates with an assessment last week finding their rate is 2.5x the national average.
Ministers approved fines of NIS 500 ($145) for anyone caught with others not from their household in another’s sukkah. Israel also forbids hosting non-nuclear family members in their homes during the holiday & from traveling more than a kilometer from their homes.
No more than 20 are allowed in outdoor prayers. Indoor services are banned. Worshipers must wear masks & observe distancing.
Police face additional challenges to the lockdown from anti-government protesters who continue their rallies during the lockdown.
(Guffaw!)
ReplyDeleteNew reports surfaced over the weekend of virus restrictions ignored in Charedi communities at the start of Sukkot, with only limited police enforcement.
“Thousands make their way to Hasidic synagogues for mass holiday prayers held as usual. In case you’re wondering, not one police officer in sight,” Charedi journalist Yisrael Frey tweeted Friday.
The tweet was accompanied by photos of Charedim in festive clothes.
In response to the tweet, Meretz leader MK Nitzan Horowitz said “anyone who allows it, with encouragement, turns a blind eye, prevents enforcement, is the true hater of Charedim.”
A reporter for Ynet said police entered 3 celebratory meals held against rules in Mea Shearim on Friday night, but left without doing anything.
The journalist tweeted that police spoke with local leaders, but then returned to their posts outside the neighborhood. There was no comment from police on the matter.
Channel 12 reports police carried out an operation in Bnei Brak Fri afternoon, in which 20+ synagogues were shut down.
The report said dozens of fines were issued to worshipers & businesses operating in contravention of regulations. And to people not wearing masks in public.
Charedim are far from the only ones to break the convoluted rules of Israel’s rather loose 2nd lockdown, but have largely been responsible for the more egregious gatherings & are currently the most affected population, a disproportionate, disastrous infection rate — 40% of new cases.
Numerous large sukkahs, holding 100s of people, have been constructed in Mea Shearim.
Prime Minister Netanyahu indicated to Charedi leaders ahead of the holiday they would not receive special treatment in his crackdown against violators.
“There won't be relief from restrictions,” Netanyahu said in a conference call with Charedi lawmakers & the mayors of Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Modiin Illit, Rechasim, Beitar Illit & Elad, all majority Charedi.
Ynet reported Fri that 1,500+ yeshiva students of the Gur Hasidic sect tested positive for COVID after spending High Holidays in the bloc’s study hall in Jerusalem. Those students are 70% of a group that spent the period close to lead rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter.
On Thurs, President Rivlin made an “emergency” visit to Charedi rabbi Shalom Cohen, urging him to encourage his followers to obey COVID restrictions as Charedim continue to be the hardest hit by the virus.
Jerusalem Chief Rabbi Arye Stern issued a ruling to adhere to Health Ministry instructions & refrain from gatherings over Sukkot. Stern called on Jerusalemite consideration for neighbor safety.
Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky & Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, leaders of Lithuanian Charedim in Israel, with 100,000s followers, also issued a call to outdoor prayer.
Kanievsky himself tested positive on Friday.
The diagnosis came 2 days after Haaretz reported Kanievsky violated quarantine, hosting visitors at his home, despite being required to isolate due to exposure to a confirmed carrier — his driver.
The crisis in Charedi communities is a major concern for officials, who ascribe their high over-representation of new infections to holiday gatherings, crowding in yeshivas & dense living conditions.