Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Hasidic rabbi calls for ‘war of attrition’ against virus restrictions
A prominent hasidic rabbi has told his followers to prepare for "a war of attrition" against government health regulations aimed at curtailing the massive spread of coronavirus in Israel, many of which also restrict religious activity, Israel Hayom reported Wednesday.
"Let us prepare for a war of attrition," said Rabbi Yisroel Hager, the spiritual leader of the Vizhnitz hasidic sect of ultra-Orthodox Jews, after police broke up a large indoor gathering of his followers earlier this week in the predominantly ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak.
"Yesterday we should have prevented them [the police] from entering," Hager told his followers. "I will not allow the closing of ritual baths, synagogues and educational institutions."
A phone call from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not able to assuage Hager's anger over the national lockdown despite the high infection rates in many ultra-orthodox communities.
Several hasidic sects complain that they are not willing to give up on what they see as their religious obligations even if it involves the risk of infection.
The "Yerushalmi" hasidic sect warned that they would respond in kind if forced to comply with current restrictions that have closed schools and banned indoor prayer.
"We will not be the sacrificial goat of the ultra-Orthodox public," an unidentified spokesman told Israel Hayom, saying that if the government was "looking for war" it should remember that the anti-Netanyahu demonstrations were a "child's game" compared to the hasidim if they take to the streets in protest.
Columnist Yehuda Shlezinger noted that within the ultra-Orthodox sector the different hasidic communities are more independent and insular. While most of Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jews are following health guidelines, the hasidic Jews choose to follow their spiritual leaders rather than any government.
Vizhnitz is one the three largest hasidic sects in Israel that includes the Belz hasidim, several thousand of whom ignored warnings from both Israel and Ukraine and attempted to reach the city of Uman in Ukraine for their annual Rosh Hashana pilgrimage to the grave of their founder. However, Ukraine kept the border closed and the followers were forced to return to Israel, many of them infected with coronavirus.
Shlezigner discovered that the hasidic sects are opting for herd immunity as a "deliberate and conscious policy" under which the adults and those at risk will take care of themselves, but the young will continue as usual.
With Hasidism built on the community where the spiritual leader, the "rebbe," is at the center, it is inconceivable for his followers not to be able to approach their rabbi or pray with him for many months, Shlezinger wrote. Living in densely crowded neighborhoods, they consider it just a matter of time before everyone gets infected.
"The 'herd immunity' policy of the followers is a fait accompli," Shlezinger said. "The questions are only if, when and how it will affect the entire country."
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Tuesday, September 29, 2020
New York City to fine people who refuse to wear mask as virus positive rate rises
New York City will impose fines on people who refuse to wear a face covering as the rate of positive tests for the novel coronavirus climbed above 3% for the first time in months, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday.
Officials will first offer free masks to those caught not wearing one. If the person refuses, they will face an unspecified fine, de Blasio told reporters.
"Our goal, of course, is to give everyone a free face mask," de Blasio said. "We don't want to fine people, but if we have to we will."
The new rule extends across the city a similar policy imposed earlier this month by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, controlled by New York state governor Andrew Cuomo, in which commuters who refuse to wear a mask on public transit face a $50 fine. De Blasio's office did not respond to questions about who would enforce the new fines and how much they would be.
The city-wide daily positive test rate was 3.25%. The mayor attributed the rise in part to nine zip codes out of 146 that city health officials say have seen a worrying uptick in cases, including several tight-knit Hasidic Jewish communities. The seven-day rolling average for positive coronavirus tests was 1.38%.
De Blasio's announcement came as many elementary school students returned to public schools for the first time on Tuesday, an effort to provide a mix of in-person and virtual learning that had twice been pushed back as teachers and principals raised concerns about the city's pandemic preparedness.
The city has said it will shut schools again if the seven-day average reaches 3% or more.
Plans to allow restaurants to begin seating customers indoors at 25% capacity were still underway for Wednesday, de Blasio said.
Beyond New York, 28 other states were seeing upticks in new coronavirus infections over the past two weeks.
In the past seven days, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin reported record numbers of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. On Monday, North Dakota reported 105 hospitalizations and Wisconsin 640.
After playing a National Football League game on Sunday, the Tennessee Titans and Minnesota Vikings have suspended team activities after some members of the Titans tested positive for COVID-19, according to statements from the NFL and the teams.
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Sunday, September 27, 2020
A G'mar Chasima Toiva
Friday, September 25, 2020
US government hires ultra-Orthodox singer to raise virus awareness
The U.S. government has reached out to a popular ultra-Orthodox Jewish singer in order to raise awareness of the dangers of the coronavirus in Jewish communities, Shulem Lemmer said in a tweet Wednesday.
"I was approached by the @HHSGov to help bring awareness of anything Covid-19 related to the Orthodox Jewish community & beyond," Lemmer tweeted, saying he would be interviewing Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Dr. Brett Giroir and that his fans should tweet back to him "with any questions or concerns, and we will do our utmost to address them."
Lemmer, who hails from the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, belongs to the Belz hasidic sect and is the first born-and-raised Haredi Jew to sign a recording contract with a major record label, Universal Music Group.
After studying at the the Belzer Cheder in Borough Park, Lemmer moved to Israel where he studied at the Mirrer Yeshiva in Jerusalem. He has been singing since he was 10 years old. After signing the recording deal he began appearing at major league baseball and basketball games to sing the national anthem and God Bless America.
Earlier this week New York City health officials issued a warning that new clusters of coronavirus infections were emerging in several city neighborhoods that are home to high concentrations of Orthodox Jews.
"We have observed heightened rates of COVID-19 in many neighborhoods with large Orthodox Jewish populations," city health commissioner David Chokshi wrote in an e-mail to Orthodox Jewish news outlets.
Massive outbreaks earlier this year that killed over 700 members of the Jewish community were in many cases traced back to gatherings at synagogues.
Lemmer said when the record company first contacted him he thought it was a joke, but the deal went through under his conditions.
"We were able to get a line in the contract that I can say no to anything that doesn't agree with me halachically [according to Jewish law]," Lemmer told the Jew in the City website.
"Music can reach people everywhere and help them connect," Lemmer said. "Not only in the Jewish world, but different people from all different religions and different backgrounds say it [my music] inspired them."
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NYC vows to crack down if COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Orthodox neighborhoods
After days of warning about rising COVID-19 cases in Orthodox neighborhoods, New York City is threatening drastic enforcement measures starting as early as Tuesday, the day after Yom Kippur.
The city also plans to begin inspecting private schools in areas with high COVID-19 rates to check that they are conforming to the city's rules, which include shutting when there are two unrelated cases in the same building.
The enforcement measures could include closing businesses and schools, moves that would inflame already strained relations between the communities and the city.
City officials and community leaders alike have expressed growing alarm about the spread of the coronavirus in Orthodox communities, where six neighborhoods contributed a fifth of the city's new infections as of Sept. 19. Meanwhile, many people in those neighborhoods do not wear masks in public, which the city requires when outdoors and distancing is not possible, and continue to gather in large numbers.
In an email to reporters Thursday evening, Patrick Gallahue, a spokesperson for the city's health department, said that if progress in slowing the spread of infection was not made by Monday evening, the city would take serious action, including prohibiting all gatherings of more than 10 people, issuing fines for refusal to wear a mask, ordering private schools and childcare centers that do not meet city standards to close and shutting down all nonessential businesses immediately.
The department also announced "regular inspections of all non-public schools within these clusters and their adjacent zip codes," according to the email.
The department pointed to continued increases in positive COVID test results in the six neighborhoods cited on Tuesday — Williamsburg, Borough Park, Midwood, Bensonhurst/Mapleton, Kew Gardens, and Far Rockaway — as well as two other neighborhoods, Gravesend/Homecrest and Gerritsen Beach/Homecrest/Sheepshead Bay.
"The Sheriff and NYPD continue to monitor mask compliance in these neighborhoods, which have been overwhelmingly low compared to other areas of the city," Gallahue wrote.
After announcing the uptick in cases Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city would increase communication with community leaders and outreach to residents of the neighborhoods themselves.
Gallahue said there was an increased presence of New York Police Department officers and community affairs liaisons as well as representatives of other city agencies Wednesday and Thursday to distribute information and masks in neighborhoods with increasing COVID cases. The department is also deploying mobile testing units to Midwood, Williamsburg, Borough Park, Kew Gardens and Far Rockaway.
The department will also send robocall announcements, send sound trucks and ambulances out to play messages about testing in English and Yiddish, send direct mail notices and place advertisements in local newspapers.
Because of the disease's incubation period, any changes implemented immediately may not lower the case count sufficiently by early next week.
One thing that could: reducing testing. Already, there is a push to stop testing in several of the Orthodox communities seeing an uptick, due to the low threshold for positive COVID cases to shut down schools. A message circulated on Whatsapp, a popular messaging service in Orthodox communities, Thursday advising parents not to have their children tested for COVID because it could lead to schools being shut down. A flyer circulated on Whatsapp Thursday, signed by leaders of the Williamsburg Hasidic community, discouraging COVID testing in a message in Yiddish.
Community leaders reached for comment Thursday night were not aware of the announcement before it was made. David Greenfield, a former city councilman who represented parts of Borough Park and the current CEO of the Met Council, a social service agency that works with many Orthodox Jews, lamented the timing of the announcement.
"It's unfortunate that instead of working with this community that so clearly lacks information the city is resorting to threats on the eve of Yom Kippur," he said.
Avi Greenstein, head of the Boro Park Jewish Community Council, said the announcement would disincentivize testing and that there had been "no meaningful communication from the authorities, especially the NYC Department of Health. And certainly, there has been no collaboration."
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Thursday, September 24, 2020
3,000 Hasidic Cossacks Congregate on Ukrainian Border
Operating in total haste, the Ukrainian government unexpectedly announced last month that in response to a serious upswing in cases of COVID-19, it would reestablish the most stringent border entry policy in the world. That public health policy has created a new problem for the Eastern European country: A large group of religious Jews prone to bouts of jubilant dancing is now marooned on the Ukrainian border, pleading and demanding entry into the country so they can carry out their annual religious rites.
Ukraine's entry ban was set to commence for the month from Aug. 28 to Sept. 28, leading some observers to speculate that it was aimed specifically at the religious pilgrims who embark on an annual pilgrimage to the Ukrainian town of Uman and engage in Rosh Hashanah festivities. The anarchic, mystical, dance-filled gathering of tens of thousands of Hasidim is very much akin to the Burning Man festival of the Jewish world. The atmosphere does not leave much room for social distancing, which led Ukrainian authorities to predict that it could become a superspreader event and prompted their intervention.
The destination for the festivities is the tomb of Rabbi Nachman, the founder of the mystically inclined Breslov Hasidic dynasty, which is located halfway between Odessa and Kyiv. The pilgrimage ritual began after his death in 1811 and continued on as a clandestine activity during late Soviet times when all religious observances were banned by the Soviet authorities. It has morphed in recent decades into an annual ritual for thousands of Hasids who arrive mostly from Israel and America but also come from France, the United Kingdom, and the wider post-Soviet world.
Notably, the pilgrimage to Uman has been a source of occasional tension and trouble for many years, with the friction occasionally erupting into local violence that has a way of transforming into diplomatic headaches for all involved. This year, both the Israeli and the Ukrainian governments had pleaded with the Hasidim—to no avail—that they take this plague year off from visiting the tomb of the rabbi. Neither government had particularly wanted the problems which were to follow and the Israeli government engaged in high-level diplomatic negotiations with the Ukrainians regarding the issue.
Last Thursday evening, a truly surreal video appeared on social media as several dozen Hasidim dressed up in traditional Ukrainian folk costumes in order to serenade the Ukrainians into offering them entry. Looking fabulous in billowy white shirts and blue sashes over the bright red trousers of Ukrainian Cossacks, the Hasids performed a shortened version of the Ukrainian national anthem in a rather minor mournful key. One of them strummed a guitar while singing the words of the Ukrainian anthem with a charming, lilting accent. The rendition was surprisingly melancholic and moving. They concluded the song by offering up thanks to Ukraine and to Ukraine's Jewish President Volodymyr Zelensky personally. "Glory to Ukraine!" they exclaim in unison at the end of the video, with likely no understanding of the historical provenance of the phrase.
With all direct flights to Kyiv canceled, the Hasidim who were determined to make a run at the border needed to do so by arriving in next door Belarus. This required them to decamp in the middle of a revolutionary situation and massive popular protests that followed the falsified Aug. 9 presidential election and ensuing violence between demonstrators and state security forces. Kyiv recently broke off all political and diplomatic relations with Minsk in response to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's continued accusations that Ukraine meddled in Belarus' political upheaval and fomented problems at the border between the two nations. Ukrainian officials who were already incensed with Minsk over the accusations now suspected that the Belarusians were also funneling Hasidic mystics to their border in order to cause further problems.
The BBC reported that "the office of Ukraine's president said Belarus was spreading false hope that the pilgrims could cross. Belarus wants a corridor to be opened for them." The fact that Ukraine's President Zelensky is himself of Jewish patrimony has not put him in any rush to assist the religious pilgrims—if anything, Zelensky's background likely makes him more reluctant to be seen as offering special accommodations to the Hasidic travelers. On Tuesday, President Lukashenko took time away from the existential legitimacy crisis that threatens to topple his 26-year-long dictatorship in order to opine that Ukraine had to provide a "green corridor for pilgrims to arrive in Uman by bus." Accusations that the Ukrainians were committing human rights violations were proffered without any apparent irony.
A phalanx of Ukrainian border guards resting on their steel shields can be seen manning a checkpoint in front of hundreds of Orthodox men in videos published from the border. Some of the Hasidim at the border wait pensively, some pray, and others dance raucously.
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Tuesday, September 22, 2020
11 Hasidim banned from entering Ukraine until 2025
On September 21, Ukrainian Border Guards detected a bus with 11 Hasidic worshippers who claimed they did not carry any documents. They will be forbidden to enter Ukraine until 2025, press office of the State Border Guard reports on Telegram.
"Yesterday, border guards of Podillya unit, together with police workers, detected a bus with 11 foreigners - not far from the state border", reads the message.
In spite of the statements made by foreigners, Ukrainian law enforcers found passprots of ten Istaeli citizens and a French citizen. All of these individuals returned from Uman, where they celebrated Rosh Hashanah.
"Since the foreigners breached the rules of stay in Ukraine, they will be banned from entering our country within five years, and they will be forcefully deported to their homelands", the State Border Guard said.
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Monday, September 21, 2020
Indian-Jewish MMA and kickboxing champion set to make aliya
An Indian-Jewish MMA and kickboxing champion, who has won a host of prestigious competitions, is set to make aliya to Israel where he hopes to compete for the Jewish state.
Obed Hrangchal, 26, has already won two gold, seven silver and two bronze national medals in Wushu, Kickboxing, Muay Thai and Karate. But what makes Hrangchal's story unique is that he is an observant Jew and a part of the Bnei Menashe community.
The Bnei Menashe say they are descended of Jews from a lost biblical tribe, banished from ancient Israel to India in the eighth century B.C.E.
Together with his parents, Gabriel and Ruth Hrangchal, and sister Lucy, Obed is set to fulfill his life-long dream shortly after the Jewish High Holidays and immigrate to Israel, where they want to settle in the city of Nof HaGalil in northern part of the country after they complete their absorption process.
"I have always dreamt of making aliya to the Land of Israel and I am very excited at the prospect of doing so. If possible, I would certainly like to join the IDF and I would be honored to represent Israel in MMA and Kickboxing competitions," Obed said.
The athlete hopes to complete the immigartion process with the help of Shavei Israel, an Israeli-based Jewish organization that encourages people of Jewish descent to strengthen their connection with Israel.
"We are very proud of Obed and his impressive accomplishments and we look forward to welcoming him and his family here in Israel along with the 700-plus other Bnei Menashe, whom we will be bringing in the coming year", said Shavei Israel Founder and Chairman Michael Freund. "Obed is another outstanding example of how the Bnei Menashe can contribute to Israeli society and I hope that we will soon see him ascending the stage and winning medals for Israel worldwide," he added.
Originally from the village of Thinghlun in the Indian state of Mizoram, the Hrangchals were the only Jewish family in town. In 2013, they sold their home and farmlands to move to the capital city of Aizawl in order to join the local Jewish community while awaiting the opportunity to make aliya.
Without the family farm, Obed's father, was left without a job and being Jewish makes it more difficult to find steady work since Jews do not work on Shabbat or Jewish holidays.
Despite the difficulties, Obed has succeeded in garnering widespread recognition in the sporting world and has won awards in martial arts from the Mizoram State Sport Council and the Mizoram State Wushu Association, which are affiliated with the Indian Olympic Association as well as the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
"I started practicing martial arts from a very young age, about 6 years old, but without proper instruction," reports Obed Hrangchal. "As I grew up, I steadily improved and then I began to compete at the state level in 2014, when I competed in Chinese Kickboxing or Wushu and won second place. That same year, I began to study Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) under an instructor."
Thus far, more than 4,000 Bnei Menashe have made aliya to Israel in the past two decades, thanks largely to Shavei Israel. Another 6,500 remain in India, all of whom wish to make the Jewish state their home.
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Friday, September 18, 2020
K'Sivah V'Chasima Toivah
After Being Stuck for Days, Hasidic Jewish Pilgrims Retreat From Ukraine Border
Thousands of Hasidic Jews, stuck at the Ukrainian border for days due to coronavirus restrictions, have turned back without reaching their destination, the grave of a revered rabbi, officials said Friday.
About 2,000 ultra-Orthodox Jewish pilgrims had traveled through Belarus in hope of reaching the Ukrainian city of Uman to visit the grave of Nachman of Bratslav, an important Hasidic rabbi who died in 1810.
Thousands of the Hasidic pilgrims visit the city each September for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year. It's celebrated September 18-20 this year, and some pilgrims had managed to get to Uman before Ukraine closed its borders in late August amid a surge in COVID-19 infections. Thousands of others traveled via Belarus, which hasn't barred foreign visitors from entering.
Authorities in Ukraine and Belarus said Friday that Hasidic pilgrims cleared the no-man's land between the two countries where they camped for several days, some sleeping in makeshift tents and others on the ground. Belarusian border guards said that less then a dozen of them remained in the area.
At the same time, Ukraine's border guards agency said Friday that it turned back several Hasidic pilgrims who tried to enter the country from Poland, Hungary and Romania.
As the pilgrims spent days stuck on the Ukrainian border, Ukraine and Belarus engaged in angry bickering over the standoff.
On Wednesday, Ukraine's presidential office accused Belarusian authorities of issuing misleading signals to the pilgrims that they would eventually be allowed to cross the border. Belarusian officials shot back accusing Ukraine of "inhumane" treatment of the pilgrims, and offered to provide buses to drive the pilgrims to Uman and back to Belarus.
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Thursday, September 17, 2020
Ukraine urges Jewish pilgrims stuck at border to turn back
Ukraine on Thursday strongly warned thousands of Hasidic Jewish pilgrims who have been stuck on its border for days that it won't allow them into the country due to coronavirus restrictions.
Ukrainian authorities said about 2,000 people have gathered at the border with Belarus, in hope of traveling to the Ukrainian city of Uman to visit the grave of an important Hasidic rabbi who died in 1810, Nachman of Breslov.
Thousands of the ultra-Orthodox Jews visit the city each September for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year. It's celebrated Sept. 18-20 this year, and some pilgrims had managed to get to Uman before Ukraine closed its borders in late August amid a surge in COVID-19 infections. Thousands of others traveled via Belarus, which hasn't barred foreign visitors from entering.
On Thursday, Ukraine's Interior Ministry official Mykhailo Apostol reaffirmed that the pilgrims will not be allowed to cross the border.
"Ukraine has shut its borders to foreigners, and no exclusions will be made for the Hasidic pilgrims," Apostol told reporters. "It's getting colder and we suggest that they come back to Belarus, buy tickets and go home."
Also, Israeli Higher Education Minister Zeev Elkin tweeted Thursday that efforts to help the pilgrims enter Ukraine have failed, and called on them to return to Israel.
As thousands of pilgrims spent days in the no-man's land between Belarus and Ukraine, some sleeping in makeshift tents and others on the ground, Ukraine and Belarus bickered over the standoff.
On Wednesday, Ukraine's presidential office accused Belarusian authorities of issuing misleading signals to the pilgrims that they would eventually be allowed to cross the border. Belarusian officials shot back accusing Ukraine of "inhumane" treatment of the pilgrims, and offered to provide buses to drive the pilgrims to Uman and back to Belarus.
Ukraine's presidential office alleged Wednesday that Belarusian authorities' actions could be rooted in the latest tensions between the two neighbors following Belarus' controversial presidential election.
Ukraine has joined the United States and the European Union in criticizing the Aug. 9 vote, in which President Alexander Lukashenko extended his 26-year authoritarian rule, as neither free nor fair and urged Belarusian authorities to end their crackdown on protesters.
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Wednesday, September 16, 2020
2,000 Hasidic Jews gather at Ukraine's border where they are barred entry from Belarus
Around 2,000 Hasidic Jews have gathered at Ukraine's border with Belarus where their annual pilgrimage has been barred due to coronavirus restrictions.
Kiev has accused President Alexander Lukashenko of manufacturing the crisis by giving the pilgrims hope that they could cross the frontier in retaliation for Ukraine's support for the recent pro-democracy protests.
Despite Ukraine's strict travel restrictions, the pilgrims are seeking to visit the tomb of Rabbi Nahman, founder of the Breslov branch of Hasidic Judaism, in the central Ukrainian town of Uman this weekend.
A statement from President Volodymyr Zelensky's office this afternoon told Belarus 'to stop creating additional tension on the border' and made pointed references to the 'dubious' August 9 poll that saw Lukashenko re-elected.
It comes after Lukashenko visited Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday to receive military and economic backing worth £1.15 billion, in the face of Western outcry over last month's ballot.
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Monday, September 14, 2020
Haredi minister’s resignation a sign of ultra-Orthodox distrust
The coronavirus pandemic has led to Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community losing trust in both the government and the religious political parties that represent them, an expert from the Israeli Democracy Institute (IDI) said Sunday.
The comments came in the wake of the resignation of Housing Minister Yaakov Litzman, the head of the United Torah Judaism Party that is a partner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government.
Litzman quit ahead of the anticipated announcement of a national lockdown as the coronavirus infection rate continued to soar out of control. That closure is expected to include a ban on prayer in synagogues for the Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur holy days that begin this coming Friday.
"MK Litzman's resignation is indicative of a very strong sentiment among the ultra-Orthodox community where there is currently a high level of distrust of government policies," said Dr. Gilad Malach, Director of IDI's Ultra-Orthodox in Israel program.
"Significant portions of this segment of the population feels that they were singled out in the implementation of the 'corona restrictions' enacted by the government and that synagogues are discriminated against in comparison with [public] demonstrations [against the government]," Malach said.
Health restrictions currently limit the number of worshipers. Those at prayer must wear masks and maintain social distancing. During Yom Kippur especially, synagogues are normally packed in many cases to standing room only.
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Friday, September 11, 2020
Ukraine to expel two Hasidic Jews for tearing down barriers at pilgrimage site
Ukraine said on Thursday that it will deport two ultra-Orthodox Jews after they broke apart metal barriers near the grave of an 18th-century rabbi.
Tens of thousands of Hasidic Jews travel every Rosh Hashanah, held this year on September 18-20, to the town of Uman in central Ukraine to visit the tomb of Rabbi Nachman, the founder of the Bratslav Hasidic movement.
But restrictions imposed by the Ukrainian authorities to stop the spread of the coronavirus significantly cut the number of pilgrims and limited the scope of the celebrations this year.
"Yesterday in the town of Uman a group of young pilgrims and Israeli citizens made a mess at the grave of Tzaddik Nachman, breaking apart barriers set up to ensure the orderly passage to the shrine," Ukrainian Deputy Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko said.
Ukrainian law enforcement agencies will deport "two of the most aggressive Israeli citizens," Gerashchenko said on Facebook.
"Ukrainians are hospitable people, but we will not tolerate rude behavior and violence," he added.
The United Jewish Community of Ukraine condemned the upheaval at the grave and called on pilgrims to behave responsibly.
"Jewish wisdom says that it is necessary to observe the laws of the country in which the Jew is," the statement said according to an English-language translation reported by the UNIAN news agency. "Given the current situation, when the pilgrimage is significantly limited, those who were able to get to Uman should all the more behave appropriately."
The organization said it was appealing to the Rabbi Nachman Foundation, which represents the Bratslav movement in Ukraine, asking what measures it will be taking and urging the foundation to punish those involved.
"We ask you to do everything possible so that they are punished and not allowed to the complex of Rabbi Nachman, in order to show others the inadmissibility of such behavior and the seriousness of the consequences of such behavior," the statement said.
On Wednesday, dozens of Bratslav pilgrims began tearing down metal barriers installed at the grave site that were erected by local authorities to limit the numbers of visitors in the complex.
In video shared on social media, the pilgrims could be seen pulling apart the barriers. Pilgrims in Uman told the Ynet website that the Bratslav followers were frustrated at the limitations and the delays in providing a plan for them to all be able to pray as they wish.
Last month, the Ukrainian and Israeli governments called on Hasidic Jews not to travel to Uman, a town of 80,000 people, this year, fearing a spike in coronavirus infections.
Kyiv later banned foreigners from entering the country until late September.
Authorities have also warned they plan to set up checkpoints at the entrance to Uman and some 3,000 pilgrims who are still expected to visit the shrine this year will have to test for coronavirus.
Rabbi Nachman is one of the main figures of Hasidism, a mystical branch of Judaism that appeared in the 18th-century and which developed in particular in Poland and Ukraine.
Ukraine has reported more than 145,000 cases of coronavirus and 3,023 fatalities.
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Thursday, September 10, 2020
UJCU condemned the actions of the pilgrims who caused disorder at the grave of Rabbi Nachman in Uman
The United Jewish Community of Ukraine condemned the incident at the grave of Rabbi Nachman in Uman, JewishNews reports. UNIAN cites the text of the UJCU statement: "Jewish wisdom says that it is necessary to observe the laws of the country in which the Jew is. Given the current situation, when the pilgrimage is significantly limited, those who were able to get to Uman should all the more behave appropriately."
In addition, UJCU turned to the Rabbi Nachman Foundation, which officially represents the interests of the Breslov Hasidim in Ukraine: "UJCU condemns this behavior and publicly appeals to the Rabbi Nachman Foundation, which officially represents the interests of the Breslov Hasidim in Ukraine, with a request to provide information on what measures were taken in relation to the Hasidic pilgrims who were involved in the incident."
The United Jewish Community of Ukraine also called for punishment of young pilgrims so that the situation would serve as a lesson for them: "We ask you to do everything possible so that they are punished and not allowed to the complex of Rabbi Nachman, in order to show the others the inadmissibility of such behavior and the seriousness of the consequences of such behavior." Previously, the young Breslov Hasidim made a disorder and tried to break the fences installed in order to comply with anti-epidemic measures.
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Wednesday, September 09, 2020
Trump nominated for Nobel Peace Prize for Israel-UAE agreement
President Donald Trump was nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for brokering the normalization agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
Christian Tybring-Gjedde, a lawmaker in the Norway parliament who heads his country's delegation to NATO, nominated Trump, Fox News first reported. Tybring-Gjedde, a member of the conservative-leaning populist Progress Party, told Fox that Trump has "done more trying to create peace between nations than most other Peace Prize nominees."
Fox quoted from his nomination letter: "As it is expected other Middle Eastern countries will follow in the footsteps of the UAE, this agreement could be a game changer that will turn the Middle East into a region of cooperation and prosperity."
Tybring-Gjedde and fellow Progress Party lawmaker Per-Willy Amundsen nominated Trump for the same prize in 2018, citing his Singapore summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un.
"I'm not a big Trump supporter," Tybring-Gjedde told Fox. "The committee should look at the facts and judge him on the facts, not on the way he behaves sometimes. The people who have received the Peace Prize in recent years have done much less than Donald Trump. For example, Barack Obama did nothing."
Obama, Trump's predecessor, was awarded the prize in 2009 "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." The Nobel Committee said it "attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons."
The post Trump nominated for Nobel Peace Prize for brokering Israel-UAE agreement appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Tuesday, September 08, 2020
Federal Voter Fraud Statute Applied to Purely Local Election
A developer who undertook a scheme to stuff the ballot box in a small New York town to elect a mayor who supported building a Hasidic Jewish community there was guilty of federal voter fraud, the Second Circuit said Tuesday.
The federal statute applied to Volvy Smilowitz because New York conducts a unitary voter system for local, state, and federal elections, and his scheme targeted at the purely local Bloomingburn, N.Y., mayoral election had the potential to affect future federal elections, the opinion by Judge John M. Walker Jr. said.
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Friday, September 04, 2020
South Nyack police looking for racist, anti-Semitic intruders of government Zoom meeting
Police are seeking the public's help to capture two masked bigots who interrupted a government meeting to spew racist, anti-Semitic comments and terrorist threats.
The police released videos of the intrusions on the village website, warning, "The videos and photographs contain vulgar and offensive content."
"The suspects stated multiple times 'I am going to bomb your village tonight and ISIS is coming to your village'," South Nyack-Grand View Daniel Wilson said in a news release.
After displaying a Nazi swastika flag during an initial appearance, one hacker showed a rainbow flag, stating, "This is what I do to LGBTs," as a person is beheaded in the background, Wilson said.
When the flag was not seen, one person sat in a room painted green. That person wore goggles, an Orange-colored wool hat, a scarf or bandanna across the mouth, and gloves. The second person didn't turn on a camera but could be heard making vulgar comments.
The man and woman — based on the sound of their voices — interrupted the Board of Trustees' Zoom meeting seven times on Monday morning, police said.
They targeted Mayor Bonnie Christian with vulgar comments, as well as cursing out Jews and using racist language about Blacks.
The verbal assault came as the Board of Trustees hired a consultant for $15,000 to study the pros-and-cons of dissolving the village.
Partially spurring the dissolution movement is a Ramapo Hasidic Jewish congregation plans to buy Nyack College's 107-acre campus and run schools with dormitories for 500 high school and college-level students.
The schools would replace the Christian Missionary School and become tax-exempted like the college
Dissolution proponents argue eradicating the government for Orangetown would reduce taxes. Underlying support comes from those residents who fear what the Hasidic Jewish congregation will bring to the community.
Christian said she reported the disruption, known as a "Zoom-bomb," to the village police chief. One resident suggested calling the FBI.
"That was disgusting," Christian said. "Our police are investigating. We don't tolerate that behavior."
The police investigation involves other law enforcement agencies, including the Rockland Computer Crimes Task Force.
Anyone with information can call the South Nyack-Grand View Police Department at 845-358-0206 or email: police@southnyack.ny.gov.
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A McDonald’s franchisee will pay $69,000 in settling a lawsuit over a Jewish man’s beard
Telling an observant Jewish man applying for a job that he had to shave his beard will cost an owner of 11 Orlando-area McDonald's franchise stores $69,555 as part of settling a religious discrimination lawsuit.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the lawsuit against Chalfont & Associates in 2019 on behalf of Morteza Javadi. Chalfont will pay Javadi $69,555 and promises to not exclude applicants because of religious beliefs or practices, including not shaving beards.
According to the EEOC lawsuit, Javadi applied online for a maintenance job in 2016 at the 900 State Rd. store in Longwood. During the in-person interview, Javadi was told he would have to shave his beard to comply with Chalfont's "completely clean shaven" policy for employees.
Javadi is a Hasidic Jewish man. Orthodox observers typically comply with Leviticus 19:27: "Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard."
The manager, the lawsuit said, rejected Javadi's offer to wear a beard net, citing Chalfont policy and Florida law. Florida law didn't address beards or beard nets for maintenance workers.
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Thursday, September 03, 2020
Police in Ukraine investigate beating of Hassidic pilgrim in Uman
An Israeli Hasidic man was been beaten by local residents during a pilgrimage to the Ukrainian town of Uman, local police said Wednesday.
Ukrainian police said several people assaulted the pilgrim during a conflict at a shop in Uman. They said the incident is being investigated.
The man who was attacked has a residence permit in Ukraine, according to the United Jewish Community of Ukraine.
Uman is home to the grave of an important Hassidic rabbi, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, and tens of thousands of pilgrims visit the city each September to mark Rosh Hashanah – the Jewish New Year. Some had come to Ukraine before it closed its borders last week amid a surge in COVID-19 infections.
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Wednesday, September 02, 2020
Top ultra-Orthodox rabbi says yeshiva students shouldn’t take COVID-19 tests
A top rabbi of the ultra-Orthodox community has reportedly instructed yeshiva students not to be tested for the coronavirus to avoid closures of schools and mass quarantines.
Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky cited a "fear of massive damage to Torah study" in his instruction, according to a Wednesday report by the Kikar Hashabbat website, which caters to the ultra-Orthodox community.
Kanievsky, considered among the most important leaders of the non-Hasidic branch of ultra-Orthodox Jewry in Israel, expressed concern that the testing process would take students away from their studies and that positive results would require those who came in contact with the patient to quarantine, further disrupting yeshiva life.
He gave similar reasons a day earlier when he told yeshiva administrators not to quarantine their students who are exposed to virus carriers, as is required under Health Ministry regulations aimed at curbing an ongoing major outbreak of the coronavirus.
In urging against the virus tests, Kanievsky also advised that rabbis who are at risk due to their age or health factors should maintain a distance from students.
According to the Kikar Hashabbat report, Kanievsky's instructions did not apply to high school yeshivas. Unlike the higher yeshivas, where students are at least 17-18 years of age and often sleep on-site in dormitories, many yeshiva high school students return to their homes every evening, bringing them in contact with a greater pool of people and therefore posing a great risk of spreading infections.
Therefore, students at high schools should get a virus test if they show any of the symptoms of the disease, Kanievsky instructed.
Israel's coronavirus czar Ronni Gamzu, the official leading the Israeli response to the outbreak, said in response that Kanievsky's statements "endanger the ultra-Orthodox public."
Binyamin Cohen, director of the yeshiva committee control center tasked with overseeing institutes' adherence to government guidelines, said in a statement to the ultra-Orthodox news site that out of 25,000 yeshiva students, around 500 have been diagnosed so far with the virus and are in quarantine wings within the yeshivas, where they are able to continue with their studies while isolated.
However, according to the Ynet news site, some 800 yeshiva students were found positive for COVID-19 in recent days, leading to thousands being ordered into quarantine.
On Wednesday, around 100 students at a yeshiva in the northern city of Karmiel were diagnosed with the disease, the control committee said.
By law, Israelis must enter quarantine for 14 days after being exposed to a person who tests positive for the novel coronavirus.
According to Hebrew-language media reports, Kanievsky on Tuesday said that sending students into legally required quarantine could lead to "damaging the study of Torah, heaven forbid."
Kanievsky added that "it is the duty of the heads of the yeshivas to allow the study [to continue] in a way that is not dangerous," without expounding.
The comments by Kanievsky came as Israeli children were returning to school following summer break, amid fears from officials that students could serve as major coronavirus infection vectors.
In March, as the pandemic began to spread in Israel, Kanievsky announced through a spokesman that study halls should remain open, as "canceling Torah study is more dangerous than the coronavirus." His edict, which he later rescinded, was partially blamed for high infection rates in ultra-Orthodox communities in Israel, including in his hometown of Bnei Brak.
According to Health Ministry figures, ultra-Orthodox communities have led the country in infection rates, though in recent months morbidity levels have dropped off. Several cities marked as hot zones under a plan implemented earlier this week are ultra-Orthodox, including the West Bank settlement-city of Beitar Illit.
On Monday, Beitar Illit protested an order to close schools after being designated a "red city," or high infection zone, under coronavirus czar Ronni Gamzu's "traffic light" program.
The program, which is meant to help the country fight the coronavirus while avoiding a total lockdown, designates cities, towns, and regional councils as red, orange, yellow, or green based on the number of confirmed cases per capita and the rate at which the virus is spreading in each community.
Bnei Brak is also expected to soon be declared a "red city" according to Hebrew media reports.
Israel has seen nearly 120,000 coronavirus infections and 963 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
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Tuesday, September 01, 2020
Jewish man beaten at supermarket in Uman, Ukraine
An Orthodox Jewish man was beaten in the face at a supermarket in the Ukrainian city of Uman.
The incident happened Monday evening as the man, who has not been named in the Ukrainian media, left the store with a friend. Two men approached the Orthodox shoppers and one hit the victim in the nose, causing some bleeding.
The alleged attacker and his friend fled, the head of the United Jewish Community of Ukraine, Michael Tkatch, wrote on Facebook.
Police are investigating whether the incident was an anti-Semitic assault.
Pilgrimages to Uman, which is home to the grave of Nachman of Breslov, an 18th-century luminary and founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement, were supposed to have been curtailed this year due to coronavirus restrictions.
About 30,000 pilgrims, mostly from Israel, arrive there each year ahead of Rosh Hashanah. Clashes between locals and pilgrims are a common occurrence during the pilgrimage period.
Ukrainian authorities said they were closing the borders to foreigners until Sept. 28 in what was widely perceived as a move to prevent the pilgrims from defying orders not to come. Israel's government supports the Ukrainian move, officials have said.
But in an apparent effort to beat the closure, dozens of pilgrims reportedly arrived early in Uman. In the video, some of the foreigners are seen carrying large bags suggesting they had just arrived from abroad.
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