Wednesday, December 29, 2021
Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoes Blooming Grove conservation bill due to 'tensions' with Hasidic community
Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill on Wednesday that would have enabled the town of Blooming Grove to tax property sales and use the proceeds to buy land it wants to conserve or the development rights to those tracts.
The proposal was nearly identical to a conservation bill for the neighboring town of Chester that Hochul's predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, vetoed in 2019 because of accusations that it was intended to thwart housing development for the growing Hasidic community.
Hochul alluded to that same conflict in her explanation for rejecting the Blooming Grove bill, without taking a stance on the claims of bigotry.
"There have been well-documented tensions in Orange County between local elected officials and members of the Hasidic community," Hochul wrote in her veto message. "Similar tensions in the nearby Town of Chester resulted in litigation. It would be inappropriate to sign this legislation at this juncture, while facts are still being gathered about the situation."
Advocates for the Orthodox community cheered Hochul's veto on Thursday, arguing the bill unfairly targeted Hasidic community growth.
"It's a disgrace that such bills even get out of committees," said Yossi Gestetner, co-founder of the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council. "Those bills are written with the false and bigoted assumption that growth of said communities are a problem when in fact they are an economic and tax boon for local communities as shown in multiple data reports on our website."
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Thursday, December 23, 2021
For these Orthodox women, balancing demanding careers with family life is worth the challenges
Orthodox Brooklyn native Chana Wircberg always knew she wanted to be a physician.
Shortly after marrying and becoming a young mother, Wircberg made her dream come true, graduating in May from Touro's New York Medical College. Now 27, Wircberg is in the first year of a residency in internal medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. Her goal is to specialize in oncology.
Wircberg, who is a member of the Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic movement, sees no conflict between her religious outlook and her profession. On the contrary, she sees it as part of her "shlichus" — the Jewish outreach work that Chabad Hasidim consider part of their religious calling.
But growing up in a Hasidic community, Wircberg had no female medical practitioners to look up to as role models.
"I am doing my outreach through my profession and by being a good human being," Wircberg said. "But it certainly would have been very comforting to have seen someone like me when I was growing up."
Miriam Abraham, a religious woman who worked for 13 years at Price Waterhouse before recently switching to in-house accountant at the investment firm Tiger Global Management, says it's critical for Orthodox women to be seen working in professional fields — not just to serve as role models internally, but to represent the community to the world.
"Orthodox women particularly are misrepresented in the media," Abraham said. "It is important to dispel myths and for people to see what a mainstream Orthodox woman is like — which is much like everyone else."
Religiously observant women face some particular challenges taking on ambitious careers because they tend to marry and have children at much younger ages than their nonobservant or non-Jewish counterparts. At a time when many of their peers are focused solely on school or work, Orthodox women also may be juggling wedding planning, pregnancies or child-rearing.
Miriam Ivry, 25, says support is essential for working Orthodox women who are also moms. Ivry, who earned her dentistry degree in May, married a fellow student in the first year of the program and gave birth to a baby in the third. She is now a dental resident at New York Presbyterian Queens Dental Clinic.
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Wednesday, December 22, 2021
Man proposes to fiancée in NY Yiddish library
David Frisch, 24, had the perfect plan to propose to his girlfriend, Pammy Brenner, while the two were in New York visiting her family. He would get down on one knee in the reading room at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, where Brenner had been a research fellow from 2018 to 2020.
He just needed to get her to go along with it.
Though Brenner, 24, had spent hours upon hours in the institute's Lillian Goldman Reading Room, getting her to the library on Sunday wasn't as easy as Frisch had expected. He enlisted the help of one of Brenner's favorite undergraduate professors at Barnard College, Agi Lugetko, who teaches Yiddish literature.
Lugetko was going to lure Brenner to YIVO's archives under the guise that new materials had been discovered from Shomer (the pen name of Nahum Meïr Schaikewitz), the obscure Yiddish writer and bitter rival of Sholem Aleichem whom Brenner had been researching.
But Brenner already suspected she would be getting engaged that day, so she kept asking the professor to reschedule. As much as she loved her Yiddish research, she loved Frisch more, she told The New York Jewish Week, and she didn't want to miss the date they had at Washington Square Park.
"I was sending my professor emails saying 'I'm 99% sure I'm on my way to get engaged. Can we please meet up literally any other day?'" she said. "And she was forwarding them to David, saying 'Things are not going to plan.'"
Eventually, Brenner's sister just put her in an Uber. When Brenner realized she was headed for the Center for Jewish History on West 16th Street — where the YIVO archives are housed — instead of Washington Square Park, Brenner figured Frisch was rearranging the plan so she could check out the documents, and then he would propose later in the day.
When she arrived at the archives, Brenner was told that there was a book waiting for her.
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Monday, December 20, 2021
Flyers Blaming Jewish People for COVID Circulate in California, North Carolina Areas
Dozens of flyers containing antisemitic conspiracy theories that the coronavirus pandemic was started by the Jewish community were scattered in areas of California and North Carolina over the weekend, according to police.
The flyers were distributed across Greensboro, North Carolina, as well as in Pasadena and Beverley Hills, California, late Saturday night and into Sunday morning.
Residents of the areas woke to find the antisemitic messages placed in plastic bags and weighed down with pebbles, as well as delivered with their morning newspapers. In each state, the perpetrators targeted both Jewish and non-Jewish homes.
Police in Pasadena and Beverly Hills are investigating after at least 200 of the flyers were scattered in their cities between roughly midnight and 4 a.m., TV station KTLA reported. The flyers began with the statement that "every single aspect of the COVID agenda is Jewish" and proceeded to list a number of antisemitic theories linked to the pandemic.
"The distribution of [antisemitic] fliers in Pasadena and other Southern California communities over the weekend is abhorrent and totally goes against the values of our city and its residents," Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo said in a statement, according to KTLA.
"Our thoughts are with our residents and all those hurt by these disgusting acts. We know Pasadena residents—of all faiths—will to stand together and speak out against hatred in all forms," the mayor said.
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Thursday, December 16, 2021
Chabad is the First Jewish Center in Virtual Reality
The human world is extending. Through 1s and 0s, computer developers are building a parallel world housed in the screens we carry: the metaverse. This isn't some fringe reality for computer geeks; Facebook rebranded as Meta, Justin Bieber has performed for thousands in a metaverse concert, and investors are spending millions on real estate in a virtual realm called Decentraland. The metaverse is real and it's coming fast– full of shops, museums, offices, social experiences, and events that you can attend as a video-game-like avatar.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe taught that G-d reveals new technologies to humanity as opportunities to expand spirituality and to connect Jews around the world. In these footsteps, three friends are bringing Judaism into the metaverse. Rabbi Shmuli Nachlas, Rabbi Yisroel Wilhelm, and <strong>Alex Gelbert</strong> have launched JewishVirtualReality.com and the MANA Jewish Center, located in the metaverse world called Decentraland.
Now, Jews around the world who—for various reasons including a global pandemic—cannot or prefer not to attend events in-person can build friendships, study Torah, and attend events in a virtual Jewish community. "The rationale is simple," says Rabbi Wilhelm of Boulder, Colorado, "where there are people, there is Chabad."
Alex, a tech enthusiast and owner of the digital advertising agency Let There Be, says, "Jewish culture, history, art, learning, and community now have another home. If you build a physical Jewish Center in Denver, you reach people within 20 miles. We're building in cyberspace and anyone with an internet connection can participate."
"Decentraland advertises Lose yourself in an amazing, evolving world," says Rabbi Nachlas of Toronto. "We believe that a Jewish Center in the metaverse–just like a physical one in your home city–is a place in which you can find yourself. We look forward to welcoming all bold and pioneering Jewish organizations to join us as we develop Jewish experiences in virtual reality."
Construction of MANA Jewish Center is soon to "break ground". Current plans include a center conducive for community events, socializing, study, shopping, and more. To visit MANA Jewish Center, head into Decentraland (www.decentraland.org) and walk or teleport to coordinates "-57, -136".
Like in the physical world, the metaverse has an economy and building costs money. Consider contributing to the growth of Judaism in the metaverse. All donations made in cryptocurrency or old fashioned earth dollars are tax-deductible.
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Tuesday, December 14, 2021
Man Sentenced to 11 Years for Strangling and Assaulting a Jewish Man in Brooklyn
A 44-year-old man has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for strangling and assaulting a Jewish man as he walked home from his synagogue in East Flatbush.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said James Vincent was sentenced for strangulation and assault as hate crimes for the unprovoked attack against the man in April 2018, whom he cursed and strangled as the victim was walking home from a synagogue.
Gonzalez said a 52-year-old Jewish man was walking home from his synagogue after Sabbath prayers around 1:00pm when he walked past Vincent near Rutland Road and East 46th Street in East Flatbush. Vincent yelled, "You **** Jew, you Jews took my house and mortgage." The victim continued walking when Vincent ran up to him from behind, placed his hands on his neck and applied pressure, according to Gonzalez.
He then punched the man in the head and body, put his arms around his head and applied pressure. Two bystanders intervened and the defendant continued to yell epithets regarding the victim's religion as the victim picked up his yarmulke and kippah, Gonzalez said. Vincent then fled.
The victim suffered various injuries to the head and body.
Several surveillance videos from the area helped to identify Vincent and the investigation revealed that he purchased ice cream in a nearby store using his bank card. He was arrested on April 27, 2018.
Gonzalez said the "frightening and unprovoked attack" left an innocent man terrorized.
"We will not tolerate bias-motivated crimes in Brooklyn, where we pride ourselves on the diversity of our neighbors," he said. "I hope that this sentence sends the message that my Office will pursue and bring to justice those who target our community members with hate-fueled violence."
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Friday, December 10, 2021
Two years later, Jersey City and Hasidic community ready to move on from Dec. 10 mass shooting
The building on Martin Luther King Drive in Jersey City looks like so many others you see during the coronavirus pandemic — a storefront with a metal rolldown door locked in place, in a sort of permanent limbo.
There is nothing to remind people that this is the kosher market where two years ago Dec. 10, three people were gunned down, a short time after a Jersey City police officer was shot dead by the same gunmen in a different part of town.
The Hasidic Jewish and Black communities that share the Greenville neighborhood prefer it that way, saying it's time to move on and leave the mass shooting as a distant memory.
Baruch Lepkivker, rabbi of the Sons of Israel Nusach Chabad in Journal Square, said the general feeling of the people he has spoken with is "let's forget about it and let's hope life will go on." He says people are still trying to cope with the tragedy.
Lepkivker, who lives in Greenville, said the victims are honored often on various anniversaries, but otherwise, this day is remembered "in a more private way."
Moshe Schapiro, rabbi of Chabad of Hoboken and Jersey City, said the Hasidic community doesn't focus on Dec. 10, 2019, the day the shooting occurred. If anything, "they just use (that day) to remind themselves to be careful and vigilant."
More evidence that the many would rather leave the tragedy behind them is that no public events are planned for Friday to honor those who died that day. Only a menorah lighting last week to mark the start of Hanukkah, at city hall with Mayor Steve Fulop, Gov. Phil Murphy and city council members, commemorated the tragedy.
In September, Bayonne dedicated a park bench and an access road at 16th Street DiDomenico Park to Jersey City Detective Joseph Seals, one of the four victims killed. And a small plaque was placed in Bayview Cemetery in Jersey City, where he was killed.
Mindel Ferencz, 31, who owned the store on MLK Drive with her husband; Moshe Deutsch, 24, a Brooklyn rabbinical student and customer; and store employee Douglas Miguel Rodriguez were also killed that day.
Their killers, David Anderson, 47, and Francine Graham, 50, were shot dead by police who stormed the storefront hours into the shootout.
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Thursday, December 09, 2021
Two Illinois prisoners charged with beating Jewish prisoner to death in hate crime attack
Two Illinois inmates, members of a white supremacist group, have been charged with beating a Jewish inmate to death.
Brandon Simonson, also known as "Whitey," 37, and Kristopher Martin, also known as "No Luck," 39, were each charged with conspiracy to commit murder, second-degree murder, hate crime, and assault resulting in serious bodily injury after the death of fellow inmate Matthew Phillilps, 31.
According to the indictment, both men, incarcerated at Thompson Penitentiary in Thompson, Illinois, were part of a white supremacist group called the Valhalla Bound Skinheads, and conspired to assault Phillips because he was Jewish. On March 2nd, 2020, the pair beat Phillips until he died.
"Hatred and violence on the basis of religion have no place in our society," said U.S. Attorney John Lausch. "We will continue to work with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners to protect the civil rights of all Americans."
Phillips had been serving a sentence for distributing heroin and money laundering.
Both men face sentences of life in prison if convicted.
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Wednesday, December 08, 2021
Antisemitic Killer of Sarah Halimi Refused Treatment From Jewish Nurse at Psychiatric Hospital, French Parliamentary Inquiry Told
A French parliamentary inquiry into the April 2017 murder of a Jewish woman in her own home by an antisemitic assailant has heard that the accused killer refused to be treated by a Jewish nurse at the psychiatric hospital where he is under observation.
The inquiry into the murder of 65-year-old Sarah Halimi by Kobili Traore — who chanted Islamic prayers as he beat his victim senseless, before throwing her body out of a third-floor window — learned details of Traore's daily life in hospital from a French journalist who gave testimony. Earlier this year, France's highest court excused Traore from a criminal trial, on the grounds that his intake of cannabis on the night that he murdered Halimi had rendered him temporarily insane, drawing furious protests from the Jewish community.
Quoting an unnamed source in the hospital where Traore presently resides, Christophe Dansette, a journalist with broadcaster France 24, told the Dec 1. hearing that Traore was not receiving any treatment from doctors there.
"He is not sick, he is a great impersonator," Dansette said.
Dansette revealed that his source told him that as well as continuing to smoke cannabis, Traore was supplying it to other patients at the hospital.
The source said that Traore "watches TV a lot, never misses one of the five [Muslim] prayers of the day and that he gets angry easily."
Traore was also permitted outside visits with relatives, Dansette said.
"He had outing permissions and was able to go, accompanied, to his family for a whole weekend," he said.
Dansette claimed that Traore had refused treatment from a Jewish nurse at the hospital "for fear of being consumed by his demons and starting again." During the murder of Halimi, neighbors overheard Traore screaming the word "Shaitan" — Arabic for "Satan" — as he punched and kicked his victim.
However, Dansette added that Traore's attitude to the Jewish nurse had been encouraged by another member of the nursing staff, who was no longer working at the hospital. His source had told him that Halimi's killer "blames himself a great deal for what he did," said Dansette.
The Halimi murder and its aftermath was a major shock for French Jews amid a climate of rising antisemitism. When the decision to excuse Traore from trial was announced on April 14, a statement from Crif — the umbrella body representing French Jews — declared that "now in our country, we can torture and kill Jews with impunity."
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Tuesday, December 07, 2021
Spanish town known as 'Fort Kill the Jews' struck with antisemitic graffiti
A tiny Spanish town that has veered over the centuries from being a refuge for Jews to a rallying cry for their death was defaced with widespread antisemitic graffiti.
Residents of Castrillo Mota de Judíos, a village in Northern Spain, began to discover the graffiti almost as soon as they woke Monday.
They ultimately found vandalism in four locations: on the entrance to the town hall, the signpost on the road entering the village, the planned site for the future Sephardic center and the sign commemorating the town's sisterhood with the Israeli city of Kfar Vradim.
No Jews live in the town, which has only about 50 inhabitants. The vandals were instead taking aim at the village's history, and the efforts by its current mayor, Lorenzo Rodriguez, to preserve it.
Originally named Castrillo Motajudíos, or Jew's Hill Fort, in 1035 when Jews fleeing from a neighboring pogrom settled there. The town was renamed Castrillo Matajudíos — Fort Kill The Jews — in 1627, during a period of extreme religious persecution by the Inquisition.
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