Unrest in Orthodox Jewish areas
Cuomo response to virus outbreaks draws late-night protests
Orthodox Jewish and other religious leaders lashed out at Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday over new coronavirus restrictions on schools, businesses and houses of worship as protests broke out in Brooklyn overnight, leading to scenes of chaos and an attack on at least one person.
The frustration was reflected on the street, where video shared widely on social media showed hundreds of ultra- Orthodox men, most of them without masks, gathering after midnight and setting fires and burning masks along 13th Avenue in the Borough Park neighborhood.
The anger was also evident from Orthodox Jewish leaders and lawmakers, a group of whom condemned the governor in a statement released Tuesday.
“We are appalled by Gov. Cuomo’s words and actions today,” four Orthodox Jewish lawmakers representing the areas affected by the shutdown said in a letter posted online late Tuesday. “He has chosen to pursue a scientifically and constitutionally questionable shutdown of our communities.”
The new restrictions, announced by Cuomo on Tuesday, are intended to combat worrisome outbreaks of the coronavirus in Brooklyn, Queens and New York City ’s northern suburbs, including several areas with large Orthodox populations.
Cuomo seemed to be specifically targeting Orthodox synagogues that have become scenes of large gatherings of worshippers clustered together, with many not wearing face coverings. The governor has used photos of packed crowds of Orthodox Jews this week to make the case for imposing restrictions in certain areas.
On Wednesday, Cuomo defended the new rules, noting that the COVID -19 test positivity rate in the state’s hot spots was about 5 percent, compared to 1 percent in the rest of the state.
“To the extent there are communities that are upset, that’s because they haven’t been following the original rules,” he said. “That’s why the infection spread — because they weren’t following the rules, and the rules weren’t being enforced.”
The number of people hospitalized for the virus jumped Wednesday to 748, up from 705 a day before, Cuomo said during a call with reporters. As he has before, the governor, a thirdterm Democrat, blamed the uptick in cases on local governments that had failed to enforce public health guidelines.
“The rules weren’t being enforced because the community didn’t want to follow them,” he added. “I understand that, but that’s why we are where we are. Make no mistake.”
The rules would shut down nonessential businesses and schools and impose tight restrictions on houses of worship, where attendance in the hardest-hit areas would be limited to 10 people. In other neighborhoods, attendance would be limited to 25 people.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday that the restrictions would be enforced Thursday by New York City police officers, who would also respond to any large gatherings in restricted areas and address any acts of violence.
The mayor reminded New Yorkers that they could face fines of up to $15,000 for organizing a mass gathering and $1,000 for not wearing a face mask.
He said people could protest peacefully, but “there will be no tolerance for assaults” and setting fires. He also defended the restrictions on houses of worship as necessary and said he believed they would hold up in court.
“The governor’s plan is the right one,” the mayor told reporters at his daily news briefing.
Religious leaders said they were not consulted before the governor announced the new rules, and tensions boiled over on the streets of Borough Park late Tuesday, when traditional outdoor festivities for the weeklong Jewish holiday of Sukkot took an angry turn.
A mob swarmed a photographer before midnight and later beat a Hasidic man who attackers said they believed to be disloyal to the community. Both incidents were captured on video shared widely on social media.
“Snitch!” one man can be heard yelling in English in one video as the crowd beat the Hasidic man. He was identified as Berish Getz by a relative, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear for their safety, and was treated overnight at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn.
The Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a letter posted online Tuesday, four Orthodox Jewish lawmakers — state Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein, state Sen. Simcha Felder and City Council members Kalman Yeger and Chaim Deutsch — accused Cuomo of lying to community leaders about the scope of his lockdown plan during a conference call earlier Tuesday. They denounced it as “a duplicitous bait-and-switch.”
The lawmakers also criticized the governor for “irresponsible and pejorative” rhetoric, including the use of a photograph from more than 10 years ago during a news conference earlier this week that showed a Hasidic crowd gathering for a funeral. The photo was replaced during the news conference with a recent one also showing a crowded gathering.
At the protests earlier Wednesday, Yeger spoke against the plan, telling gatherers in Brooklyn that the state was interfering with their right to practice religion.
“We are not going to be deprived of the right that we have in America, like everybody else in America, to observe our religion,” Yeger said, according to video posted online by Boro Park News, an Orthodox Jewish news organization. “I don’t care who in government thinks that they can stop us. They are wrong. Let them try.”
Yeger was joined by Heshy Tischler, a local activist who disrupted a city news conference on the coronavirus uptick and has spent recent days decrying the recent rise in cases as a hoax.
At one point in the night, Tischler made inflammatory and derogatory remarks about Chirlane Mccray, the wife of de Blasio. At another point, as a police officer looked on, Tischler addressed the crowd on a bullhorn.
“You are my soldiers! We are at war!” he said. “We are going to show them that our schools are open, and we are going to respect our police officers!”