Orthodox Jews in NYC urge new dialogue

Rabbi voices desire to fight coronavirus outbreak while respecting culture of faith

Citing rising tensions about coronavirus restrictions, some are calling on officials for better communication./

After months of grappling with a pandemic that has walloped New York’s Orthodox Jewish communities, prompting changes to holidays, mourning and prayers, new limits on worship and other activity are pushing tensions in Brooklyn neighborhoods to the boiling point.

New restrictions in places where coronavirus cases are rising led to street protests.

As the protests made headlines, and the Orthodox group Agudath Israel led a Thursday federal court challenge seeking to halt the constraints, some Orthodox Jews in New York urged officials and fellow believers to find a way to communicate better.

“We need partnership. We need government and the community to work together” on an approach to fighting the virus that can “respect the culture” of the faith, said Rabbi Abe Friedman, an Orthodox leader and law enforcement chaplain.

Orthodox Jews in the U.S. have no single faith-based governing structure, but leaders at six major groups representing different sectors signed onto a unified statement in March urging their faithful to heed social distancing rules.

In the view of many Orthodox Jews in New York, city and state officials stoked tension with their handling of restrictions on houses of worship and schools in hot spots.

The Agudath Israel-led lawsuit says the state’s new limits “make it impossible for Orthodox Jews to comply with both their religious obligations and the order” imposing restrictions.

Another essential aspect of

Judaism, however, has proven helpful in promoting masks and social distancing: the Torah’s emphasis on the value of human life, to the degree that violating other tenets is permissible if it means saving lives. In announcing a partnership with Agudath Israel to distribute 400,000 masks, the Boro Park Jewish Community Council in Brooklyn reminded members that “we have an obligation from the Torah to stay safe.”

“Only by working with communities — treating them as partners, not problems — will the city have a chance at achieving the desired outcomes,” Yair Rosenberg, a senior writer at Tablet Magazine, wrote in a

Thursday column on how to prevent a “looming coronavirus crisis in Hasidic Brooklyn.”

As debate intensified in New York’s Orthodox neighborhoods, more than 400 rabbis and other leaders released a letter supporting the city and state’s “data-driven, geographically-based efforts to contain the spread of COVID -19.”

The letter calls for dissemination of public health guidance in a way that’s “both culturally appropriate … and does not promote antisemitism.”

“But to be clear,” it said, “requiring masking and social distancing for all gatherings, including religious gatherings, is not antisemitism.”