A picture from Twitter purporting to show police inside the Nitra Yeshiva. Image by Twitter

By Ari Feldman May 18, 2020

Police acting on a tip found dozens of high school-aged boys studying in a Brooklyn yeshiva on Monday, in violation of state rules that public and private schools must remain closed through the end of the academic year.

Earlier today the NYPD shut down a Yeshiva conducting classes with as many as 70 children. I can’t stress how dangerous this is for our young people. We’re issuing a Cease and Desist Order and will make sure we keep our communities and our kids safe.

— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) May 18, 2020

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After NYPD officers visited the school — Nitra Yeshiva, at 841 Madison Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant — students could be seen exiting the building and boarding a bus.

Law enforcement officers who spoke to NBC New York said there were about 100 students at the school.

In an email, Sergeant Mary Frances O’Donnell, a spokesperson for the NYPD, said that there were about 60 students at the school, and that no summonses were issued or arrests made.

One Yiddish Twitter account that reported the incident posted a picture purportedly of police inside the yeshiva with the caption: “Police cleared out the Nitra Yeshiva for older boys even though social distancing was being maintained and even though everyone was wearing a mask.”

די פאלציי האט אויסגעליידיגט נייטרא ישיבה קטנה אפילו סגעווען סוישעל דיסטעצינג און אפילו יעדער האט אנגעהאט מאסקס pic.twitter.com/wRuTeWi6If

— תרגום (@targemsh) May 18, 2020

Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aefeldman

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