New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has released a plan to reopen schools in areas with high rates of coronavirus, many of which are concentrated in Orthodox areas like Borough Park and Kiryas Joel. The plan requires mass testing before schools reopen, and subsequent weekly testing with rapid-result test kits provided by the state. “We look…
Borough Park’s high Covid case rate is well-documented. But city data also shows that the neighborhood has among the lowest testing rates in New York City. The relative lack of testing could mean that Borough Park and other coronavirus hotspots are actually even hotter than we know, said Mark Harrington, the executive director of Treatment…
A local rabble rouser had a request for President Donald Trump, which he tapped out and sent into the universe through Twitter on Wednesday. “We are asking for President Trump to interfere with Gov Cuomo’s hateful decision of tough lockdown on our schools and places of worship,” tweeted city council candidate Heshy Tischler. “#Cuomohatesjews.” In…
Heshy Tischler, an aspiring politician and the de facto leader of the protest movement which has spread through Orthodox Brooklyn the past two nights in response to New York’s new COVID-19 restrictions, told reporters that he has a “moser” list. “Moser” is a Hebrew term for one who informs on the Jewish community to outside…
An ultra-Orthodox journalist who covers the religious Jewish community was set upon by participants in a protest against new coronavirus restrictions after the event’s leader ordered the crowd to chase him away. Jacob Kornbluh, who lives in Borough Park, Brooklyn, was covering an event organized by Heshy Tischler, an aspiring politician. Tishcler has recently risen…
Orthodox Jews in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Borough Park marched in the streets Tuesday night into Wednesday morning in demonstrations that turned violent and ended with fires in the street and a man in the hospital. Here’s what you need to know. Why are Haredi Jews protesting? Borough Park is one of the neighborhoods where…
Berish Getz, a Borough Park resident, was beaten to the point of critical injuries during a demonstration that raged until the early morning Wednesday against new state-mandated restrictions imposed on the neighborhood, as well as others home to New York’s ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, communities. He is now in stable condition and is undergoing body scans…
Some Haredi yeshiva day schools in Brooklyn and the New York and New Jersey suburbs are discouraging COVID-19 testing for both teachers and students to try to avoid school closures despite an uptick in cases in Haredi communities broadly. At Bais Yaakov of Borough Park, for example, administrators called teachers individually and asked them to…
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