In the popular imagination, ultra-Orthodox Jews shun the modern world. They live and work in tight-knit enclaves in Brooklyn or suburban New York and New Jersey, fiercely protect their autonomy over their religious schools and do not participate in the defining technology of modern times: the Internet. But while this picture is true for many…
The public outcry over measles in New York City is reaching a fever peach after Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a state of emergency in heavily ultra-Orthodox zip codes in Brooklyn on Tuesday, making vaccination mandatory for unimmunized people. De Blasio said that people who refuse to get vaccinated could face fines. “This is the…
An Orthodox anti-vaccine group is circulating a digital pamphlet that quotes two of the most prominent rabbis in the ultra-Orthodox world, the New York Post reported Tuesday. “These aren’t just local no-name rabbis,” one mother who identified herself as Breindy to the Post said, according to the paper. “As soon as I saw those names,…
(JTA) — The New York City Department of Health has threatened to fine or even close yeshivas in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn if students who are not vaccinated against measles are allowed to attend classes. The crack-down comes more than a week before the Passover holiday, when large and extended Orthodox families gather and…
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday urged city residents – particularly Orthodox Jews – to get their children vaccinated as one of the largest measles outbreaks in city history continues to grow, almost solely in Jewish areas of Brooklyn. “As a dad, I urge all parents — particularly in our Orthodox Jewish community…
The worst measles outbreak in recent New York history is hitting the Hasidic Jewish community due to low vaccination rates. With 55 cases in Brooklyn and 116 in two upstate counties since late September, it is the second time in five years that the community has seen a measles crisis. The previous record outbreak, in…
Six cases of measles have been confirmed in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, with all of the patients being Orthodox Jewish children between 11 months and four years old, the New York City Department of Health confirmed on Wednesday. “The initial case of measles was acquired by a child on a visit to Israel, where…
The largest outbreak of measles in New York City in decades occurred in 2013 entirely within the Orthodox Jewish communities of Williamsburg and Borough Park, Brooklyn, according to an analysis published Monday in the academic journal JAMA Pediatrics. Fifty-eight people were infected with the disease, with a median age of three, according to the report;…
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