According to the New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation authority COVID regulations, parks around the state are now open (during daylight hours), though playground equipment is still to be avoided.

This tweet (specifically the video in it) from Satmar is gold - solid gold:

BREAKING: the @NYCParks Dept. Just filed a complaint at the @NYPD90Pct asking to arrest those who DEFIED @NYCMayor and forcibly opened Public parks in Hasidic neighborhoods so that children can breathe fresh air! #KidsLivesMatter #GiveKidsSummer pic.twitter.com/xdYuuQHZZW

— Satmar Headquarters (@HQSatmar) June 16, 2020

forget the covid argument of them and us. I am tired of that. I don't really understand what happened here. In the video, you see people on both sides of the chained fence. It looks, to me, that the people on the other side of the fence are by the street, and the people cutting the chain of the fence are on the iside.

If the gate is padlocked shut, how did the people get in to cut the chain from the inside? And if there is another opening they were able to enter through, why not just bring the kids in through that way to let them play instead  of being destructive for seemingly no reason? Maybe they jumped the fence to do this?

the video is wild, regardless of the exact details

I don't know who he is, but he wrote this well (though I disagree)... my comments after the post..



1. I don't care if Jews leave New York. It's about time.
2. He didn't even mention Israel as an option.
3. I disagree with his premise. He thinks the local Jews pay so much tax money so COVID will spare them if they are granted an exemption form the rules, just like the protesters?
4. He puts public health experts in quotation marks, as if they aren't really. I assume he read something about health on Facebook so he thinks he is more of an expert than the "experts". Not nice questioning their expertise just because they aren't giving him what he wants.
5. I don't know who those experts he refers to so derogatorily are, but I sincerely hope the City of NY was using real public health experts to make their decisions and not "Public Health Experts"
6. if the city is such a dump and the Jews dont get anything in return for all the taxes why has he, or why has the Jewish community in general, stayed there at all until now? It sounds like a lousy place to live
7. yes, you have to fund your own schools. That is why it is called "private school". If you want publicly funded schools, send your kids to public school. What is so difficult to understand about that.
8. The point I have made many times in many places - COVID don't care that you think because the protesters broke the rules so you should be allowed to as well. Did he already forget all the deaths and illnesses that hit the community over the past few months? He thinks because the protesters were able to break the rules with no enforcement he should be able to as well and COVID will agree and stay away from the shuls from now on?

Mayor of New York Bill De Blasio came under criticism for a tweet he sent.

Caveat: I have no idea if DeBlasio is doing a good or bad job at anything. I do not know if he is popular and well-liked or not. I do not know if he is good for the Jews or bad for the Jews.

Mayor de Blasio tweeted about a hassidishe funeral from Williamsburg that broke social distancing regulations and had too many people participating. it was the funeral of hassidic rebbe called the Admor of Tolaas Yaakov, and his followers and adherents crowded to the funeral, drawing the ire of de Blasio.

Here is de Blasio's tweet:

My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed. I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period.

— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) April 29, 2020

People got upset that the Mayor called out "the Jewish community" when it was really just a problem by a small group of people. This is generalizing and stereotyping, racist and incitement as it will cause people to be angry at the Jews.

I am not going to defend de Blasio, but I would like some clarification.

De Blasio is criticizing a group of people who broke serious health regulations, and he is warning them that this is a serious violation.

What should he have said instead of "Jewish community"? He added "and all communities" - does that not temper it? This violation was by Jews, so why should they not be called out for it? Should he have said the Hassidic community - but that is also generalizing against all Hassidim, many of whom are following the guidelines? Should he have said the Tolaas Yaakov community? Has he even ever heard of them - I never heard of them until this incident. Should he have left it generic - people are breaking the rules and should not as we will enforce - that does not seem to make the point and most people probably would not even know what he was referring to.

What should he have said instead of what he did say?

A Jewish, frum, city councilman in the 48th district of NY, Chaim Deutsch, has plans to provide separate swimming days for his religious Jewish and Muslim constituents on the beaches of NY. To accomplish this plan, considering the separation of Church and State and the illegality of the State providing such religious services, Deutsch will be renting the beach for 2 days this summer, days that the beach would have been closed anyway. Deutsch will pay for the rental, though sponsorships will be available, and for the lifeguards and other necessary expenses. One day will be for men and one day for women.

I am not 100% clear on why this must be called a religious issue that deems it problematic for the State to be involved in and causes opposition on legal grounds of gender discrimination. It could be considered a public need with many people wanting to swim with people of their own gender for personal reasons. I do not understand how this is defined, even though I know that many people's hang-ups on this are based on religious reasons, I am sure plenty of men and plenty of women could easily say they just prefer it that way for personal reasons as well.

Anyways, Deutsch is doing this, and some are upset and some are calling it illegal.

Kol Hakavod to Deutsch for finding a way to avoid the legal issues and being willing to pay out of pocket, to put his money where his mouth is, to benefit his constituents.

Interestingly, I foresee a problem doing this in today's United States of America. In a day and age when anyone can determine their own gender and define it as they see fit and have legal standing, how will they actually keep the beach men only on one day and women only on the other day? If a man comes on womens day and says he is a woman, how do they prevent him/her from swimming? They cant even keep the bathrooms straight in many places, they are going to try it now with beaches?

sources: NY Post, NY Daily News, San Francisco Chronicle

One of the great cultural differences between living in Israel, specifically for a religious Jew in religious neighborhoods, and between living in America is the culture of the pashkevilim - the posters on the walls and the flyers scattered through the streets. It does not exist in America.

It is littering to toss thousands of flyers in the street, and any city with a city council and mayor worth a lick would not such a thing happen, and would levy a serious fine on anyone who tried. In Israel it is a major part of the culture, it is how news is spread, how announcements are made, it is part of the scenery, and some even say the glue of the posters on the walls actually hold up some of the old walls in Jerusalem!

Recently some in New York have decided to import the Israeli pashkevilim and spread them around the streets of Boro Park and Williamsburg. The pashkevilim were decrying the uprooting of graves at the Goloventzitz site in Bet Shemesh.

As a result of the littering the city streets with thousands of flyers, the City of New York fined store-owners and homeowners where the streets and sidewalks were littered. Even though these people did not toss the flyers and litter the streets, they are responsible for the cleanliness of the sidewalks in front of their homes and businesses, and therefore had to pay fines for the mess on the property they are responsible for.

NY City Councilman David Greenfield has turned to the Sanitation Department and is encouraging them to levy heavy fines on the people responsible for the flyers. Greenfield said "It is illegal and quite frankly irresponsible to dump thousands of fliers throughout the neighborhood regardless of what the message is. If you don’t like someone our Constitution protects your right to stand on a street corner and yell, but you have no right to litter that same street corner. This is a fair warning. I will work closely with the Sanitation Department and other government authorities to find those responsible for littering our streets and hold them accountable. If you do this, you will be caught and held accountable."
(sources: Bechadrei and Matzav)

Greenfield also tweeted his frustration about the flyers with the following tweet:

If u have a problem with someone u can yell, scream or even tweet about it. Please don't print & drop on our streets! http://t.co/T40o49dcpa
— David G. Greenfield (@NYCGreenfield) August 21, 2013

and Greenfield posted the following picture of the pashkevil to which he was referring:



Some of his constituents might not like it, but Greenfield is making a good move to quell this before it becomes a trend and gets out of hand... In the end, the majority of the pashkevilim are religious Jews attacking other religious Jews for following "other" rabbonim... better not to import that part of Israeli culture to America. Stick to importing chumus rather than pashkevilim.

The big news of the day is the NY Post article that discovered discrimination against Orthodox Jews in a cafe in Brooklyn. All the frum news sites have been posting about the article.

According to the expose, this popular cafe, called The River Cafe, has discovered that it is a popular spot for shidduch dates. The only problem with this is that they also realized that the Orthodox Jews on these dates spend very little money - meaning they are taking up spots in the cafe but the cafe is making almost no money off them, and they can't get paying customers in their place.

The solution they came up with, which they deny, is to charge a $25 minimum fee to anyone appearing to be Orthodox Jewish (e.g. if they came with a religious top hat and strings), and they devised an intricate set of codes for passing along the message when letting them in as to how much they should be charged.

The Orthodox Jews who go there are obviously only going to be buying drinks, as the food is not kosher, but it seems they don't even really spend much on drinks. It seems, from the article, that these Jews pretty much only get water. So, they really are taking advantage of an expensive location and preventing the patrons from making money with other customers.

Discrimination is always bad. The cafe should perhaps set a minimum that applies to everyone (they claim the minimum does, but the expose showed that it is only enforced for the religious Jews, along with when the Jews would be seated), even with the knowledge that most people won't have an issue with it knowing that if they are about to spend $70-$100 on dinner, they will definitely pass the minimum. As long as it applies equally to everyone it is legitimate - not everyone will be eating dinner or spending a lot of money.

And people going on shidduch dates should be more careful about not taking advantage of others, whether it is the River Cafe or whether it is sitting in a hotel lobby nursing one Diet Sprite for 4 or 5 hours.

The article:

It’s unortho-docks!
The iconic River Café on the Brooklyn waterfront in DUMBO — famous for its floating-barge dining room that offers sweeping views of lower Manhattan — discriminates against Jews dressed in religious garb by requiring them to pay a minimum of $25 per person to sit at the bar, according to one current and one former employee.
The reservationists — who stand at the entrance to the popular wedding venue and tourist destination — are instructed to use code words to alert the maitre d’ if anyone wearing a yarmulke, “religious hat” or “strings” asks to be seated at the scenic bar, the workers say.
“There are several notes in a book that the reservationists use,” said a current employee at the restaurant, which opened in 1977. The book is kept at the greeting stand. New notes are added periodically by management, and employees are expected to read it before every shift, staffers said.
“The book says that if two religious Jews come in, we call ahead to the maitre d’ and say, ‘Is there space for two at the water bar?’ — in which case a minimum of $25 will be enforced that is just for Jews wearing yarmulkes or any sort of religious hat,” a staffer said. “The terminology in the book is ‘special hat’ or ‘religious hat.’ At the bar, the $25 minimum is only enforced for Jews.”
Restaurant officials denied the claim.
“The $25 minimum applies to everyone,” said Teddy Dearie, assistant manager at The River Café. “If it wasn’t applied, that is just someone not doing their job. The phrase ‘water bar’ I’ve never heard before. That phrase, or any deviation from the policy that’s been in place for several years, is not condoned by the restaurant and is indicative of an individual not performing the duties for which they have been hired.”
Images of the reservation book were provided to The Post to back up the employees’ claims.
“If they look as if they will only order water (not that we stereotype or anything) mention the minimum right away,” one note says. “If they ask for the bar and there is room, tell them there is a minimum at the bar as well.”
Another note reads: We “have decided that when people come in for the bar and are A. wearing sweat pants and B. religious top hats and strings, you must say for A. gym bar and for B. water bar. Thanks.”
On Thursday evening, The Post sent a Jewish couple to the bar. The husband, wearing a yarmulke, and the wife, dressed in a simple long skirt, were told the bar was full.
They were told they could sit on the empty terrace and pay a $25-per- person minimum.
Five minutes later, two Post reporters, wearing no religious garb, were seated on the terrace and were not required to pay a minimum. The bill for a coffee and a gin-and-tonic totaled $18.51.
The River Café — a non-kosher eatery famous for its $100 three-course prix-fixe menu featuring lobster, foie gras and rack of lamb — has become a popular date spot with Orthodox Jews, who are required by their religion to choose public places for dates.
Current and former employees said these couples come for the view and non-alcoholic beverages, and are frowned upon because they take up seats and don’t spend enough money.

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I don't have much of an opinion on the metzitza b'peh issue. That is because I don't really understand it, I don't know how much of it is halacha, how much tradition, how much made up, and how strong each factor is.

This announcement, however, bothers me. Agudath Israel of America is preparing to sue the City of new York if it should pass a law later this week (tomorrow?) that would require a parental consent form to be signed for a mohel to be allowed to perform metzitza b'peh at a circumcision.

In a silly part of the statement, they say they are looking for a lawyer to work pro-bono on the case. Don't they have their own team of lawyers that can do this? And if not, why announce you are lookign for a lawyer to take such a major case pro-bono? Don't they have people they can approach quietly either to donate to the cause or to be the lawyers on the case and donate their time?

To the case itself though, Agudath Israel says this requirement would be a breach of freedom of religion and of freedom of speech.

I am no lawyer, but I don't know how making someone sign a form of consent is a breach in freedom of religion or speech. It is not likely that parents will sign such a form without asking the mohel first if he is carrying any disease before he performs the metzitza, so presumably forcing the mohel to disclose such medical information is the breach in freedom of speech. That does not sound like a problem of freedom fo speech to me, but more like an issue of disclosing private medical concerns, but when sucking an open wound, parents should be allowed to know if there is any reason for medical concern, and that should be so regardless of what you think of metzitza b'peh.

Even if I think metzitza b'peh is important and the circumcision is invalid without it, I would want to choose the mohel with the knowledge that my child will be safe when the mohel does the metzitza. Why would I allow the metzitza to be done by a mohel who wont tell me if he has herpes or some other infection? A mohel who refuses to disclose that info should not be used. he is not being forced to say anythign he does not want to - he has the option of not performing the circumcision. That is not a breach in freedom of speech, but is protecting the baby from a possible medical issue.

I also don't see how freedom of religion is being curtailed by this form of consent. You want to continue doing metzitza and the City is going to continue allowing you to. You just have to say that you want it and sign your name to it. All it means is that you are taking responsibility for your decision.


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MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey will be constructing a mechitza. It seems that they found so many Jews who were fans of the New York Giants that they decided the mechitza would be a big draw to get more Jews to come to more Giants games, especially since they recently won the Super Bowl.

Just joking. That is, joking about the mechitza for Giants games. MetLife is going to be constructing a mechitza, but for the siyum ha'shas that will be held in the stadium, as reported on 5tjt. The price tag that Agudas Yisrael is going to pay for the construction (and for the dismantling of it after the event) is a hefty $250,000.

From the 5TJT:

Our community has unique cultural and religious requirements, so MetLife Stadium worked hand-in-hand with Agudath Israel of America to accommodate religious fans. A major breakthrough has been announced: MetLife Stadium will build a mechitzah across the entire stadium to accommodate separate seating for men and women. The mechitzah will run through all seating levels. The result: over 20,000 seats available for a women’s section.
This will mark the first time in United States history that a mechitzah of this magnitude will be built. Negotiations to build this mechitzah could not have been easy. Flimsy movable partitions are not an option when public safety is involved. This will be a solidly installed mechitzah which will be supported by beams that are drilled into the stadium’s new concrete walls. The mechitzah construction carries a price tag of no less than a quarter of a million dollars.
Will women now be able to perform “the wave” at sports events with complete privacy? Unfortunately, current plans call for the mechitzah to be dismantled after the Siyum HaShas in August. Currently, the plans are to return the stadium to the same condition it was in before the mechitzah was installed. (But maybe MetLife Stadium will alter its plans after witnessing the tremendous kiddush Hashem.) Repairing the holes in the concrete is one reason why the mechitzah carries such a high price tag.
One can debate whether a mechitzah is actually necessary at this event. Yet, to encourage all segments of the Orthodox population to attend, there is no question that having a mechitzah is important.
A Siyum HaShas is held as a celebration of completing the daf yomi cycle. Daf yomi learners study a page a day of the Talmud and complete the entire Talmud every seven and a half years. The sixth Siyum HaShas took place in 1968 at the Bais Yaakov of Boro Park; 300 people attended. The ninth Siyum HaShas was held in 1990 at Madison Square Garden; 20,000 people attended. This summer, a giant leap forward will be made when the twelfth Siyum HaShas will be held at MetLife Stadium, which can accommodate over 90,000 people.
Some amenities of the stadium are particularly noteworthy. MetLife Stadium has been equipped with the most advanced assistive listening system (ALS). This is a perfect system to offer simultaneous translation of the speeches for those that need it. Guests who choose to bring their own headset and receiver may access the system on a standard FM broadcast.
The stadium was built to accommodate handicapped individuals. This ensures that everyone may take part in the Siyum HaShas. There will be 25,000 spots available for parking, but mass transit is recommended. The Meadowlands Rail Line of NJ Transit operates on event days between the newly constructed Meadowlands Station and Hoboken Terminal via Secaucus Junction, where there is connecting service to Pennsylvania Station (New York City), Pennsylvania Station (Newark), and other New Jersey Transit rail operations. NJ Transit will have the Siyum HaShas on its schedule.
Regarding a tax deduction for attending the siyum, the tax experts at Agudath Israel have advised the community that purchasing seats to attend a religious siyum ceremony is no different than purchasing a High Holy Day seat in a synagogue. You may take the ticket price as a tax deduction, but not the food purchased at concession stands.
The real question on everyone’s mind is: what if it rains? MetLife Stadium did not build a dome, because of a dispute over financing. Agudath Israel has contracted with MetLife Stadium to reserve Thursday night as well for a rain date. Everyone is urged to supply Agudath Israel with a cell number or e‑mail address to be contacted in case of inclement weather.
Because the siyum is being held in an open-air stadium in the middle of a potentially hot summer, a decision was made to start the siyum an hour later than past siyumim. The start time is officially 7:00 p.m. Sunset is around 7:45. There will be ample time to daven Minchah at the biggest minyan in recent history. Due to the later start time, Agudath Israel will try to cut down on the program somewhat to allow people to return home at a decent hour.
Agudath Israel is arranging transportation from the Catskills for campers who want to attend the event. Even young children may attend. Parents must decide if their child will be able to sit for a few hours of speeches. The Agudah is not instituting a minimum age.
Seats are going fast and Agudath Israel expects a sellout crowd. Already over 30,000 seats have been requested. Group requests have come in from places such as Dallas, Los Angeles, Panama, and Argentina. Since the idea behind the event is to service those that study daf yomi, Agudath Israel is giving priority seating to them. After February, seating will be open to the general public. Anyone can request a seat now, but the order will not be fulfilled until all the priority seating applications have been processed.
Ticket prices range from $18 through $1,000. All seats facing the dais are more expensive than those behind the dais. Everyone will be able to view the ceremonies on the video screens.
In conjunction with the Siyum HaShas, Agudath Israel is arranging a program for children. Children who complete a segment of Torah will be eligible for a prize. The smallest prize will be an authentic authorized Siyum HaShas commemorative pen that will likely be awarded to children who complete a perek of Mishnayos (such as Pirkei Avos.)
In the words of the Agudah, “This siyum, like others before it, will honor the memory of the six million kedoshim who perished in the fires of Churban Europe. It will be a powerful testament to the eternity of Torah and the idea that it alone can preserve our past and ensure our future.”

That is pretty impressive. I don't remember if mechitzas were used in previous large events like the siyum hashas, or if they divided people into different seating sections and that was enough of a separation. Either way, quarter of a million dollars is a pretty hefty price tag to pay for a mechitza...

I wonder if this will go down in the record books as the most expensive mechitza ever, or maybe as the largest mechitza ever.

The big kashrus scandal rocking New York (probably an exaggeration) is that of a high end kosher caterer named Morrell Catering. His two top men, the chef and the business administrator, have decided they can no longer keeep quiet and have revealed that due to difficult financial times the catering service has had to open its business to non-kosher events as well, and they use the exact same kitchen and utensils and nobody is kashering anything before kosher events. The same oven and utensils used to cook pork and shrimp is being used to cook glatt kosher weddings and dinners.

Long Island Caterer Accused of Violating Kosher Food Laws: MyFoxNY.com

From Fox:

The owner of one of Long Island's largest catering companies has been accused of seriously violating Jewish law by having workers prepare kosher and non-kosher meals in the same kitchen.
The allegations come from the former chef and general manager of Morrell Caterers, who claim they were instructed to prepare non-kosher meals in one of three kitchens operated by the company. Among observant Jews, kosher law defines what foods are fit for consumption and how they must be prepared, and the mixing of kosher and non-kosher products is strictly forbidden.
Chef Michael Savitsky and general manager Tom Cataldo, who crashed a Wednesday press conference called by catering company owner Scott Morrell, claim in court papers that starting in September 2010 the company expanded to serve non-Jewish clients. Savitsky and Cataldo say they were told by Morrell to prepare non-kosher foods such as shrimp, lobster and pork using the same facilities, plates and utensils used for kosher foods. They say even the delivery truck that carried kosher foods to customers was used for non-kosher products.

They estimate at least 200 weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs and other events were tainted by the preparation of kosher and non-kosher meals at the same facility.

"As times got rough, business was down a bit due to several factors, there was another way to bring in additional revenue," Cataldo said. "Unfortunately this was the shortcut that Mr. Morrell started to take."

Savitsky and Cataldo each own a 5 percent stake in the catering business, their attorney said, which initially made them reluctant to report their allegations of religious transgressions. Cataldo added, "It all comes down to dollars and cents with him, that's the bottom line. He sold himself out for a couple of extra dollars."

Morrell, who was flanked by two rabbis, several attorneys and other catering company officials, denied that any preparation of non-kosher meals took place in any of the three kitchens he uses. His attorneys claimed that the lawyer for the two accusers is trying to reach a settlement in an unrelated $19 million lawsuit and is using the kosher/non-kosher allegations as a wedge.

"I have never violated any rules," Morrell said. "This is a very calculated and cynical deliberate way of destroying my company."

The company, in business since 1965, says it helps host events at distinguished synagogues and event spaces. It says on its website it has "redefined the craft of luxury catering" and believes in "kosher cooking that doesn't compromise on pleasure."

Morrell held his press conference on the steps of the state Supreme Court building in Mineola, just east of New York City, and brought samples of kosher food to share with the media, but no reporters accepted the offer.

A rabbi, Abraham Alper, said at the press conference that while he declined to address any legal issues he vouched for Morrell's integrity.

"I have personally witnessed him apply the highest standards of Jewish law to food preparation," Alper declared.

Another attorney for Morrell questioned the motivation of his client's accusers.

"What made them find God now?" Ronald Rosenberg asked. "If these people who are saying they were so moral were given these immoral orders to violate kosher rules, why now are they coming clean?"

The former chef and general manager say they want a full accounting of all Morrell books so they each can get what they claim is their share of the company. On Tuesday, a judge issued a temporary restraining order, prohibiting Morrell from getting rid of company records or assets until the case is decided.

None of the top three guys in the business - the owner, the chef and the general manager - are sporting yarmulkas on top of their beautiful heads of hair. I don't know if that makes a difference, but I used to think kashrut supervision agencies require more stringent supervision in such situations. Is this another case of letting trust get out of hand - he has been catering for so long in the community he must be ok - or something else? Or maybe it is a false accusation - maybe he stiffed these guys from money he owed them so they made this up to get revenge.

This is amazing. I am surprised it did not get wider press, and that it did not generate protests.

Discovery Times Square, in New York, just opened a new exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The exhibition will be running for 2 weeks. As part of the exhibition, visitors will be able to see the Dead Sea Scrolls, along with  over 500 artifacts (they say these artifacts were never before on display) from biblical times in the Holy Land.

The most interesting part of the exhibit, I think, is, in their words, "an actual stone from the Western Wall from the Second Temple in Jerusalem" and visitors will experience it azoi "Place your prayer on an actual 3-ton stone from the Holy Land's Western Wall"..

Whoa... they took a stone out of the Kotel? Where is the big hole in the wall? How did they transport a 3-ton stone from the Western Wall? From what I understand, the stone is not actually from the Western Wall itself, but was part of the southern wall excavations.



Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Biblical Times from Discovery Times Square on Vimeo.

For those of you that the "kotel kam" was not enough, now we bring the Kotel to you! I think Discovery Times Square should arrange, or allow someone to arrange, minyanim at the Kotel in new York. People will be able to say "I davened at the kotel" even when in New York, and not mean that they davened at home!

I don't get it. A town creates a series of zoning laws for certain types of home construction. A neighboring town sues the first town because they want to expand into that area and the zoning laws are not for the type of housing that they prefer. they call it discriminatory.

Sounds strange? It does to me. But that is what is happening in New York between Kiryas Yoel and neighboring town Woodbury.

Woodbury zoned an area for residential home construction, not allowing high density housing in that area. Kiryas Yoel is suing Woodbury calling it discriminatory as they wish to expand in that direction and prefer high density housing. The large residential plots are not appropriate for them and would lock them out of expanding in that direction. Kiryas Yoel wants the zoning laws rescinded and changed to allow the high density housing.

the Times Herald Record has the story:

The Village of Kiryas Joel has sued the neighboring Town of Woodbury to dismantle its zoning, accusing it of discriminating against Hasidic Jews by not allowing dense housing in an area where the Hasidic community hopes to expand.
The lawsuit seeks to invalidate a comprehensive plan and two zoning laws that Woodbury trustees adopted in June after seven years of planning and demands by Kiryas Joel that high-density housing be permitted.
Also targeted is a 2010 law regulating religious buildings in Woodbury. The case is filed in state Supreme Court in Goshen.
Kiryas Joel's lawyers argue that zoning for large residential lots prevents Hasidic Jews from “living and freely practicing their religion in Woodbury” and thereby “places an unreasonable burden on Kiryas Joel's housing stock, infrastructure, community services and community character.”
Joining the village and its officials in the lawsuit are five prongs of Vaad Hakiryah, the development arm of Kiryas
Joel's main religious congregation. The organization, which owns 175 acres of undeveloped land in Woodbury, claims it has been prevented from building multifamily housing, synagogues and other typical features of a Hasidic community.
The plaintiff's lawyers suggest that by blocking Kiryas Joel-style growth, Woodbury's zoning has hampered the lifestyle of Hasidic families who have settled outside Kiryas Joel in recent years.
David and Rose Ungar, who bought a Woodbury home for $485,000 in 2006, complain in court papers that they're “prohibited from living in a compact and walkable community in close proximity to the religious and cultural services provided in Kiryas Joel.”
Also named as a plaintiff is Kiryas Joel Public Safety Director Moses Witriol, who has lived in Woodbury since 2006 and lodged the same complaint as the Ungars.
Housing density a key issue
The underlying issue is
Kiryas Joel's steady population growth and quest to expand.
The village now has about 22,000 residents, and most of the available land in its 1.1 square miles has been developed. In addition to Vaad Hakiryah, various Hasidic investors own hundreds of acres of land around Kiryas Joel, awaiting development.
Vaad Hakiryah's purchase of the 140-acre ACE Farm in 2004 set off jitters in neighboring communities about Kiryas Joel expanding. Not long afterward, new villages formed in Woodbury and Blooming Grove as a way to preserve their zoning.
In the new lawsuit, Kiryas Joel's attorneys argue that Orange County planners supported the notion of denser housing in Woodbury by labeling the disputed territory a “priority growth area.”
They also point out that a three-county study identified the need for hundreds of affordable housing units in Woodbury.
The court papers claim that Woodbury rejected the idea of allowing high-density development by saying it would cause “significant environmental impacts,” but gave no evidence to support that conclusion.
Woodbury's attorneys declined to respond to the case on Friday.

I am not quite sure how such a claim is valid as being discriminatory. Can't a city or township decide how it wants to zone housing within its area? They didnt disqualify any specific person or type of person from buying there, so why should Kiryas Yoel have any say in the matter?

That along with the fact that Kiryas Yoel has it's own discriminatory policies. I'd like to see a non-Jew, or even a non Hassidic jew try to live there, let alone to try to join the local council. I'd even like to see if they would allow women to have any say in anything going on there. Kiryas Yoel is famous for their discrimination against women.

Is this the pot calling the kettle black?

Does Woodbury have to accommodate the desires and future expansion plans of Kiryas Yoel?

Remember that Hassidic fellow who stood up on the B110 bus and said "No More Segregation!"? Maybe he was the gilgul of Rosa Parks after all!

The saga of the B110 gender-segregated bus has come to an end with an order of desegregation. Now those people on the bus can finally party! Mark my words - by the end of the year the B110 route is going to become known as the disco on wheels!

Just joking. Seriously speaking though, according to The New York Jewish Week, the operators of the bus line capitulated under threat of losing their license to run the line and said the line would no longer be segregated.

The issue they are all worried about now is how this bus line got away with running the segregated bus for 40 years without being stopped until now. The segregation was obviously known about by people who should have put a stop to it, but they turned a blind eye.

At the end of the article, a legal expert on law and religion asks an interesting question, and I don't know what the answer should be:

The larger question for consideration, he said, is whether citizens can voluntarily give up rights in the name of religious practice. Should we acknowledge that different religious groups have patterns of conduct and should we accommodate them or not? When it is a profit-making enterprise, the general consensus is: no.”

The gender-segregation issue on public buses has hit the Wall Street Journal now, though they are discussing the recently discovered gender-segregated bus in new York and not the Israeli edition of gender-segregation.

To remind you, it was recently discovered that the B110 bus line from Williamsburg to Borough Park that holds a public tender to operate that specific line, is running the route with men sitting in front and women in back, despite the rules of the public tender requiring no discrimination. Since the recent discovery of the way the line is operating, this has been a hot topic in the United States as well. The US thought these days were 60 years behind it already, only to discover gender-segregation is still happening.

No Rosa Parks Moment from the Wall Street Journal:

It looks like little has changed on the B110 Williamsburg-to-Borough Park bus line, where self-segregation among the sexes remains as entrenched as ever.


It took less than a minute before a man questioned my presence on the front of the bus on Wednesday.


"Excuse me," said the gentleman, who appeared to be an ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jew, as I squeezed in beside him. "Ladies in the back."


"Is there a rule?" I asked him, as the women sitting in the back half of the B110 bus peered curiously at me, the only non-Jewish person on board.


"Please, ladies in the back," he said, visibly uncomfortable.


The man switched to sit across from me.


"It's not a rule; it's a rule amongst us," snapped another man.


I identified myself as a reporter and was hoping to engage in a conversation with the men, all but one who appeared Hasidic, wearing traditional black hats, side curls and beards.


But there was no conversation. A woman boarding the bus at the next stop in South Williamsburg saw me and stopped. "The ladies are sitting in the back," she said, beckoning me.


"Is that a rule?" I asked again.


"Yes," she responded.


So much for a Rosa Parks moment. It was the back of the bus for me.


"Thank you, we appreciate it," said the woman smiling as I followed her to the back.


The B110 has generated a lot of controversy over the past week, sparked by a story in the New York World, a Columbia Journalism School publication. The story hit the blogosphere and reached the attention of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who declared that the practice was indisputably not kosher.


The New York City Commission on Human Rights is conducting an investigation, and the city's Department of Transportation has instructed the operator to ensure that the practice ends.


The B110 is in an unusual situation. It caters almost exclusively to the Hasidic Jewish community, shuttling residents back and forth between South Williamsburg and Borough Park. Still, it's open to anyone who pays the $2.50 cash fare.


It's not subsidized by the city. Rather, the route is operated by a franchisee, Private Transportation Corp. The company is required to comply with all applicable laws, including prohibiting any type of discrimination, unless it has received an exception.


What's surprising about my experience on Wednesday is it came one day after Jacob Marmurstein of Private Transportation sent a letter to the city stating that the company "does not support, promote or condone any conduct that is discriminatory in nature."


Mr. Marmurstein went on to say that the company will confirm its policy of nondiscriminatory conduct with company personnel and will place signs on the buses to that effect.


Apparently, they haven't done such a good job with the communication part. When I asked the bus driver if there were a rule requiring women to sit in the back, he acted like he had no idea what I was talking about, saying only, "Oh, I don't know about that."


I also didn't see any signs.


A week earlier, the city informed Mr. Marmurstein in a letter that "allowing passengers to harass women who choose to ride in any part of the bus, is not permitted on franchised buses" and could lead to a termination of that agreement.


The bus driver didn't interfere in the conversation I had, but he most likely didn't hear it. And surprisingly none of the riders I spoke with were aware of the controversy generated by the bus.


Now, turning the discrimination argument on its head, it would seem to some in the Hasidic community that being forced to sit next to a woman discriminates against their religion, which follows a tradition of separation of the sexes.


That is the argument several women made to me as I sat in the back with them.


"It's really for religious reasons, we keep separate," said a woman who declined to give her name. "At weddings, parties, we're so used to it. It shouldn't bother anyone. It's just our religion."


The reasoning, she said, is their idea of modesty.


The women said if a rider who isn't familiar with their customs gets on and sits in the wrong section, they usually will ask nicely if they mind moving. They said they've never witnessed someone who didn't oblige.


"I don't know, they might think we're crazy," said the woman to a rider behind her. "They'll think it's we're like the Amish, like we're behind the times. But we're not."


"I've been taking this bus eight years and never a problem," said another woman, who also declined to give her name. "There's always a lot of respect. It's self-understood. This is how we grew up. It's the way we are."


As she said this, her husband slid into a seat that looked like the first seat in the women's section. No one was sitting next to him, so it appeared to be OK. "There's no women's part and there's no men's part," said Yiachneil Bichchei, a 20-year-old Williamsburg resident. 'There's a bus. Everybody is allowed to sit where they want."


Not all Hasidic Jews—by no means a monolithic community—agree or follow such strict self-segregation.


Chaya Chanin, a Crown Heights resident who owns the popular Frock Swap store, has never ridden the B110 but doesn't agree with the separation. "If I were some outsider, I would feel uncomfortable being pushed to the back," she said.


"It would bother me to a certain degree if I had to ride the bus every day," she added. "On the one hand, I don't need to be sitting next to the men, or have a desire to. But I wouldn't want to be squished in the back of the bus."


Ms. Chanin said she belongs to a different, less conservative Hasidic community.


On the bus ride back from Borough Park to Williamsburg, I again sat in the front. This time no one said a word to me, though I got a few peculiar looks. Only one man would sit next to me. Another man offered him his seat moments later, standing up instead.


I'm not sure why the difference. Before departing from Borough Park, a Hasidic man waved his hands in the air and yelled out "No More Segregation."


Could he be their Rosa Parks?


It was unclear if he was joking or serious.

You can't force women to sit in front if they don't want to, and you can't force men and women to sit mixed, if they don't want to. You can't force anyone to sit in any specific way. People need to be able to choose where they want to sit. As long as people are voluntarily sitting in front or back, that is fine. the problem is when it is coerced. Saying "we only ask nicely" does not take it out of the realm of coercion, at least I don't think so, because many women wouldn't refuse a direct request, and many women would be afraid to refuse a bunch of men "asking".

Rabbi Dovi and Esty Scheiner have decided to get young Jews into shul, when they are usually just not interested, they needed to "rebrand Judaism". Really they are rebranding the shul experience.

Here is the New York Post article on the Soho Synagogue, which sounds like a really cool place to go daven:

A man in a crisp black suit stands outside the plate-glass doors on Crosby Street, checking off the names of the chosen on a clipboard. Young women with tousled hair and fashionable heels slip inside, followed by men in sharp suits or dark jeans. This is SoHo’s latest hot spot, but you don’t have to be a Hollywood actress or star athlete to get in. You just have to be Jewish.

SoHo Synagogue

The SoHo Synagogue, which opened last month where a Gucci store once stood, may be the hottest thing to happen to Jews since Bar Refaeli graced the cover of Sports Illustrated.


I thought it was a club at first,” says attendee Yoni Zanger, 28, of the sleek new space. “There’s a bouncer outside!”
Rabbi Dovi Scheiner and his wife, Esty, both barely in their 30s, wanted the space to echo a hotel lobby or chic boutique, so that young, mostly lapsed New York Jews, who probably haven’t set foot inside a temple since their bar or bat mitzvahs, would feel at home.
“We had to offer a space they were comfortable with,” says the rabbi, who answers to Dovi and wears Converse sneakers and jeans most days, his tzitzis tassels peeking out from beneath his polo shirt. “People don’t go to temple because it’s not relevant or exciting or engaging or social. So we’ve made it all of those things. If we offer them a place that looks like the synagogue they were dragged to by their parents, they’re going to have a nervous breakdown and never come back.”
But they are coming back. His congregation is about 1,000 strong, and Friday night services have been packed week after week with young, cool Jews.


“It’s Judaism, rebranded,” says congregant Joe Wright. “It maintains the tradition but offers something new.”
The venue itself is an extension of the new Jew crew Scheiner is trying to build. Israeli designer Dror Benshetrit, 34, left the brick walls and pipes exposed, combining them with luxe elements such as his signature throne-like peacock chairs, and a steel-and-glass stairwell that descends dramatically into the basement-level sanctuary. Instead of typical rigid prayer benches, Benshetrit installed low beige couches. Instead of stained-glass windows, he hung single retro-style Edison bulbs. His uncle, hipster fashion designer Yigal Azrouel (also a congregant) draped the circular Torah ark with metallic tafetta. “I’ve never seen a synagogue like this. It’s beautiful, it’s modern, it’s with the times,” says first-time attendee Leslie Gerber-Seid
The synagogue is open to anyone, and free of dues. Walk-ins are welcome. Scheiner will even wave down curious onlookers from across the street and invite them to take a tour.
On a recent Friday night, Scheiner and his associate rabbi, Mendel Jacobson, whom one congregant refers to as a “rapper-slash-poet-slash-performer,” lead a short service. It consists of a few prayers, a lot of songs, some dancing, some jokes, a short sermon and one rather bawdy impromptu poem dedicated to Jacobson. Scheiner mentions that next week he will be offering a “lower your self-consciousness cocktail” before services, to relax everyone.
After the 45-minute service, people gather on the main floor, mingling over drinks and hors d’oeuvres. They stay for an hour or so, as if at a cocktail party, then wander off in twos and threes to grab dinner or head home.
To build their own synagogue, the Scheiners had to first part the East River. They grew up within the Lubavitch community in Brooklyn, but after getting married on Sept. 11, 2001, felt a connection to downtown Manhattan.
They moved to TriBeCa and began hosting Friday night dinners for a few neighbors. A combination of charisma, Esty’s cooking and their particular blend of spirituality-sans-dogma began attracting a crowd. Soon they were taking over friends’ lofts or renting out spaces to host Jewish get-togethers: rooftop Hanukkah parties and gallery Torah talks. Before long, people began asking if Scheiner would lead them in prayer, which, he says, was unexpected, coming from such a youthful, urban, seemingly nonreligious crowd.
In 2005, the Scheiners threw a party to announce the launch of the SoHo Synagogue. Jewish hip-hop star Matisyahu performed; 400 people showed up. They began holding services wherever they could find a space, and throwing fund-raisers at Cipriani’s, 1Oak and on the Intrepid (which some say felt a bit like a kosher meat market). They signed a lease for the Crosby Street site in 2009. While they inked the deal, a Gucci pop-up store rented it. Now congregants come for prayer, to meet new people and to be part of a community. The shul is even pulling people away from established uptown synagogues.
Jason Hirsch, 36, whose grandparents founded the esteemed Fifth Avenue Synagogue in the 1950s, is dubbed the “Miracle Man” by Scheiner for helping to raise funds for the SoHo venture.
His own family, including his parents, siblings and cousins, donated the menorah and Torah ark among other items. Hirsch also encouraged Jewish donors, such as billionaire businessman Ira Rennert, to back the shul. The Rennert family donated a Torah.
“There’s a deep-rooted tradition in my family to get involved with synagogues and the creation of Jewish life. When I met Dovi, something clicked. I felt like my grandparents were maybe watching me from above,” Hirsch says.
Plus, he says, “I feel comfortable there. Suddenly I have a desire to go to Friday night services, and I’ve never felt that way before.”

I am not really sure what the bouncer is for, considering they let anybody in. Maybe it is to create the atmosphere of exclusivity.

Anyway, it sounds really cool.

Today is election day in the US. Will the Democrats take the big hit they are expected to, or will they retain most of their power? That is the question. If you have not yet voted, get out now and show some respect to your democratic rights, and go vote! If you don't vote, you don't count.

And if you are going to vote in New York, listen to this. A friend received a phone call today. When he picked up the receiver, he heard an automated message - one of those calls telling you for whom to vote.

The phone call said, in ym friends description:

the fellow on the line started his recorded message in thick chassidish yiddish

............"Ich hays chaim hollendar un ich been gevain in tfisah" ("i am chaim hollendar and i was in jail")..........

mr hollendar went on to say how he was in jail and how eric shneiderman is the best candidate as he promised to help heimishe prisoners.

he said that voting for "ERRRR_IC" is mamesh pidyon shevuim and closed with a bracha that all listeners not have "legale" problems.

I dont know anything about Eric Shneiderman, if he is good or bad, if he supported this phone message or not, and am not going to tell you to vote for him or not. I find it amusing, and appalling, that prisoners and con-men have been given celebrity status and are considered men of influence.

Hollander was part of a ring of people in Kiryas Yoel who were caught in a massive tax fraud and money laundering scheme.

This guy is telling people for whom to vote? In the heimishe community this is an influential issue? Voting for this guy is pidyon shvuyim?

You can't make this stuff up!

While freedom of religion is a basic tenet of the American system, and not every Muslim in the world need be held responsible for what one group of Muslims did, you still must see the irony in a mosque being built right next to Ground Zero.

It took a lot of gall for the leadership of the Mosque and Islamic Community Center to make the request and work to get their plans approved to build their 13 story center right near Ground Zero, and in the process they have upset a lot of people. And it takes a lot of gall for the politicians to approve it.

And there is a strong sense of irony in the whole situation.

Yet how can anyone not approve it? These people did nothing wrong. Just because some other people of the same religion did a horrible crime against humanity doesn't mean every Muslim should be punished.

And how far outside Ground Zero would you have a mosque be banned? 2 blocks? 10 blocks? 2 miles? At what point is it ok to build a mosque and how close is it considered insulting to the victims?

Yet there is still a strong sense of sick irony in the whole story. Almost as if they wanted it there specifically just to "rub it in".

Yet how can you not allow them to locate the Mosque there? On what grounds?

Sounds like the name of a movie.. The Hasids and the Hipsters...

The NY Magazine ran an article, entitled "Clash of the Bearded Ones", on the fight in Williamsurg about the bike lane, and more so about the change that is going through Williamsburg with young hip people moving in to the largely Satmar hassidic enclave and how it is throwing the hassidim for a loop... and perhaps even more so about a trend they pick up on, whether it is as rampant as they indicate it is or not I dont know, of the young generation of hassidim having had enough with the older generations ways and them finding alternative culture to enjoy in quasi-secret.

The article is very long, way too long for me to just quote a paragraph or two and do it justice, so I will just say you should go read it for yourself. Personally, I found page 3 the most interesting and shocking of the whole piece.

Total rejection might have worked for keeping out the bad (or at least allowing you to think it has been kept out) in some previous generations, but today total rejection is no longer working. If energy would be expended in finding new methods, instead of clinging to the old methods even more vigorously, and ways of embracing the younger generation and drawing them in, perhaps they would not be so rejecting in return. This touches on what I found to be an important message in the parsha we read yesterday...

Last year there was a video news report about permission that had been given to use a specific rest stop on the side of the highway on the way up to the mountains of NY for a davening stop. The news report showed how people were abusing the privilege and selling food there. They were selling salads for Shabbos, cholent, sandwiches, etc., people were collecting tzedaka, etc. A result of this was making a tremendous mess, leaving their garbage piled up there.

The authorities got pretty PO'ed that the permission they had given had been abused.

The machers of NY who just had to sell cholent will be proud to know that because of them this year the police have canceled the permission to use the stop for davening.

An alternate location, much smaller, has been promised, on condition the mess of last year does not repeat itself. This itself was a fight, as the police, understandably, did not want to hear more promises how it would only be for prayer. but in the end they agreed, with the threat that they would cancel it immediately if the rules are not adhered to.

(source: Mishpacha newspaper)