Apples and Trees, Kings County, Q-Anon FBI Arrests, DC Coup, Radical Fundamentalism…

Orthodox Jews waving Trump flags in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, October 7, 2020.Credit: YUKI IWAMURA/ REUTERS

How Far Will We Go In Our Support of…

Dear Readers:

This is being written in direct response to calls to publish more about the arrests in Washington, DC, particularly as they relate to the Jewish community and the arrest of a resident of Kings County. For a host of reasons I decided to stay away from the topic; but its absence on these pages has raised as many questions as it has avoided. I will begin by stating that I have shied away from this topic because, on the one hand, if there is one thing I have come to adopt in the last few years it is a firm belief that the system of electing judges and politicians in Kings County, NY is entirely corrupt. The law firms who are on the committees to elect judges, who control the slate, and who are in positions within the power structure in Kings County are in direct conflict of interest with the public’s right to judicial integrity. As such, both the attorneys and their hand-picked elected judges and politicians are ripe for manipulation and all is lost for a fair playing field for anyone on the other side of the kingmakers. I posit that only a judge who is independent can possibly be impartial. And it is my belief that absolute power corrupts absolutely. On the other hand, and taking a consistent view on fairness, reporting the subject of those arrested should also be fair. And, I do not believe it has been.

If I am honest, my feelings about Kings County politics, both judicial and governmental have tempered my approach to anything related to that subject. However, my position as a parent, an idealist and someone who believes that we should be more charitable and kind and that sites like mine should have integrity provides guidance on how I will treat the arrest of a Kings County native, something that will be clear as you continue reading.

Before you read further, be warned. I was not a fan of Trumpism. But, that was more about his brash, childish, vindictive, narcissistic and self-serving traits as a human being. Old-school Republicanism is something I go back and forth on. The office of President in all of its old school formalities are requirements to which I ascribe whomever holds that position. We spent years building up our government; and the office of President should be dignified regardless of the affiliation of the politician who sits there. Even Nixon respected the office and wanted to leave with dignity. Trump, not so much. And Trumpism, the embodiment of the man and his politics, is a frightening window into extremism American style. The following editorial will reflect this view. If you are a forever Trumper, my comments after the first few paragraphs will not be for you. Let’s agree to disagree.

I will start with this: HOW THE DC ARRESTS ARE BEING REPORTED AND SIGNIFICANT BIASES

The arrests of the people in Washington, DC for the role they played in the coup d’etat has highlighted famous figures, likely because it seems so shocking. I premise later some thoughts on that. For now, all of the arrests should be about the individuals, not their families. Some of those arrested are police officers, some governmental figures, GOP lawmakers, some military figures, some violent, some less so, and some Olympic athletes. They were each, in my view, a victim of ideological, neo-Fascist indoctrination with few exceptions. They were following what I firmly believe to have been a false narrative: “Stop the Steal.” That narrative has been a recurring theme through Trump’s entire Presidency, one that attributes his failures to things “stolen from him.” Each person that attended that rally but crossed the line of violence and organized coup is individually accountable for his or her actions. But collectively their leaders, whether governmental, social or religious are no less culpable.

The media coverage of each arrest has focused on the name of the person, not who that person’s parents are, with extremely rare exception. In New York the high profile arrest of a 34-year-old son of a Kings County Practicing Orthodox Jewish judge is one such exception and an unfair stain on the father for the actions of the son. The subject’s father is a registered Democrat and his brother is the executive director of Chovevei Zion, a politically conservative Orthodox advocacy organization as well as a Brooklyn district leader and vice president of the South Brooklyn Conservative club. Clearly there is a difference of opinion on politics within that family. Sitting at the Passover Seder must be an interesting, if not potentially volatile experience. Both of the sons are adults. They both can think for themselves. What happens next is up to the family; but unless the arrested man’s father convinced him to take an active stand in DC, a potentially violent stand, his father should be given his privacy and not made the focus of news articles or media attention.

Rabbi Zirkind – Money Laundering, Narcotics and a Sentencing Letter or Two…

Letter regarding education to the Court

Considerations for Deciding on a Sentence – A Deficiency of Education? Really…

Dear Reader:

Zalmund Zirkind is charged with the laundering of funds derived from drug trafficking. There are numerous victims, including those who have fallen victim to drug abuse, overdoses and death for whom Zirkind, whether directly or indirectly, provided a pathway to use. His laundry operation was clever, considered and committed. And excusing this behavior on the basis of a failed education is a travesty.

If Hasidic education is inadequate it should be acknowledged as a failure and fixed. If the Hasidics are fighting any effort to provide them with an adequate education, they should not then be excused from the accompanying failures with respect to abiding by civil laws. The Zirkind family ascribes to their belief system, indoctrination of educational neglect, the accompanying insularity and community centrist religious practice. They should not be rewarded for their choices when running afoul of the law.

The community with which Zirkind identifies is entirely opposed to secular education with rare exception. They claim that their Torah education is superior to civil education, a claim echoed in the United States, Canada and throughout Europe and Israel. Rabbi Zalmund Zirkind is a rabbi, a person held in high esteem and regard, a person of allegedly moral superiority. He is supposed to be exemplary and pristine, setting an example for his followers.

The religious community has fought in courts the world over to prevent the imposition of civil education. There are claims in lawsuits wherein Torah education is described as “superior” and “secular studies as morally challenged.” If Torah education, absent civil studies, is superior are we to reward its failings? Is Zirkind, then, by virtue of the educational environment in which he was raised superior or is he morally challenged? He can’t have it both ways with the above letter also being evidence of reasons for leniency, a shield protecting him for the charges for which he has pleaded guilty.

While the person who wrote that letter claims to have fought the religious educational system for years, his fight is irrelevant. If Zirkind himself believed his education inadequate, why allow his own family members to follow suit? Perhaps so they will later have an excuse to claim that their deficient understanding of the world should yield the benefits of diminished sentencing when they commit crimes? That is an absurdity.

Rabbi Zirkind was to have been a pillar of his community, an example. His affinity for decency as expressed in the above letter does not mitigate the crimes he committed or the responsibility he had to provide a pristine example for his congregants. Were we to be lenient what message would that send to his followers?

The following are pages from the Government’s position on the Zirkind sentencing which can be found on the court docket. It is not to be deemed as complete.

Government position on Zirkind Sentencing from Docket

Government position on Zirkind Sentencing from Docket

Government position on Zirkind Sentencing from Docket

Government position on Zirkind Sentencing from Docket

Government position on Zirkind Sentencing from Docket

Vaccinate the Gay Away…. Huh? Rabbi Daniel Asor and His Dangerous Assertions…

If Vaccinations Cause Homosexuality, Can they Then Cure It?

There are no words to describe the the following article which almost feels like it should be satirical, if it were not such a serious and perilous approach to both vaccinations and homosexuality. Rabbi David Asor, who has tens of thousands of followers has told his followers that vaccinating against Covid-19 using a vaccination that has an embryonic substrate could cause homosexuality. It is important to note that leading religious leaders have supported vaccinating their communities. But Asor’s positions are dangerous.

Fervently religious observers of all faiths, sports fans, rioters and many protestors have put their followers, fans and fellow supporters at great risk. They have spread that risk to innocents, civilians with whom they come into contact following their acts of Constitutionally protected speech and assembly. Thousands and thousands have died or been sickened, some losing their livelihoods, some losing their homes, some spending months in and out of autoimmune flare-ups, not because they made a choice to be a proverbial conscientious objector. How Constitutional freedoms even have a place in a world that has been wholly upended due to Covid-19 remains a point of scholarly debate – but that’s an article for another day.

It may be that the only path to normalcy is vaccination, a point many religious leaders have acknowledged. But Azor is afraid of injecting a homosexuality gene? Huh?

Rabbi David Azor believes – and has preached his gospel – that Covid-19 was spread to cull the population, that Bill Gates is “trying to establish a new world order,” that a number of US governmental organizations are trying to create a “brutal arm” and that the vaccinations against Covid-19 can cause homosexuality. Let’s just say for a second that all of those assertions are correct. Ask yourself to define “organized and zealous” religious practice. Is it not similarly a way of controlling fellow followers, creating a religious world order? All organized religion, protest, cronyism, following is a form of control – whether it is control of religious belief and activity, methodology in protest, cronyism to political parties – it is all about control and some sort of vast organizing of the controlling body versus the controlled populous.

While many would disagree, sexual orientation and preference is not a choice. It is as much a part of a person’s being as their DNA. And it should be embraced like blue eyes, red hair, height and everything else there is about a person. We don’t need to love it or even approve of it, but acceptance and tolerance should come without question, it should be part of this “world order” to which Asor ascribes. To assume homosexuality can be “cured” by prayer, conversion therapy or some other form of demeaning and dehumanizing practice is to engage in abuse. Full stop. To assume that it can be spread or somehow injected is an absurdity.

But, let’s assume for a second that Asor is correct, that a virus based in human embryonic substrate can somehow cause homosexuality – only for the purposes of academic argument, we ask Rabbi Daniel Asor if the converse is also true.

If vaccinations can cause homosexuality then is the converse also true? Can vaccinations then cure homosexuality? Certainly it must work both ways?

Israel has vaccinated 1.8 million people in record time | Illustration: Reuters/Dado Ruvic

Popular rabbi warns followers COVID vaccine ‘could make you gay’

In addition to purporting a false link between vaccines and homosexuality, Rabbi Daniel Asor also claims that both the virus and the vaccines are the work of a “global malicious government” trying to “establish a new world order.”

Rabbi Daniel Asor’s assertion goes against decrees issued by leading rabbis in Israel and around the world, who have called on ultra-Orthodox society to take every precaution against the global pandemic, including getting vaccinated.

The Haredi community has recorded extremely high morbidity rates due to repeated flouting of social distancing directives.

Asor, who has tens of thousands of followers on social media, is no stranger to controversy. In his latest online sermons, he argued that “any vaccine made using an embryonic substrate, and we have evidence of this, causes opposite tendencies. Vaccines are taken from an embryonic substrate, and they did that here, too, so … it can cause opposite tendencies.”

In addition to purporting a false link between vaccines and homosexuality, Assur also advocates various conspiracy theories about the coronavirus, claiming, among other things, that both the virus and the vaccines are the work of a “global malicious government,” comprising the Freemasons, the Illuminati, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and others, who are “trying to establish a new world order.”

He further argues that the virus was released to “cull global population” and that the vaccines seek to further this agenda.

Asor calls the World Health Organization and pharma giants Pfizer and Moderna “criminal organizations” that have deliberately mislead ultra-Orthodox leaders into supporting vaccination drives by presenting them with false data on its components and efficiency.

Further spinning his conspiracy theory, Asor claims that the US Federal Emergency Management Agency, a Department of Homeland Security that has joined forces with Israel’s National Emergency Authority to battle the pandemic, maintains a “brutal army” in Israel that will be secretly embedded with local law enforcement to further the global government’s nefarious agenda.

It should be stressed that leading rabbis in the Sephardi and Ashkenazi comminutes have deemed COVID-19 vaccines to be safe and are urging their followers to be immunized.

To continue reading, click here.

Uptick in Covid-19 in Hasidic Neighborhoods, Cause for Concern

Virus uptick in Hasidic NYC neighborhoods causes concern

FILE – In this May 28, 2020, file photo, a woman passes a fence outside Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery adorned with tributes to victims of COVID-19 in New York. The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus topped 200,000 Tuesday, Sept. 22, a figure unimaginable eight months ago when the scourge first reached the world’s richest nation with its sparkling laboratories, top-flight scientists and towering stockpiles of medicines and emergency supplies. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — A spike in COVID-19 cases in a handful of Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods with large Orthodox Jewish populations is raising alarm bells even as New York City’s overall infection rate remains low, city officials said Wednesday.

The neighborhoods including Borough Park and Williamsburg accounted for 20% of the city’s COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, according to city Health Department numbers.

“We have a lot to do because we’re seeing a serious uptick in multiple neighborhoods simultaneously,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at his daily coronavirus briefing. “And it’s something we have to address with a very aggressive public health effort right away.”

Some neighborhoods have drawn scrutiny since early in the coronavirus pandemic for large gatherings that violated social distancing guidelines. De Blasio personally oversaw the dispersal of a Hasidic funeral in Williamsburg in April and weathered criticism over a tweet warning “the Jewish community, and all communities” to heed the virus.

Dr. Mitchell Katz, the head of the city’s public hospital system, said health officials are meeting with religious leaders in the hard-hit neighborhoods, making robocalls in English and Yiddish and sending sound trucks to flood the streets with messages about virus guidelines.

Katz said the city hopes to prevent gatherings such as wedding banquets in the communities that are seeing an uptick.

“Large indoor activities are a huge problem for COVID transmission,” he said.

APNews to continue click here.

Breslovers Stuck in De-Militarized Zone and Covid-19

From Yeshiva World News

Breslovers singing in the face of adversity

The situation in the demilitarized zone between Belarus and the Ukraine is a Humanitarian Crisis of the Breslovers’ Own Making and Should Not be Condoned

The mayor of Uman, clearly sympathetic to the reasons for the pilgrimage, had told the Breslovers and other Chassidim not to come to Uman as early as July of 2020.

“Every year about 30,000 pilgrims come to Uman to celebrate Rosh Hashanah,” the mayor said in a video posted online. “But this year, the coronavirus pandemic made adjustments to our life…. It’s a very difficult situation in the world and in Ukraine. In Uman, the situation is under control…. But the arrival of a large number of foreigners from different countries could cause a coronavirus outbreak in our town.”

Hamodia, click here.

The Ukranian Government had announced a ban on Foreign travel to the Ukraine, also in July; but then agreed to restrict the pilgrimage at the request of the Prime Minister of Israel.

Ukraine said on Tuesday it would limit the number of Chassidim from Israel planning to enter the country for Rosh Hashanah after Israeli officials voiced fear that the event would be a coronavirus hotspot.

“At the request of the Prime Minister of Israel, a decision was made to significantly restrict the Hasidic pilgrimage to Uman to celebrate Rosh Hashanah,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office said in a statement.

It did not say how many people would be allowed into Ukraine for the event or give any further details.

Hamodia, click here

The Covid-19 crisis did not need to be exacerbated by the tens of thousands of Breslover Chasidic and others who make that pilgrimage every year; and sensibility should have dictated that the Chasidim from Antwerp (Belgium), Bnei Brak (Israel) the United States and elswhere rethink this yearly ritual. The entire pilgrimage represents a loyalty to a ritual and not to a religion.

There is nothing in Jewish law that requires this pilgrimage and nothing in the culture of the Breslovers that could not have been otherwise honored by remaining home.

But, many Breslovers came anyway, caring not for the health and safety of their own, of others who may come into contact with them or of those in Belarus and the Ukraine. Pikuach Nefesh (the sanctity of human life) be damned. Anti-Semitism is on the rise and we cannot really be asking ourselves why. Two countries are now being disrespected by our own and the world is bearing witness to the selfishness of the undertaking of the pilgrimage.

Pages: 1 2

Being Human Bio-Weapons, Flouting Covid-19 and Putting Others at Risk, Borough Park

De Blasio says COVID-19 uptick in Borough Park linked to wedding

Brooklyn’s Borough Park neighborhood is experiencing an “uptick” in COVID-19 cases that’s mostly been linked to a large-scale wedding, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday.

“We’ve seen an uptick just in the last few days,” de Blasio told reporters during his daily City Hall press briefing, explaining that there were 16 new coronavirus cases in the area.

Hizzoner called the new cases an “early warning sign,” as he noted that “some” are “linked to a recent wedding — a large wedding, in fact, in the community.”

Currently in New York, only social gatherings of up to 50 people are permitted and de Blasio said the wedding in question “was substantially more than that — and that’s just not allowed.”

It was not immediately clear where exactly the wedding was held or whether anyone has been punished.

De Blasio said the city’s Test and Trace Corps is following up with attendees to get them tested and that the city is “working immediately to galvanize community leaders.”

“We need to avoid those large gatherings that can cause a bigger problem,” said de Blasio, adding that the city’s Health Department will start doubling down on catering halls across the Big Apple “to let them know those standards must be kept.”

Thank you Bubov-45, When Rational Minds Prevail – Covid-19…