The Teitelbaum Brothers at War or Something Else? A Petri Dish for Covid-19 Spread!!

The below letter to the editor is being published at the behest of an anonymous reader who is concerned about both the spread of Covid-19 and the raging “Hatfield’s and McCoy’s” style civil war between the brothers Teitelbaum, leaders of two factions of the Satmar religious community. We have not edited it.

We are not going to provide an analysis of the long-standing war between the brothers Rabbi Aharon and Rabbi Zalman Teitelbaum. It is an existential battle that would require an archivist, an expert in Satmar religious affairs, a magician and a philosopher to explain. But the spread of Covid-19 is an almost certain and foreseeable consequence of a massive gathering of the Kiryas Joel Rabbi Aharon Teitelbaum Satmar community. Moreover, that will likely then be followed by a massive gathering of the Rabbi Zalman Teitelbaum faction, if the author of the below is correct.

We cannot independently verify why the community is being gathered.

Kiryas Joel’s Rabbi Aharon Teitelbaum could be summoning his community to excoriate local and state government on Covid-19 mask mandates, or for any number of unrelated reasons. It’s anyone’s guess.

The author sent the below along to try and save the lives of his or her religious community members. If this post helps, so be it.

Note to reader: The translation of the Hebrew in the second to last paragraph is “Anyone who has saved a life it’s as if he has saved the world.”

It is signed: “And in the name of G-d may we do and may we be successful.”

Dear friend,

Please let’s prevent more deaths of our family and friends, more than enough died the last 2 years around us! And more than enough became severely sick with strokes and heart attacks around us!

I hope you are doing alright now, and if not it’s ok nor does anybody else do alright now… But if we do something proactive we may be feeling just a bit better.

The  hasidic Whatsapp groups are ablaze with Satmar Rebbe Rabbi Aron Teitelbaum of Monroe NY ‘s latest bombshell; he called for a gathering of thousands of his Hasidim followers to give a speech. Nobody knows yet what it will be but it is a scandalous because he asked no recordings should be allowed so we know it’s going to be a very dirty hateful speech against his brothers Zalmen followers that are becoming very strong in Kiryas Joel

This is based on a collection of all the leaks and speculations on whatsapp:

Tomorrow evening Thursday night the 16 of December 2021 8;30PM thousands will gather there in the main Kiryas Joel synagogue at 12 Garfield road.

All this amidst a new variant raging and the government not enforcing any masks nor other Covid precautions on this powerful bloc vote; so prepare for many more deaths there of their old and sick from omicron the next week or 2 while this major gathering is all about infighting of the grand rabbi Aron the older brother leader will forbid to buy homes and products from the growing minority who follows his younger brother grand rabbi Zelman there will be clips and pics so i tell u about this mass infecting of thousands with Covid a day and a half in advance.

The Aroiny Kiryas Joel leaders no doubt say this gathering is for G-d and Torah so they are ready to get infected; but we all know that it’s only for hateful politics!

Please spread this notice to all who may make a difference to halt this mass genocide of our vulnerable immune compromised members that will no doubt catch it form people who will attend this super spreader. כל המקיים נפש אחת מישראל כאילו קיים עולם מלא and even if we don’t like those aroinis they all have friends in business or family who are zalies that they will kill!

We can stop this if all of us really do speak up!

ובשם ה’ נעשה ונצליח!

Anti-Semitism? Might be Time for Our Jewish Brethren to Look in the Mirror

“Judaism and Zionism are Absolute Antonyms”

Posted 5.10.21 4:17pm

Dear Reader:

The above is on posters being held by some of the protesters in these videos.

Many of the ultra-Orthodox zealots in this video are funded by American Jewish counterparts. These are people who believe, from a fundamental perspective, in the destruction of the State of Israel. And, as the birth rate within the ultra-Orthodox community grows exponentially when compared to secular birth rates, once must wonder what happens when a majority of Israel’s Jews are opposed to the existence of the very state in which they live.

To the American supporters of these radical Jewish groups, who characterize every criticism as anti-Semitism, unwilling to stand up and say that this is not Judaism but something altogether foreign, you will have the inevitable destruction of the Jewish state as we know it today, sitting on your collective shoulders.

Protesters like those above are destructive to all Jewish identity, whether religious or secular. They are not tolerant of anything or anyone and yet, as American Jewish organizations fight anti-Semitism they refuse to question the integrity of the version of Judaism depicted above.

Mainstream Judaism does not support the view that “Judaism and Zionism are Absolute Antonyms.” Sadly, it might be time for organizations like Agudath Israel, the American Jewish Congress, the Jewish National Fund and others to speak out against the expression of “Judaism” in this video.

Journalist at the Center of a Storm, His Public Service and Covid-19

theJC.com

Charedi reporter at centre of a storm

There are two men at the centre of the febrile Brooklyn street demonstrations by strictly Orthodox Jews, protesting against a coronavirus crackdown by the Democratic governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, and his mayoral colleague, Bill de Blasio.

One is homegrown local Harold “Heshy” Tischler, host of a populist pro-Trump radio programme, now facing a court case on charges of inciting a riot and unlawful imprisonment.

And the other, improbably, is a softly-spoken Orthodox Jew, Jacob Kornbluh, born and brought up in Stamford Hill, London and now a political reporter for the Jewish Insider website, a national Jewish publication rather than a Charedi, local, one.

Since the beginning of the pandemic — and Kornbluh himself fell victim to the disease early on — he has been one of the loudest voices calling for the strictly Orthodox community to observe the rules of masks and social distancing. He has lost both relatives and friends to the virus.

But last week matters turned ugly when a crowd of mainly young men and boys — apparently urged on by Tischler — turned on Kornbluh and began screaming “moiser” — “traitor” — in his face. Though there was no actual physical violence, Kornbluh, 39, requested and received a police escort to his home in the Brooklyn neighbourhood of Boro Park, where he lives with his wife and five children.

He and his family now have to deal with intimidation on the street and on social media, directed at Kornbluh for apparently “siding” with the mayor and the governor, and for pressing charges against Heshy Tischler. “As a reporter, I never want to be the story”, says Kornbluh, “I always want to be the one presenting the accurate facts, the government guidelines and so on. Unfortunately there’s so much misinformation and miscommunication”. He is as critical of the mayor and governor for “failure to reach out to the community and educate about the virus”, as he is of the community for flouting the regulations.

Public service is central to Kornbluh’s family. His father, Isaac, ran for local council in Stamford Hill and was one of the founders of the area’s Hatzolah and Shomrim groupings, forming tight bonds with police and hospital authorities. Jacob, the fifth of seven siblings, told a Haaretz webinar this week that his memories of home life included his father “being almost never there” on Shabbat or even seder night, because of being on call for emergencies. “My father was always pretty vocal about his core mission, to save lives”, Kornbluh told the JC, “that’s how I grew up, and that’s how I feel”.

To continue reading in theJC.com, click here.

Hershy Tischler defying social distancing and mask mandates

Covid-19 Cluster Crackdowns and Heshy Tischler

Heshy Tischler Confronts Jacob Kornbluh

Frum Watch: People are Wondering it and Not Saying It – Covid-19 and Hareidim

***Journalist, governments, secular Jews, and non-Jews the world over are all wondering the same thing:Why are the coronavirus case counts higher in hareidi neighborhoods and communities?

Reposted with Permission of Frum Watch

Some like to point to the difficulty practicing social distancing with large families in cramped quarters, while others like to point to the lack of science education and general secular knowledge. Still others point to the hareidi communities refusal to put on hold its communal way of life. We would like to share with you the real reason behind the lackadaisical commitment to, if not outright rejection of, the social distancing guidelines in the hareidi community.

The answer is one word – WORK (or the lack thereof).

Let us explain. Never before in the history of the Jewish people has a Jewish community rejected the notion of the male members of the community working for a living. From the Bible to the Mishna to the Talmud — through the times of the later codes of Jewish law — husbands and male members of the Jewish community always have worked to support themselves and their families. In ancient times, some chopped wood, some made clothing, while others were shoemakers and blacksmiths. The Jewish marriage document, the Ketubah, itself attests to the importance and obligation of the husband and father of the household to support his wife and children.

However, this all changed when Rabbi Aaron Kotler, a Lithuanian yeshiva dean, arrived in the US and founded the Lakewood yeshiva and kollel in 1943. Rabbi Kotler believed and Rav Karelitz, the Chazon Ish, in Israel agreed that the secular work place was no place for a frum hareidi male. The temptations were too great; kefirah (heresy) was rampant – and besides, the hareidi world needed Torah scholars, not Torah businessman. This Torah Only theology spawned what we now know as the “kollel for life” model, where the male members of the community learn Talmud for life, while their wives and daughters support the household.

This new order is unprecedented in the annals of Jewish history. For the first time ever, we now have in Lakewood, Bnei Brak, and Jerusalem entire communities of men who don’t work for a living. Naturally, without working men, the community ultimately has become reliant on the income of the wives (usually working part-time), government welfare, and gemachim (community charities).

A “WOW” Moment – Covid-19 and the “Manhattan Jewish Experience”

Governor Cuomo Goes Up Against the Bloc and they Flout Part III

Listed as a drive by….

If this was, indeed, a drive-by, we will retract our comments. There are other videos that have since been removed from YouTube indicating that this was a huge event.

Simchas Torah – The Narrative that Somehow they are exempt

A Little Exceptionalism and Segregation, Housing for Exclusively Orthodox Jewish Families

Exclusive Orthodox Jewish Housing and the Opposition to It, Segregation, Elitism and Exceptionalism

UK and Elsewhere…

Experientially, to openly oppose housing that is exclusively designed for the “unique needs of orthodox Jews” is equated with being a racist, self-hating Jew, anti-Semite. Pick your poison, it likely applies or has already been said. But if each ethnic group in the US decided it wanted it’s own housing establishment to accord with its “unique needs”, the Constitutional implications would be staggering.

There is nothing unique to religious Judaism except a desire to remain secluded, with the single exception of the Eiruv – also a point of contention in many areas of the world but one that is easily rectifiable without need for segregated housing.

In the US if any other race, religion or culture demanded segregated housing one would slide down a remarkably slippery slope of institutionalized segregationist policy. Yet, somehow Jews are protected from the absurdity of it all, held above the fray. And with that, any criticism of the demands of ultra-Orthodox Jews and their unfettered and irresponsible building is frowned upon. Imprudence, misapplied zoning, payoffs, kickbacks and an imperialistic exceptionalism is oddly acceptable, if not supported by large Jewish organizations. Somehow, in the US (and apparently in the United Kingdom), the balance between a fear of being called an anti-Semite, and a notion of fairness tips in favor of fear, fairness be damned. There are no such “unique needs” of Judaism that could not be extended to every race, religion and culture. And there we are, again, sliding down that slippery slope.