East Ramapo Central School District – Superintendent Search Meeting. 11.10.20

POSTED BY REQUEST:

On Tuesday, November 10^th there will be a “Special ERCSD Board Meeting” at 7:30 via You Tube with a presentation by the search firm seeking a permanent Superintendent for ERCSD. 

New Square Celebration – Covid-19 Defiance in Rockland County

Last night in Rockland, NY (in New Square – founded by my great-uncle… my family really stepping up 🤦‍♀️) – end of Yom Tov (holiday) gathering.

Not sure what to feel anymore. It's not the whole community, but will continue calling it out.
Via @nmoster:pic.twitter.com/XXCqlW6zcV

— Abby Stein (@AbbyChavaStein) October 12, 2020

Covid-19 Hotspots in NYC and Rockland/Orange Counties, ultra-Orthodox

Coronavirus Updates: New York City positivity rate approaches 2%

CORONAVIRUS

Coronavirus Updates: New York City positivity rate approaches 2%

The New York City sheriff’s office says it pulled the plug on three large gatherings that were not following coronavirus restrictions.NEW YORK (WABC) — As the worldwide death toll from COVID-19 has eclipsed 1 million, New York City’s COVID-19 positivity rate is approaching 2%, health officials said Monday, a concerning rise as New York City public schools would close at 3%.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city had 332 new reported cases, with 61 patients admitted to hospitals. The citywide positive tests are at 1.93%

Earlier, Governor Andrew Cuomo also reported elevated positive test rates in Brooklyn, Orange County and Rockland County.

Of the 52,936 tests reported, 834 were positive (1.5% of total). Total hospitalizations are 543, and 11 additional deaths related to COVID-19 were reported on Sunday.

To continue reading click here.

The Justice Department’s Suit Against the Village of Airmont, NY – RLUIPA Unhinged

RLUIPA Should Be Revised or Repealed so it Cannot be Bastardized and Used to the Detriment of non-Religious and non-Observant

Dear Reader:

The below lawsuit filed against the village of Airmont, New York, is a prime example of the use and abuse of RLUIPA (Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act).  In theory, RLUIPA was instituted to allow repressed religions a measure of specified and enumerated rights whereby overly burdensome laws that would or might suppress religious practice could be overturned. However, it has been used instead by religious groups to suppress the rights of everyone else, an unintended consequence of drafters who did not consider how it could go awry.

In Rockland County, New York, Orange County, New York, Lakewood and Jackson Township, New Jersey and in other places around the country, RLUIPA has been bastardized to allow for entire communities, school districts, single family zoned towns and districts to be sued by well-served Ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups. It has been manipulated to allow Ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities to be built, fostered, strengthened and funded by the suppressed individuals RLUIPA fails to protect. In other words, the under-served in many of these communities, public school children, blacks, browns and Hispanics and other minority groups, have been the counterbalanced “repressed” to a law that should have never gained the traction it has gained. 

The following, a Justice Department investigation into Airmont, New York is one such example. And the lobbyists that are touting that letter are members the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council (OJPAC), a group whose mission is the “counter the defamation and generalization of the Orthodox Jewish Community.” It should be noted that OJPAC appears from the publicity it obtains, its vast media networks, its social media platforms, its website and the attorneys that represent it to be very well-funded; but the 990’s for the organization tell a very different story. That’s an article for a different day.

Suffice it to say, the lawsuit against the village of Airmont is a travesty of justice for everyone living in Rockland County who is not ultra-Orthodox or religiously fervent.

From the Department of Justice Website, here.

RLUIPA prohibits the implementation of any land use regulation that imposes a “substantial burden” on the religious exercise of a person or religious assembly or institution except where justified by a “compelling governmental interest” that the government pursues in the least restrictive way possible.

• Protection against unequal treatment for religious assemblies and institutions:
  RLUIPA provides that religious assemblies and institutions must be treated at least as well as nonreligious assemblies and institutions.  42 U.S.C. § 2000cc(b)(1);
• Protection against religious or denominational discrimination:
  RLUIPA prohibits discrimination “against any assembly or institution on the basis of religion or religious denomination.”  42 U.S.C. § 2000cc(b)(2);
• Protection against total exclusion of religious assemblies:
  RLUIPA provides that governments must not totally exclude religious assemblies from a jurisdiction. 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc(b)(3)(A); or
• Protection against unreasonable limitation of religious assemblies:
  RLUIPA states that governments must not unreasonably limit “religious assemblies, institutions, or structures within a jurisdiction.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc(b)(3)(B).

RLUIPA’s protections can be enforced by the Department of Justice or by private lawsuits.  The Department of Justice’s RLUIPA investigations and enforcement are handled by the Civil Rights Division’s Housing and Civil Enforcement Section, and by United States Attorney’s Offices around the country.

 

Rockland County, NY and “Moserim” – A Death Threat That Should not Be Ignored!

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION, ASSISTANCE

Please note:

Rabbi Horowitz does not know the blogger(s) behind this site nor is there any collaboration. He likely does not support much of what we write about; but we have tremendous respect.

We believe that his life is in danger and we are posting in the hopes that additional publicity will protect him and the other two on the Poster. Jacob Korbluh is a journalist. The actual poster below was up on his Twitter page, republished from a Twitter page of Frimet Goldberger. 

If anyone sends information to this page (findinglostmessiah@gmail.com) that might help Rabbi Horowitz, please know we will forward it along. We have little faith in the Ramapo Police Department, but ask for any assistance.

We will use any and all channels available to us.

From the Facebook Files of Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz and from Twitter for the picture:

Yaakov Horowitz

This Is Not OK!!

I just filed a police report with Ramapo Police against the person who created this flyer and against the person who owns or has access to this twitter account. Ramapo Police is taking this death threat ** very seriously.

Life has taught me that when terrorists makes threats, take them at their word.

(For the record, all responsible rabbis across the spectrum of Judaism fully support and enforce social distancing guidelines, and the people responsible for this represent a tiny fringe of our community. See here https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/which-god-are-you-praying-to-with-bloodstained-hands/ for my opinion on people who aren’t following the guidelines, and I will not be silenced from expressing it in this great country. Full stop.)

I ask anyone who knows the person or people responsible for this death threat, to please contact Ramapo Police at 845-357-2400. Please reference this investigation by File # RP-0300080-20
—————————
** The flyer states that the 3 of us (I don’t know the other 2 fellows) are “Mosrim” (loosely; Jews who report other Jews to the authorities) should not be permitted in synagogue after the pandemic ends, and and should be banished from the community. But the term “Moser” (singular of mosrim) is very loaded, because when Jews lived under authoritarian regimes, getting reported to the authorities was often a death sentence. And @heimishNiyes added text from Maimonides distorted out of context which states that “It is permitted to kill a Mosur in any place and at any time, meaning ex judiciously.

Response to the Forward – Jews Not Being Blamed for Covid Spread and Non-Compliance Should Not be Defended

THE FORWARD IS SENSATIONALIZING A PROBLEM THAT EXISTS, RATHER THAN DEMANDING COMPLIANCE BY THOSE WHO HAVE CHOSEN RELIGION OVER HEALTH!

By: Julie D. Globus and a Number of Anonymous Contributors

This Opinion is a response to the piece written by Ari Feldman of The Forward entitled:  ‘It’s there, it’s nonstop’: In Facebook groups in Hasidic areas, Jews blamed for virus spread, referred to as a News piece, which is partly reprinted below. Please note that since the original drafting of this Opinion, a piece came out by Steve Gold (mentioned below) in The Jewish Standard entitled Hate is also a virus – and it also kills. We add a reference to it because he does address some points we made below and to some extent we agree. To the extent we don’t, please continue reading.

While we make no bones about acknowledging there is an anti-Haredi sentiment in Rockland County, as well as Lakewood, New Jersey, Toms River, New Jersey, Orange County, New York, parts of Israel, parts of Belgium, England, Europe and the list goes on, we do not believe it is generalized anti-Semitism. Our thesis is derived from a parallel comparison to areas where there are flagrantly disrespectful churchgoers, one can see similar anti-religious sentiment. The major difference is that the Haredim, unlike most churchgoers have chosen a form of dress that shines light on their religion and practice and by doing so, shines light on any blemishes within the community. 

The general comparison between Haredim and churchgoers is a contextual discussion related to societal norms versus religious convention and should not be labeled anti-Semitism, for to do so, diminishes legitimate concerns of law abiding citizens everywhere, who themselves may have chosen to forego public observance in favor of safety.

We do not think that pieces like that written by Feldman, or the Rockland County face of the Haredim, Aron Wieder, or speeches of those like Michaeld D. Cohen, who is the Eastern Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center are helpful to the cause. We do not think Cohen, who is quoted in Feldman’s article, is appropriately responding to concerns of secular Jews and non-Jews, nor do we think he is doing Jews anywhere any favors.

Governor Cuomo “Are you Kidding Me” – Legislator Hofstein Asking for Enforcement in Rockland!

Legislator Rockland County, Lon Hofstein (Credit: Legislator Hofstein’s Facebook Page)

ZERO TOLERANCE FOR UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR!!!

Every day Governor Cuomo reports the staggering number of confirmed cases and deaths due to the Corona virus.
When issuing his executive orders he was quoted as saying ” I am not kidding about this”.

If this statement is a true reflection of how he feels why hasn’t he taken measures to enforce social distancing in Rockand?

I have participated in numerous conference calls with the members of law enforcement as well as other elected officials. During these conferences, I have continuously heard members of law enforcement state they, “DO NOT HAVE THE AUTHORITY” to enforce social distancing. They are limited to having the crowds disperse.

Governor Cuomo has handcuffed the members of Law enforcement in his resistance to make Social Distancing a law. My thought is Governor Cuomo, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

For the citizens of Rockland County to have to depend on the Town Code Enforcement officers to go to the scene of the infraction is ridiculous!

It is time for our state officials to stop practicing politics and to represent & protect ALL THE PEOPLE.

If we do not follow the direction of the health department officials, the results will be, and have been, disastrous.

This is a matter of LIFE & DEATH!

Social Distancing Must Be Enforced, I Am Not Kidding!