Charedi statistics show that social distancing works

The ultra-Orthodox sector has unwittingly served as a control group in the experiment seeking to combat the global pandemic.

 by  Ruthie Blum

The carry-on about the dangerous spread of COVID-19 within the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community in Israel is understandable. While the rest of us are cooped up at home, with increasingly severe limitations on our freedom of movement, certain ultra-Orthodox towns and neighborhoods have been conducting business as usual.

Indeed, the contrast between Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood and the city of Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv with the shuttered shops and empty playgrounds of cities from Metula to Eilat naturally causes rage on the part of a populace forced to comply with regulations aimed at flattening the curve of the coronavirus. 

Video footage from a funeral in Bnei Brak this past Saturday night – attended by masses of members of an extreme haredi sect all huddled together, yet not arrested by police for ignoring the two-meter-apart rule – elicited furious reactions from secular and religious Israelis alike.

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Will the Chinese Take Over the Entire World Very Soon

Ladies ..Watch out! Mikveh-peeping DC rabbi set for early prison release

Rabbi Barry Freundel, a once-prominent Modern Orthodox rabbi in Washington, DC, who was convicted for secretly videotaping women in his synagogue’s mikveh, was scheduled to be released early from prison.

First, however, an assistant US attorney was asking his victims whether they object to Freundel getting his freedom on April 15.

Freundel, 68, who began serving his prison term in May 2015, was sentenced to 6.5 years after pleading guilty to 52 counts of voyeurism, a charge that carries up to a year’s incarceration. He was due out toward the end of 2021.

A message this week to Freundel’s victims from Amy Zubrensky of the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, said Freundel had accrued “good time” credit for “classes and/or other rehabilitative conduct.” She said he may be released even earlier because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Zubrensky said she wanted to hear from victims before deciding whether to oppose early release. She must register any objections by Friday.

JTA has reached out to Zubrensky and to Freundel’s attorney in 2015, Jeff Harris, for comment.

For at least six months and on dozens of occasions, JTA has asked Keena Blackmon, the spokeswoman for the District of Columbia Department of Corrections, for information on Freundel’s date of release. She has never returned calls.

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Chinese city bans eating dogs and cats in response to coronavirus

A city in southeastern China is reportedly banning the consumption of dogs and cats as well as wild animals due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Dogs and cats as pets have established a much closer relationship with humans than all other animals, and banning the consumption of dogs and cats and other pets is a common practice in developed countries and in Hong Kong and Taiwan,” officials in Shenzhen, which is about 16 miles from Hong Kong, said in an order Wednesday, according to Reuters.

“This ban also responds to the demand and spirit of human civilization,” the order said.

Experts believe the novel virus likely originated late last year at a wild animal market in Wuhan, China - the city at the epicenter of the crisis - before it spread through the country and across the world.

More than 926,000 have been sickened by the virus and more than 46,000 have died globally as of April 1.

In February, China’s central government temporarily banned breeding and eating wild animals to combat the spread, but Shenzhen’s order, which goes into effect May 1, is permanent, The Washington Times reported.

President Xi Jinping said in February the country should “resolutely outlaw and harshly crackdown” on the illegal wildlife trade because of the public health risks it poses.

Before the ban, 54 species, including pangolins and civets were legal as long as they were raised on farms and at least 3,700 markets across the country have been shut down amid inspections.

Dogs especially are popular in certain parts of the country, Reuters reported.

“There is no evidence showing that wildlife is more nutritious than poultry and livestock,” Liu Jianping, of the Shenzhen Center for Disease Prevention and Control, told state media, according to Reuters.

Turtles and frogs will still be allowed under the order.

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When Satmar, Auerbach Craizes, and Zionists are all on the Same Page .......... Free Food Distribution in Yerushalyim

April Fools’ cakes will blow your mind

This baker is not fooling around with her hyperrealistic cakes. 

To celebrate April Fools’ Day, check out Austin, Texas, chef Natalie Sideserf’s incredible creations — from an “onion” to an “oyster” — all made with buttercream and modeling chocolate … and zero fondant. 
The optical illusions aren’t just amazing to look at, they taste great, too.

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Court overturns conviction in killing of reporter Daniel Pearl

A court in Pakistan on Thursday overturned the death sentence and murder conviction of a British-born militant for the 2002 slaying of journalist Daniel Pearl.

A lawyer for the militant, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, said his client’s sentence had been reduced to seven years in prison for the charge of kidnapping, according to Agence France-Presse.

Sheikh was expected to be released from prison after serving there since 2002.

Pearl, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, was abducted and beheaded in Karachi. A video of Pearl’s decapitation was delivered to the US consulate there.

Sheikh was sentenced to death in 2002.

A report released by the Pearl Project at Georgetown University has claimed that the wrong men were convicted for Pearl’s murder.

Instead, the investigation says Pearl was murdered by Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.

Mohammed was arrested in Pakistan in 2003 and is being held in Guantanamo Bay.

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Corona Funeral for the Wrong Man

By Chabad.org

Moshe Grunwald lived a full and long life. A scion of the Pupa Chassidic dynasty, he survived Auschwitz and the Nazi death marches, rebuilding his family and his life in America.

A longtime resident of Brooklyn, N.Y., he passed away this week as dozens were felled by the coronavirus. The family was told that the funeral would be at 10 a.m. sharp. Only a small group was allowed to attend, and the entire proceeding would be brief, consisting of a few Psalms and the Keil Maleh Rachamim.

Following tradition, but standing apart from each other, the mourners approached the casket and asked their beloved patriarch to forgive them for anything they may have done to slight him. After Psalms were said and the truncated service was about to end, a flustered undertaker approached the casket and took a good look.

“I’m sorry,” he told the shocked family. “We took out the wrong casket. Please wait while I return this casket and bring out Mr. Grunwald.”

The family exited the funeral home in shock and waited in their cars until it was time to begin the funeral … again!

“I have to admit I was so upset that this had happened to my Zaidy,” wrote his granddaughter, Chaya Maimon, on Facebook. “The man who was loved by all. Who deserved so much kavod, who had to die alone due to a pandemic, who had to have this embarrassment of a funeral, who couldn’t have a fitting burial or shiva. This was the final insult. I was so upset, I started to laugh and cry simultaneously. I couldn’t believe I was living in a time where there are so many bodies that they mixed them up.”

Then she learned the rest of the story.

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Police Finally Close Shuls In Beit Shemesh Bet ..Where the Extremists Live

Police officers close synagogues and disperse public gatherings in an ultra orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Beit Shemesh, following the government’s decisions, in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus on March 31, 2020.

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Rabbi Rottenberg Defiant ... Keeps His Monsey Shul open ...The Shul Where the Stabbing Took Place

Rabbi Rottenberg, Kosyiner Rebbe, or how some call him the Forshyer Rebbe, is boasting that amidst all regulations, his shul remains open.
He said that the people and the Rabbonim that closed their shuls "don't understand the importance of davening be'zibur."

It was in his house, that R' Yossel Neiman was murdered on Chanukah.....
It seems that one death was not enough in his shul, the good rabbi is looking for more victims ...
The way things are going in Monsey, he won't have to wait too long!

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בית המדרש בו התרחש פיגוע רצחני - עדיין פתוח

למרות אלפי המתים בארה"ב מנגיף ה'קורונה', בבית מדרשו של האדמו"ר מקאסאן במונסי, בו התרחש בחנוכה פיגוע קשה - מסרבים לסגור ואף מתגאים בכך שהמקום עדיין פתוח עולם)

בעוד נגיף ה'קורונה' ממשיך להתפשט ולגבות קורבנות רבים ברחבי ארה"ב בכלל ובקרב התושבים החרדים בפרט, ישנם אחרים שמתנגדים בחריפות רבה לסגירת בתי המדרש והמקוואות בארה"ב, וחלקם אף יצאו בימים האחרונים לתהלוכת מחאה ברחובות השכונות החרדיות בבורו פארק.

אחד מבתי המדרש אשר ממשיך בפעילות רגילה הוא בית מדרשו של האדמו"ר מקאסאן בשכונת פארשעי שבמונסי, שם התרחש בחג החנוכה האחרון פיגוע קשה על רקע אנטישמי, שבו נרצח אחד החסידים ונפצעו עוד כ-15, בזמן שחגגו את החג בביתו של האדמו"ר שממוקם בסמיכות לבית המדרש.

בהקלטה שהגיעה ל'כיכר השבת' נשמע גורם בכיר בחסידות כשהוא זועם על יתר בתי המדרש שנעלו את שעריהם, וכי לדבריו, רובם, כ-22 בתי מדרש, כלל לא רצו לעשות כך, ורק בגלל אילוץ של הרשויות החליטו בסופו של דבר לסגור את בתי הכנסת והמקוואות.

עוד מוסיף הבכיר בחסידות כי הוא שוחח עם כלל הגורמים, אך הוא אינו מרגיש צורך להסביר את עצמו, ובזמן שהם לא עמדו בלחץ, הוא גאה להמשיך ולהפעיל את בית המדרש. 

הבכיר מוסיף ומספר כי הוא שוחח עם בני זוג שלא יצאו מביתם מזה 4 שבועות, ובכל זאת שניהם נדבקו במחלה בגלל שהשתתפו בחתונה משפחתית בחודש שעבר, ולא בגלל שהם השתתפו בתפילות במניין ובאמירת 'אמן יהא שמיה רבא'.

עוד הוא מאשים את חלק מאותם אנשים שסגרו את בתי הכנסיות בכך שהם כלל לא יודעים את חשיבותה של תפילה במניין, וכי הוא עצמו פגש אנשים שלא הלכו לבית הכנסת, אך יצאו לסדר את ענייניהם האישיים, ולדבריו אותם אנשים אינם מתביישים לקרוא לו במילים קשות של 'רוצח' וכו'.