I’m an ultra-Orthodox rabbi. We are not criminals.

By Menachem Bombach

I am a Chareidie and I am the principal of a Haredi school network.

If you read the media both in Israel and around the world, you would conclude that I am a criminal who violates the rules of the state and doesn’t care about the lives of others.

I see the way people are writing about me and my community on social media. I hear the way people are talking about me and my community on the radio.

And it is extremely painful.

It’s painful to hear an entire community – a community that is filled with good-hearted people who view preserving human life as the most sacred value – portrayed as the most lowly, despicable people on Earth.

Let me first say that my entire school network of schools for Haredi boys and girls closed on the day that the Health Ministry ordered schools to close. Let me also say that my synagogue and synagogues throughout Beitar Illit, the Haredi city where I live, followed every single rule issued by the government from the moment they were announced.

I will now jump to the end of the story and then I will go back to explain the past week.

Now, at this time, with the exception of a small group of crazy extremists in Jerusalem, Bet Shemesh and Bnei Brak, the Haredi population is keeping to all the rules. So please stop bashing us now!

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Rav Tuvia Weiss Head of Eda Haredit, initially resistant on virus rules, is infected

The leader of the Eda Haredit, a hardline anti-Zionist Haredi group based in Jerusalem that initially sought to avoid some government regulations aimed at thwarting the spread of the coronavirus, has contracted the disease.

Rabbi Yitzchok Tuvia Weiss, 95, was diagnosed on Thursday after being tested the previous day. He had been admitted to the hospital on Wednesday with a high fever and low blood pressure, according to reports in Haredi media.

His positive test results were announced in a Yiddish audio message released by Rabbi Yitzchok Shlomo Bloi, the secretary to the Eda Haredit’s rabbinical court, calling for the ultra-Orthodox community’s prayers.

Weiss, 95, was a community leader in Antwerp before taking on the leadership of the Eda Haredit in 2004. He was born in Slovakia and arrived in Great Britain as part of the Kindertransport prior to the outbreak of World War II.

The group initially refused to shut down its affiliated educational institutions, closing kindergartens but keeping schools and yeshivas open in defiance of government guidelines. Its former spokesman said it did limit physical proximity there. 

On Monday, however, it released a notice instructing its followers in the ultra-Orthodox community to heed the Health Ministry’s orders or commit a “big sin.”

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J Street's "Haggada" Criticises Israel Even While the Virus Rages On!

Recently, many Jewish organizations have been sending out emails about the coronavirus. 

On March 19 J Street sent out a very different sort – they used their email to pitch their version of the Haggadah: A booklet that attacks Israel with the narrative of the alleged "occupation."  

While the email appears to be about the coronavirus crisis and Passover, 

J Street's intention was made clear by linking their Haggadah – which concentrates its focus on criticism of Israel over the "occupation" rather than the story of the Exodus from Egypt.

Shaina Wasserman, J Street's Director of Rabbinic and Community Engagement, signed the email. 

The email stated:

 "For Jews around the world, this will be a very different Passover than what we're used to. Because of the COVID-19 crisis, many of us are downsizing seders or attempting to do them virtually." Wasserman's email also provided a link to a 20-plus-page Haggadah where the word "occupation" was used twenty times.

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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'.

Chazzan Yitzchok Meir Helfgot In Hospital in Serious Condition

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Eliezer and Miriam Silber...Eliyohu Zaks of Lakewood Make a Chillul Hashem Causing Anti-Semitism Ignoring the Laws ..and Spreading Death!

A New Jersey couple have been charged with violating a ban on gatherings to stop the spread of coronavirus by hosting a massive party in their yard. 

The event with 50 people on their front lawn is one of five gatherings police in the Jewish community of Lakewood have broken up in just two weeks. 

Eliezer Silber, 37, and Miriam Silber, 34, on Sunday were charged with five counts of child endangerment and violating Gov Phil Murphy's executive order that outlaws all social gatherings, including parties and weddings. 

The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said police were called to the Silbers' home on Alamitos Drive on Sunday following complaints a crowd were blocking a street.

Responding officers found 40-50 guests, including children, milling about on the family's front lawn and in front of their house. 

Police dispersed the crowd and issued summonses to the homeowners, who will be required to appear in court at a future date to answer the charges against them.  

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Dr Arnold Weg Fighting For His Life With the Virus Caught From an Elderly Patient That Coughed On Him

A New York City doctor is fighting for his life after he fell ill with coronavirus and was taken to the intensive care unit. 

Dr. Arnold Weg, a 63-year-old primary care physician and gastroenterologist who has treated more than 30,000 patients during his career, was examining an elderly patient when they coughed on him a month ago. 

The cough was caused by coronavirus - which has infected 36,000 city residents and killed at least 790 - and 10 days later Weg tested positive. 

'He is on the brink of being intubated and is struggling for every breath. He is scared for his life and we are scared for him as well,' his son Dr. Russell Weg told Pix 11. 

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Baruch Feldheim Arrested by FBI in Boro Park for Hoarding Masks and Coughing on the Agents

A Brooklyn man claiming to be infected with the coronavirus coughed on FBI agents who were investigating him for hoarding medical supplies, the US Attorney’s Office said Monday.

Baruch Feldheim, 43, is facing charges of assault and making false statements to the feds on Sunday outside his Borough Park home where he allegedly peddled and stored massive amounts of N95 respirator masks, federal officials said.

Feldheim is also accused of price-gouging. On March 18, he’s suspected of selling a New Jersey doctor about 1,000 of the masks for $12,000, a markup of roughly 700 percent, authorities said.

The accused fraudster also directed another doctor to an Irvington, NJ, auto repair shop to pick up another order. There, the doctor reported to investigators that Feldheim was allegedly hoarding enough medical supplies “to outfit an entire hospital.”

Materials included: hand sanitizers, Clorox wipes, chemical cleaning supply agents and surgical supplies.

By last Monday, Feldheim was operating from his Brooklyn home, offering to push surgical gowns to a nurse, the feds said.

Two days later, the suspected hoarder received a gigantic shipment to his home of about eight pallets of face masks.

FBI agents then staked out his his house, first noticing empty boxes of N95 masks outside.

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Forty-four rabbis in diaspora have passed since coronavirus outbreak

Forty-four rabbis have died as a result of coronavirus, most of the located in the New York City metropolitan area. While the majority of the rabbis came from the Orthodox Jewish community, there was one reform Jewish rabbi who passed as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. 

Right before he died from coronavirus, Rabbi Mordechai Gurary, who is a prominent in the New York Jewish community, made a video asking God to save the Jewish community from the coronavirus: 

Below is a list of the forty-four rabbis that have recently passed:

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Corona Kills R' Yossel Czapnik a Childhood Friend of Din

It is with great sadness that DIN reports the passing of Reb Yosef Tzvi Czapnik z”l. He was 69 years old.

A native of Manhattan’s West Side, in his formative years Reb Yossel learned at Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim and later at Bais Medrash Govoah in Lakewood.

A brilliant individual, Reb Yossel possessed wide-ranging yedios haTorah, as well as a remarkable grasp of Jewish history, world history, Jewish personages and gedolim, and much more.

For many years and until his petirah, Reb Yossel served as a senior editor at the Yated Ne’eman newspaper. Reb Yossel was a talented writer, and an editor with an eagle-eye who could be relied upon for his outstanding expertise as a senior editor at America’s first Torah newspaper.

A fount of information, Reb Yossel was a beloved presence wherever he was.

Originally a resident of Boro Park, Brooklyn, Reb Yossel relocated a number of years ago to Lakewood, NJ, where he resided in the Madison Avenue area and was a mispallel at the Gerer Shteibel on Tenth Street.

Reb Yossel leaves behind many grieving friends and colleagues. His brother, Rav Avrohom Czapnik, leads The Jewish Learning Exchange in Los Angeles.

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Frum lawyer Sues Cuomo Over Ban On Large Gatherings, Says It Infringes On Ability To Observe Jewish Faith

A Brooklyn attorney has filed a lawsuit accusing New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of violating his right to free speech and ability to observe his Jewish faith because of the state’s ban on large gatherings due to the coronavirus.

Lee Nigen also alleges that telling state residents to limit travel, Cuomo has violated his right to meet with clients, friends, family and “like-minded people,” the New York Post reported.

Cuomo signed an executive order requiring an indefinite ban on large gatherings on March 23. He has yet to impose a travel ban.

The suit filed Friday in Brooklyn federal court named Cuomo and the state government.

“Mr. Cuomo’s threat that his directives will be enforced by law enforcement cause Mr. Nigen to fear arrest if he attempts to travel for any other purpose other than getting medical attention or obtaining groceries, thus impermissibly chilling his exercise of his constitutional rights to travel,” the suit says, according to the Post.

Nigen has been strongly criticized on his Facebook page.

“Your rights stop when the purpose is to protect the greater good,” read one comment. “During a horrific time for the country, you feel the need to file a lawsuit? As a Jew, I’m ashamed you use our religion for this nonsense. And then you wonder why people hate us? Go ahead- ignore the warnings, spread the virus in your community and let’s see how many Jews are dead thereafter you schmuck.”

Nigen posted in response to the criticism.

“To those who ill consider my dissent, I still wish you well, and treasure the right you have to express your opinion,” he wrote. “To the extent that fleeting flame has come upon me at this time of plague and panic, there is only one favor I ask of all: Be well and be free.”

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