The New York Metro area blew off social distancing Tuesday, with hundreds packed shoulder-to-shoulder to catch a glimpse of the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds as they roared overhead in a tribute to coronavirus frontline workers.
The NY Post reports that large crowds jammed together in waterfront parks and venues in New York and New Jersey, looking skyward for a glance at the famous jets.
There was little local officials could do to stop them.
“It’s just difficult,” Weehawken, NJ, Mayor Richard Turner told The Post when asked about photos showing hundreds of his constituents tightly packed on the Hudson River waterfront. “You do the best you can and you also have to rely on people’s common sense. There’s not much more you can do.”
Meanwhile, the levayah of Rav Chaim Mertz zt”l, rov of the Tolaas Yaakov shul in Flatbush, was held in Williamsburg, with hundreds attending. This apparently caught the attention of Mayor Bill de Blasio, who criticized the Jewish community.
De Blasio says he personally went to disperse the gathering. He later wrote online, “Something absolutely unacceptable happened in Williamsburg tonite: a large funeral gathering in the middle of this pandemic. When I heard, I went there myself to ensure the crowd was dispersed. And what I saw WILL NOT be tolerated so long as we are fighting the Coronavirus,” de Blasio promised.
De Blasio had nothing to say about the hundreds who packed shoulder-to-shoulder to catch a glimpse of the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds.
OJPAC Tweeted: “The photos attached to this tweet is of today in NYC. Where was @NYPDnews? Oops. It’s not Hasidim so there is no media and no tweets from you either. BTW there is no distancing at Domino Park in Williamsburg but @NYPD90Pct breaks up even funerals of just 15 Hasidim in Willi. pic.twitter.com/dNptnaYF00″
The Pester Rebbe, badchan Yoely Lebovits, tweeted: “something absolutely unacceptable happened in Central Park today: a large gathering in the middle of this pandemic. When I heard , I went there myself and saw no Hasidic Jews.. so I ignored it and went on with my day…”
Tonight, de Blasio threatened the Jewish community with a crackdown, saying that “the time for warnings has passed.”
He first wrote: “My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed. I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period.”
He later wrote: “We have lost so many these last two months + I understand the instinct to gather to mourn. But large gatherings will only lead to more deaths + more families in mourning. We will not allow this. I have instructed the NYPD to have one standard for this whole city: zero tolerance.”
{Matzav.com Newscenter}
I’m no fan of the Mayor, but I think its taking things a little far to say that he threatened the Jewish community.
Did you read his statement?
Anonymous #1 oops I only saw the 2nd statement as the image of the 1st one didn’t load yes he threatened us y”s
We need to do the right thing. 2 Wrongs do not make it right. Our community has lost a disproportionate amount of lives. Maybe we need some introspection.
my message is to all the asskonim who told us to vote for him to all the asskonim and machers who are in front of every camera and who are quiet now as a church mouse
when this anti semite shoots off his mouth
when a hospital killed most of the people who were there
WHERE ARE YOU
WHAT ARE ALL THE asKONIM DOING NOW
SITTING IN THEIR ESCALADES???
WE WILL REMEMBER AND NOT FORGIVE
There has been a lot of mesira.
Mr. Mayor: As countless New Yorkers have donned masks in order to curb Covid-19, at least one mask has come off: YOURS! The outrageous and overt anti-Semitism emanating from your office is unreal! Today I visited Long Island City Park at Hunter’s Point to get some sunshine and exercise with my kids. The ferry ride as well as all of the ferry landings and waterfront parks for FULL of people, and not only Jews!!! Hundreds of Brooklyners came out to enjoy the weather, as well as to observe the fighter jets flying over the skies. There was plenty of opportunity for you to come give summonses for people not adhering to social distancing!! Why do you choose again and again to attack the Jewish, Hasidic community? Are you not ashamed of yourself? Have you checked all of the subway trains and buses lately? Or is it only the Jewish funerals that are of utmost concern to you? Are you even in touch with reality and aware that the sheer amount of people in this congested neighborhood make it almost IMPOSSIBLE to practice social distancing to the extent that you would like it? Are you so drunk on the power that this pandemic has afforded you that you have lost all common sense? Can you prove that social distancing actually makes any difference? Because I know countless people who died of the virus who have self-quarantined weeks before you recommended it and they could not escape the Angel of Death. Can you please take a deep breath, step back from all the hard work you are doing for our city and reassess the situation? If trains and planes and buses could operate, if supermarkets and pharmacies have lines around the block, then our children could go to school. If hospitals are pulling plugs and neglecting our loved ones, the least you could allow us is our moment to mourn. And if there is nothing you can do to make more sense of the current situation, at least stop HATING so much. In any event, from the attitude on display in NYC, why do care if some local people get the virus? Will it bother you if the congestion is eased somewhat? Oh, and thanks, Mr. Mayor, for joining the big funeral and for paying your respects to a great man. We are humbled and grateful.
The mayor is right. He cares that the Chareidim stay safe as a higher percentage of them have died.
I agree, he loves us, ahhh, I mean he loves our votes, the votes of his “useful idiots”.
Maybe not a threat. But replace jews with the words mexican, black or the like. We can all laugh because that would NEVER happen. As usual jews are fair game when it comes to these type of things.
First of all this guy needs to learn how to spell. Tonite? Seriously? Now imagine if he would’ve said “A message to the black community and all communities…” He would’ve been lynched. But since he’s talking about Jews it’s ok.
At least he cares about Jewish life. He will definitely get olam habah .es lispod not right now . Maybe that’s pshat in Shlomo hamelech telling us that cause everyone knows when to mourn obviously some times it’s not right time.
Every single Yiddishe life is way more valuable than any rationale the mayor, with no clothes, can understand. We must, of our own volition understand this. He is not even a shaliach. We must do this on our own! The biggest כבוד אחרון we could give the Roov is preserving every life and being מקיים מצות עשה דאורייתא ונשמרתם מאד לנפשותיגם. Enough acting silly.
the shomrim came early and nicely organised the funeral giving out masks & spreading people out ,the street was closed with a decent amount of social distance once the caravan of nypd jeeps came everyone cleared the streets & packed onto the sidewalks thats the pics u see , once word got out that the MAYOR is here everyone came out to catch a glimpse. more rumbling & sirens just brings out more people
realize that kein yirbu any street in willy both sides has 1000 people on the block, so social distance needs context
practicly speaking willy is done with corona ask any of the docs w offices there
And we should be at the forefront of Social distancing considering the Korbanos we saw.
I don’t like the enforcing but where is our sechel??
Whether or not the mayor has a double standard does not justify hundreds gathering for a levaya during this pandemic. It is a sakana and a massive chilul Hashem, not to mention that it will promote sinas Yisrael. If you want to debate the mayor’s treatment of the Jewish community (likely caused by past behavior similar to this levaya) go ahead, but don’t paper over the guilt of those who gathered for this levaya. This behavior needs to be condemned loud and clear by all of us.
You obviously have not properly understood what is going on here and are debating semantics. He singled out a certain segment of the population for criticism. If he had done that to Muslims or African- Americans, the whole city would be howling for his blood. The double standard is outrageous and frightening.
He is a good for nothing who should be voted out of office at next election .
Thank G-d this imbecile failed miserably at his presidential run. His comment shows a total disconnect. This lazy good for nothing no-show Mayor was probably not even aware of the funeral until some sanctimonious pediatrician snitched to him about it.
Why did the large funeral happen at all?
Zero tolerance for the yidden but overlooks everyone and everything else. BIGOTRY AT ITS BEST
The mayor is not Jewish. There is a known halacah of how esav relates to Yakov. What is more disturbing is that there were individuals from within that without purpose inspired hate by posting evrey gathering on social media.
He’s was in Brooklyn today jogging, when approached all he had to say is give me a break, when he bought coffee for the new testing site in bronx to pose for a picture with all staff is suddenly essential? = a stupid 9’ communist!
Please despicable mayor. Can I join you at the gym or at the stroll in the park? Hypocrite! My family and almost all my friends have been locked up for 6 weeks already while you had the audacity to go out at will without any care in the world. People watching the flyby not practicing social distancing was acceptable to you. You are a fascist a hypocrite, a hater and an aggressor. You should be ashamed of yourself! You have no moral grounds to stand on when you don’t give a damn about this pandemic. Practice what you preach and stop practicing racism.
and thanks to this kornblu for fanning the flames of hatred! You really think Hitler, the nazis and the alt right anti semites differentiate bet you and the rest of us? Why? cause you bash and rat out your own brethren who did nothing to you to deserve it? Shame on you for putting down your own brethren.
”My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed. I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period.”
WHAT ABOUT THIS ISNT A THREAT??
He is right because he understands chavivah neves ha has miyisroel.
What????? Deblasio understands that chavivah nefesh achas miyisroel he should care more about us than the goyim!
A
NYPD and FDNY outside a Brooklyn hospital today saluting health care workers. All were asked to be outside while NYPD and FDNY drove by blaring their sirens in a show of appreciation. There was no social distancing among the 200 or so employees that were outside. Control your own before you signal out other groups!
…………And the Yidden’s eyes were blinded so they voted for Democrats again and again and again!!!!!
Wake up Yidden!!! Open your eyes! Realize that the Democrats hate us. The Democrats are Eisov. Take your voter registrations and change your affiliation from DemocRAT to Republican. The soinay Yisroel DemocRATs may get the message.
You mean like voting for Gavin Newsom and Eric Garcetti? Good point.
Newsom and Garcetti are just as bad. But Los Angeles and California State don’t have large Jewish voting blocks like New York where Yidden are led to the voting booths and told who to vote for.
Ummmm… אשא עיני אל ההרים מאין יבוא עזרי… It’s not from voting Republican. טוב לחסות בה’ מבטוח בנדיבים
I have big differences with the Mayor.
However, he should be addressed with a certain respect, due to his position. That is what Torah teaches, חולקין כבוד למלכות. He also did a lot for the community he criticized here.
We can disagree with him, but not in a wild, unrestrained rage, ‘shooting from the hip’ in public. That is not the way of our holy Torah.
“Bumbling Bill” is not appropriate. Or does Matzav aim to emulate the NY Post?
This virus is a killer. Let’s protect our community. Getting into a fight with a Mayor who has otherwise been supportive is a detour. People of Israel
stay safe.
If De Blasio was running this year, would he easily pull in the Jewish vote again? Will the next Red Democrat buy us off, too?
Do we want to be equivalent to Non Jews? They will remind us we are way different from them! And if antisemitism is not enough, it will get worse, as it happens every time. And they will all get together! You already see, the Anglosaxons hate and despise the Afroamericans and the Arabs and viceversa, but when it comes to Jews, they all are screaming in a single voice that “we” are spreading disease in order to sell our poisonous ointments…. nothing new under the sun.
Theres no doubt that the mayor was egged on by our own brethren to write this. We have our own self hating pple to blame. Pple apparently don’t understand the hard reprecussions of being a moser. During a time where the biggest anti semites are blaming jews for the virus. Especially while this mayor himself doesn’t follow the rules and had his city stand outside yesterday ( no not the jewish community) in droves to watch the flyover and noone was called out but only the yidden. Shameful! I do suggest as one who grew up with a din torah background; that as children we’ve seen scary outcomes and results for pple that have massured others. No matter for what. No matter how right you think you are. You are prohibited from doing it.
Shame on Matzav and most of the commentators for forgetting that we are in golus. It is especially shameful that yidden that grew up on the mesorah of the Satmar Rebbe zt”l forgot how strongly he felt about the prohibition of מרידה באומות. Shame on all of you.
If only the entire Klal Yisroel would be talmidim of the Novominsker Rebbe zt”l whose family understood without question that there should be no levaya despite him being the Manhig Hador of literally tens of thousands of yidden. Shame on the Williamsburg leaders for not understanding this. Because of them we are now a national disgrace and who knows where this will lead rcm”l and how many lives will be lost c”v.
This is all besides for the fact that we should be more machmir than the authorities when it comes to pikuach nefesh as pikuach nefesh is perhaps the greatest mitzva. We lost so many precious lives, how is it possible that we are still so blinded??
Matzav seems to agree with you, so leave them out.
Just how many here “grew up on the mesorah of the Satmar Rebbe zt”l “? But aside from that, just what is “מרידה” here? Following President Trump against a local mayor, or following a local mayor against President Trump?
Do you think he can blame President Trump for this?
l was there,most people kept the social dictance until the cops forced everyone into big groups when we went home.We are not fools here we know its saknes nifushes
and are very careful.Dont believe everything that is ‘news’.The clips you see are only when the cops came and caused everyone to get closer …
this is not true
I think De Blasio is the worst mayor in modern NY history.
However even a broken clock tells the correct time twice in twenty four hours.
In this case he was right even if the way expressed himself was wrong.
I have no doubt the Rebbe who passed away was a great man. But there is no excuse to hold such a levaya in these times
If the Noviminsker Rebbe Ztz”l would have passed away in normal times the streets of Boro Park would have been a river if black as
thosands of people would have attended his levaya. That didn’t happened because his sons correctly forbade it.
That is the correct way to honor a Gadol.
I honestly don’t understand why some people have so much trouble understanding the connection between not following social distancing and the spread of the virus.