Spring Valley, NY – The rabbi who turned a school bus into a makeshift matzo bakery was given a second warning by village officials not to ignite the oven.
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The oral warning came a day after Rabbi Aaron Winternitz lit the oven Sunday afternoon despite a letter delivered by the Building Department banning its use, Building Inspector Manny Carmona said.
Because the letter said the oven could not be used to bake matzo, but did not explicitly state that the oven could not be turned on, Carmona did not issue a summons.
“He kind of took the words literally,” Carmona said. “He wasn’t baking, he was just testing it. We clarified things to him.”
Winternitz said Sunday that he wanted to prepare the oven with the hope of obtaining a temporary permit.
Winternitz said Passover is the busiest time of the year for baking matzo and estimates he would have made about 40 pounds of matzo.
“We told him if he lights up the oven, we’ll have him in court and issue him violation notices.” “He’s not going to do it now. Passover already has started. It’s over for this year.”
Fire officials said Winternitz attempted to obtain a temporary burn permit from the village, but he was denied.
“We ordered him a stop-work order for a reason – it’s a major safety violation,” said Scott Maia, fire chief for the Spring Valley Fire Department. “And for us to have to return … was a blatant disregard.”
Maia said he was particularly annoyed after finding out Sunday the oven had been turned on.
“We’re the busiest fire department in the county,” he said. “We don’t want to be wasting time on nonsense like this when our guys could be doing something way more important.”
Maia said the Fire Department would patrol the neighborhood every half-hour yesterday to ensure the oven was not in use.
Winternitz said later that he invented the oven-in-a-bus concept and used an old school bus because the vehicles were built to be strong and safe. He said he had taught others to do the same and that his students have found it to be the best method. [Journal News]
>Hashem Yerachem said…
>April 5, 2007 12:42 AM
Should I waste time trying to explain this to a knowitall?
>It does not make a difference what it was opened for.
It actually does. The building inspector was not overly concerned. Being unfamiliar with the concept of an oven in a bus, he was just trying to cover his butt. That is why he asked for an engineers evaluation, while at the same time saying he would check back AFTER the holiday. If the fire dept was not called, the building inspector would not have acted.
>Dont try to defend this “IDIOT”.
The man is actually brilliant. If you go over to his house on your chol hamoed trip, and politely introduce yourself, I’m sure he will be happy to answer any questions you might have.
>The reason it was shut down in
>the first place was because he
>had no respect for other Yiddisha
>lives, and he could have chas
>v’asholom caused somthing
>catastrophic,
Your wording shows that you took your information straight from NEWS12’s idiot reporter, Antoinette Biordi. The fact that she made a stupid statement, i.e., “You could have blown up all these houses.” Does not make it a fact. The “live” gas line she referred to several times was, in fact, not live, it was shut off. It was not in use when the fire dept came by the first time Friday morning (when it was removed) or since then. The black plastic pipe that the idiot comeraman zooms onto, is the drain pipe from the hand washing sink. The chances of the wood burning oven exploding are less than nil.
>He was blinded by Greed.
He was not selling Matzah. The bus included a manual mill to grind the wheat “lishma”. It was done in order that the matzah would be b’tachlis hahidur. The cost of the bus and the oven and the mill was not out of greed.
Go look at the oven before you call someone an iber chochim Shoitah, or deciding who gets schar for eating matza and who doesn’t.
Here is the News video with a few corrections
oun thw he
April 5, 2007 12:42 AM
It does not make a difference what it was opened for . Dont try to defend this “IDIOT” . The reason it was shut down in the first place was because he had no respect for other Yiddisha lives, and he could have chas v’asholom caused somthing catastrophic, He was blinded by Greed.
The over was NOT re-opened for baking matzos after the initial cease-and-desist letter.
Is he crazy all this for 40lbs?
Also what Rabbi could he be that he just needs 40lbs. Me and my children have 40lbs.
I don’t know what rabbi he is or how many chassidim he has, I don’t want to offend anyone but this is a mitzvah haboo be’aveira, he made a huge chillul hashem.
AH IBERCHOCHEM SHOITA, IT IS PEOPLE LIKE HIM THAT MAKE US ALL LOOK BAD. HE ZICHER GOT NO SICHAR FOR EATING HIS MITZVA MATZA THIS PESACH… WHAT A UNBELIVABLE CHILLUL HASHEM. DON’T BE A SMART A** ON OUR CHESHBON.
The oven was used thru Erev Pesach. (Unofficially.) Officially, there is no record of it.
Legally, it isn’t clear the department is authorized to order him to stop. They relied on that lack of clarity.