Lakewood, NJ – Police responded to Squankom Road in Howell, NJ, in response to complains from neighbors of noise and traffic from the Tomchei Shabbos distribution warehouse.
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Police requested the Monmouth County Health Department and after teir inspection they ordered the place shut down immediately.
U/D:
Transferring everything to Bais Tova. Distribution will start at 8:45 in Bais Tova.
OY!
the dept of health has no business there its a private organization just like they cant come into my home to inspect they they have no business here. you jerks you better watch you step!
its terrible so many people are relying on them and they only shut it down for technicalities of not having proper permit.
Oy vey. I hope they find an alternate distribution center during the most important time of the year. I hope they got most shipments out already.
shame on them
They dint need a permit It is a regular warehouse and the Officials admitted that they knew for the last five years that they were storing cases of food . It is a clear case of Eisov sonei Lyaakov
10,000.00 worth of eggs were confiscated.
may Hashem repay Tomchei Shabbos for all the special goodness that they do and pay bak the doh for wat they deserve
howell is monmouth count and they don’t like the Jews
All food was confiscated over $20,000 worth of food by the state health department
I give credit to Bais Tova and tbr dean for helping out the wonderful mosad of tomchei shabbos and the volunteers you have a special place in gan Eden
Tomchei Shabbos is one of the most incredible organizations in the world. The work they do in getting food to people is beyond noble and I can only pray that they get enough donations and 10 times more to help people after this.
That being said, they broke the law. Intentional or not, they broke the law. Whether it was the wrong permits, or health code violations, it doesn’t matter. Like it or not, violating the law like this is a CHILLUL H”! It only takes ONE chillul H” to wipe out a dozen Kiddushei H”. When are we going to realize this. I would expect the health department to shut down any food warehouse that was not up to code. WE ARE NOT ABOVE THE LAW. In the eyes of the medina we are no different from anyone else. Tomchei Shabbos is no different from any other food pantry, soup kitchen, etc.
Many here complain that the police/government are all antisemitic… but when they shut down the ‘adult’ store around the corner for building code violations we sing their praises, but when they apply to the same law to us, we cry antisemitism. You can’t have it both ways.
I used to rent office space in in that same building myself, and I have to admit there were many, many times that I would have loved to have the place shut down due to the high traffic and excessive noise. But, out of respect for the holy work this outfit does, and my general disdain of authorities, I said and did nothing while getting disturbed, having my car blocked in, etc. Every Thursday night, week after week… No matter how important and selfless the work we do, if we do it in a thoughtless and selfish way, it is all for naught.
Food for thought about food for naught.
Yossi you are a tzaddik!
Admittedly, I do not know the facts in the instant case with regard to Tomchei Shabbos, other than the tremendous work that they do. On the other hand, I have first hand experience with the corrupt nature of Howell Township (including the Township judiciary) and we are all familiar with the State of NJ’s renown for corruption, in general. Accordingly, the clear winner, deserving every bit of favorable judgment is Tomchei Shabbos.
After Speaking With One Of The People Who Works For T”S The Eggs That Were Confiscated Were Delivered That Morning ! And Were Not In The Fridge Cuz They Were In The Middle Of Being Given Out , No One Would Have Gotten Ill This Is Pure Antisemitism Also It Is Not Yet Known Who Complaine
I just got my delivery, everything was completely frozen solid, no chance of anything being spoiled at all. g-d bless this wonderful organization
Please Help Tomchi Shabbos: https://www.jewishboxoffice.com/ch/tomchei
Thanks
Tomchei Shabbos is a very clean and well organized food distribution organization. They only give out very fresh food, the best quality produce, meat , chicken, fish, eggs and many more things to make a complete and wonderful YomTov for the many people who otherwise couldn’t afford to. I believe this was a case of pure antisemitism. They used to have a diiferent location in Lakewood, but, I guess they had a reason for switching. A Grosser Yasher Koach to Tomchei Shabbos of Lakewood and of everywhere else. Mi K’amcho Yisroel?
The inspectors in jersey are sitting around twirling there fingers all day long they are so bored finally they found something to do.
WAY TO GO RABBI S.- HEAD OF BAIS TOVA. YOU DONT EVEN TAKE CREDIT. YOU NEVER TAKE CREDIT. I JUST SPOKE TO YOU TONIGHT AND I WONDERED WHY YOU WERE SO TIRED.
to all those who dream of stories- please come and volunteer one time for tomchei shabbos.I did and then wrote them a $500 check. I also took my kids along to help pack. THEY NEED EVERYONES HELP!!! and $$$$$
for HOWELL to do this is pure anti-semitism. This is a warehouse with fridges and freezer trucks. WHY TODAY? MAH-NISHTANA.? Its bad press for HOWELL especialy with the economic times and more people who needs timchei shabbos help.
This pure communisim now in action.
We should get the “spoiled” eggs back and serve them to all the people posting here who are ripping tomchei shabbos. Very sad, some yirai shomayim is lacking here.
I am sitting here in line at bais tova wating to help with a delivery for 40 minutes. There is still lots of food here that needs to go out (from what I see) Shame so much time was wasted.
By law eggs are required to be stored in a cooler at a certain temperature. If they were out for too long they probably went above the legal temperature.
This neighbor was probably just fed up with inconsiderate people who think that just because they are doing a mitzvah they can disrespect everyone else. I’m sure he didn’t intend to cause this. However, they were doing things that were improper… even if it was unintentional. How is that antisemitism?
I am sending them a check to help pay for new stuff, but that doesn’t change the facts.
We are all very emotional about this as we should be. I am sure there was absolutely no intent to do anything wrong. However, the fact is that there were things not being done properly and the authorities took action.
Please do anything you can to help them. Anything you can give, or go and volunteer. They need our help more than ever.
There are regulations about food handling & storage. However, I was under the impression that TS doesn’t store, but gives out as soon as they get in. If they were keeping eggs for a while without refrigeration, then there’s a problem.
My two cases of eggs for Pesach have been stored in my spare room. Should I expect the egg police to come banging on MY door?
If you know the names of the police officers involved in this sham raid you identify them as storm troopers on ratemycop.com
As what I remember it was a fridgerated warehouse
Happens to be you wont get sick if the UNCRACKED eggs are left out. In Europe they DONT fridge them. Some of my family here in the USA doesnt fridge their eggs all yom tov which includes a few weeks before.
its not like it was 90 degrees today and the food would spoil, it was pure anti semitism
TheBoroPark Tomcha Shabbos does not distribute food for Pesach. They give each family coupons to be used as money in a few stores such as the Kollel grocery store. They also give matzos, 2lb per child. The amount of food that was to be distributed was getting out of hand, so they chose this method instead. What a wonderful org. Hashem should bentch Mr Hershkowitz and all his volunteers. I beg Hashem to help all those in need to be able to make Pesach on their own and all tzedaka organizations should go out of business.
Howell Twp. is FULL of low life , senseless hatred. Good ole boys with an in-bred mentality. I remember growing up on Adelphia Rd. in the Fifties and Sixties, with the Ku Klux Klan having their meetings in a nearby barn. It hasn’t changed much!
why is meir lichtenstein playing down the incident giving the howell police a pass and sucking up to them?why?why?why?
it should be an embarrasing headline of how the Howell police shut down a food bank for needy people, let them feel embarresed and shamed for what they did!!
Enough covering up and protecting from our local askanim and poloticians its time for accountability same goes for the lakewood police force there were instances recently of police abuse and not a word no public outcry!
and worse the cops know they can get away because these askanim tell them they are representing our interests and threy feel they can do no harm and always protected!!!
its time for these politicians to be held accountable whats it going to take for the police department to be accountable for tjeir actions???
The eggs had shown up two hours before the raid . No one is required to refrigerate eggs the minute they get it. Only in Howell ,this would never happen in New York.
We do not hear them taking any food from any other organizations!! Why not??Why pick on us? Go pick on somebody else?? Maybe they are using their eggs for “EASTER EGGS” ?? Find out where the eggs are!!!
There are no neighbours to the warehouse. It is in a deserted area and there are buildings across the street that are not used in the evening hours when distribution happens. The other people who rent space in the building do not get their cars blocked in every thursday night unless they park in a way that does not let anyone else in. BTW How is this different to any other warehouse? How do people park cars anywhere else?
Go Yossi, you rock.
Remember when they shut down the Kapures Center in Monsey every one here was so positive that the Dept.of Health did the right thing…Why is this different?
Chickens left in the open without proper feeding and weather protection is called Tzar Baleh Chaim…What do you call when EGGS and chicken are NOT properly refrigerated and some kinderlech get food poisining or samonella chas veshulem?
What are you hocking its Howell police he cant’ do any thing.
Wake up people. If you live in NY or NJ, you WANTED these communists with their overly strict laws and “everyone is entitled” mentality. Most of these kinds of laws are ridiculous…but they are the law.
If I pull up to a red light, and nobody is coming along the cross street and I go, who am I hurting? Yet, if the cop sees me… of course I’m going to get a ticket.
Its the same thing here. I’m sure they were not endangering ANYONE. But the laws, no matter how ridiculous and communist they may be, have to be upheld.
When you vote for communist ideals (higher taxes on tobacco, higher tolls, more welfare and foodstamps for people that are perfectly capable of working and just choose not to, etc) and vote in communist leaders like you all do in NY and NJ, this is what you get. Communism is not just about taxing everything you don’t like and redistributing the money to every parasite that doesn’t feel like getting a job. There is over-regulation of industry (like this case) and overly restrictive policies that hold down orgs like TS.
Now instead of complaining, pull out your checkbook or go online and contribute something… and when you’re done with that… contribute something to the Libertarian party so they can win some elections and get the Commies out! If every big mouth here (myself included) can send a bit to TS, we can easily make them whole again.
Middos Sodom
no.5–“The health department found multiple violations of the health code for food distribution facilities. Would you prefer chas va’chaliah some one gets sick and dies before they take action.”
You’re so-0-0-0 right!
We need to close down Tomchei Shabbos, before they kill us all!
How soon after a hen lays an egg is it refrigerated? I would assume most farms do not have an automated process to have the egg refrigerated within 5 minutes.
I was just thinking about a possible reson why this could have happened. is it possible that some mushchas in howell or lakewood found out that TS is strictly a food pantry for yiddin? just my two cents
This had nothing to do with health . The fact is first a police officer came about traffic ? Then somebody sent the code enforcement officer who claimed they needed a zoning permit . When the explained this was a warehouse and were just doing a once a year passover distribution He didnt really have anything to say . Then when “they realized ” the zoning issue wasnt going to work ,they called the Board of Health . A very nasty lady came down and didnt even discuss anything with anybody but immediately wanted to quarantine all the boxes for a week . Everything was fresh and in cases .When her supervisor came ,even he saw that she was off the wall and wasnt as nasty . Bottom line this had nothing to do with food safety .
meir lichtenstein allthough he can’t control the Howell PD he could publicly condemm what happened that’s where he went wrong he gave them a pass as if they werr sooooo understanding he should have made it clear from the get go that they botched up and demanded an apology instead he di d what he does best suck up to local law enforcment and give them a pass.
Once a month after a long week spent in the office, no matter how tired I am, I head out with a few neighbors to this warehouse. The most difficult times are obviously the big delivery before Succos and pesach. If you would see the look on the faces of the family members who we deliver too, you know it is all worth it, even if you have to get up a few hours later to go shlep to the city for a day at the office.
When you see this side of the coin, when you see countless other people giving up their time to shlep boxes- in a cold warehouse, in the rain, up stairs etc then you have a right to play the antisemitic card. For those who are worried that the food might be unsafe, i hope you never need us to make a house call to you. and trust me there are many other families who would gladly take your package.
To my fellow volunteers, keep up the good work-
Tomchei Shobbos is an incredible organization! They help many Jewish families who find it hard to make ends meet.
That being said, I do think Tomchei Shabbos has to screen their recipients a little better. Some people (I know they’re sick) use it as an income to get food. I know someone who put in new flooring, a new couch, goes away every summer, sends all her children to seminary in Israel, dresses to kill…..( the list goes on) that receives TS packages. I literally get sick when I see the packages delivered to their house.
tomche shabbos is a very worthy organization
one must wonder why such a thing can happen to an organization that is kulo leshem mitzva?shliach mitzva aino nizokin etc why did hkb’h let this happen??
unless along the way over the years people were perhaps hurt by the powers that be…..
In Eretz Yisroel the groceries keep their eggs unrefrigerated, and I never heard there was a problem with that. Fresh eggs can stay out a few days in a cool place. I think this was pure rish-us on the part of the inspectors. They just want to show how powerful they are and what they can do when they wield their power. (Why is it that much different than a Nazi shooting a poor mother for scrounging a few moldy [potatoes to give her starving children? It’s shades of worse things to come. The Goldene Midina is no longer, and we should learn the lessons from history from not so long ago)
let’s give credit where credit is due. how much hashgacha pratis went into this whole story? earlier in the day, the mayor, bob singer was visiting the distribution site. later, he was informed of what happened and he made two calls. ten minutes later the woman’s supervisor was on his way down. the eggs would have been released except that the woman had to save face so they took the eggs. Hashem has his ways. Who knows if that’s why bob showed up. so that later he should have rochmonus? Hashem is sending us a message folks. I’m not sure what it is but its there.