WILLIAMSBURG (VINnews) — On Tuesday evening, the neighborhood of Williamsburg was witness to hundreds of people gathered in the streets.
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The reason for the gathering was the funeral of Rabbi Chaim Mertz, the Tola’as Yaakov Rebbe.
Rabbi Mertz passed away at the age of 73-years-old due to COVID-19. He was a well known figure in his community, and headed a Shul on Bedford Ave.
However, the hundreds of people who showed up to the funeral did not keep to the social distancing guidelines, making the scene doubly unfortunate.
Sure enough, the NYPD arrived during the funeral to intervene.
Not long after, Mayor Deblasio himself appeared on scene, as reported by his press secretary.
I empathisize with the desire to mourn those we’ve lost, but this is absolutely unacceptable. The Mayor is on the scene and the NYPD is breaking this up. https://t.co/xBvcICVRSX
— Freddi Goldstein (@FreddiGoldstein) April 29, 2020
The situation was indeed unacceptable, but on Tuesday night, what many people seemed to remember the most was the Mayor’s reaction on Twitter.
After rightfully calling the situation “unacceptable,” the Mayor went on to send a message adddressed specifically to the Jewish community.
“My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed,” wrote the Mayor. “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.”
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.
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) April 29, 2020
As Sen. Ted Cruz noted, would the Mayor have singled out any other ethnic community in his Tweet other than the Jewish community?
Would DeBlasio have sent this identical tweet with the word “Jewish” replaced by any other religious minority? If not, why not? Laws should be enforced neutrally w/o targeting religious faith. #ProtectFreeExercise https://t.co/dMVcX0bin4
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 29, 2020
Councilman Chaim Deutsch expressed his disbelief as well.
“What??? This has to be a joke. Did the Mayor of NYC really just single out one specific ethnic community (a community that has been the target of increasing hate crimes in HIS city) as being noncompliant?? Has he been to a park lately? (What am I saying – of course he has!)”
What???
This has to be a joke. Did the Mayor of NYC really just single out one specific ethnic community (a community that has been the target of increasing hate crimes in HIS city) as being noncompliant?? Has he been to a park lately? (What am I saying – of course he has!) https://t.co/LYKnUZm2Mc
— Councilman Deutsch (@ChaimDeutsch) April 29, 2020
Councilman deutsch is referring to a video that went viral of the Mayor himself taking a walk in a public park with his wife amid the pandemic, seemingly ignoring his own guidelines.
It should be noted, that large crowds gathered in NYC earlier on Tuesday to watch the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds fly overhead. The Mayor was completely silent on that front.
Below is just a few samples of the outburst on Twitter in response to the Mayor’s tweet.
All New Yorkers should remember this, from a mayor who was telling folks on March 15 to go out to bars. https://t.co/dgTmPOduHg
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) April 29, 2020
You mean the guy who kept the parks open in Williamsburg even after they turned into giant hipster cuddlepuddles?
— Lawrence Lewitinn (@lvlewitinn) April 29, 2020
The Blue Angels flyover in NY City today was beautiful, but I didn’t see any outrage over the lack of social distancing. That reaction is reserved for Jewish weddings & funerals. Two wrongs don’t make a right, but only one wrong makes the news and the condemnation of politicians. https://t.co/467kPUIfdd
— Joel M. Petlin (@Joelmpetlin) April 29, 2020
I can’t imagine de Blasio saying this about any other community. It’s pretty amazing. And for the record, MANY of the leaders of the Jewish community have taken strong stands on social distancing. https://t.co/aqlL7Yr8Xs
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 29, 2020
NYC has been a refuge for Jews fleeing persecution and death for decades and more.
How on earth does the mayor of NYC single them out for persecution in the middle of a pandemic?
Words do not exist to describe the criminal incompetence at City Hall. https://t.co/1bc2IoBcJt
— Lis Smith (@Lis_Smith) April 29, 2020
This mayor is a low life socialist bum.
He was always a stupid idiot and he will be remembered in history for the stupidity that he eschews
You morons in Williamsburg and boro park voted for him now your complaining
You asked for it now live with it
I don’t get it. I don’t mind us being singled out for our own
good. The mayor has no hostility to us. It’s wrong for him not to care
for the welfare of the goyim as much he cares for our welfare, but
it’s no reason to discourage him from continuing to look out for own good.
Blatantly antisemitic to label fault with one group. .. Clearly revealing his inner self and true nature..would he have made the same comment if it were a black assembly or any other group.?
Thank G-d this imbecile failed miserably with his presidential run. He is a lazy good for nothing no-show Mayor. When Jews were having bricks thrown at their head by African-Americans in Crown Heights, this duffus sat on his hands and did nothing. When Jewish women in Midwood were being assaulted by African-Americans this dog sat on his hands and did nothing. Does Pinny Ringel still work for this idiot? Some liaison.
This is what happens when we show off our fights and arguments in public view. The goyim will see.
Just imagine the reaction of CNN if it was blacks instead of Jews…
wow de Blasio is such an anti semite complete piece of garbage. Disgusting tweet
If he had addressed his statememt to Archy and all other communitiea it would have been accurate. While his statement was ignorant and unfair as most frum yidden are following the rules people like Archy the moron are who are seen as representatives of our community. He is worse than DeCrazio because he makes us all look bad
I’m not following something here. Didn’t the Mayor say “My message to the Jewish community, and all communities….”. He specifically mentioned “all communities”.
Secondly, it appears he was addressing the specific event of this Levaya. Were there gentiles at this Levaya?
Seems to me this is yet another situation where the Jews, or in this case Yidden, mess up and then yell “antisemitism”.
I say your police and Mayor should NOT get involved. If the community of Williamsburg wants to self-destruct that’s a decision they and their “leadership” have to make. It’s sad, because a lot of innocent people live there, but what can you do….
Anyone remembers when deblasio went to Germany to protest against Trump for racism?
Won’t you Jews ever realize that you don’t belong in USA. You want to wait to be kicked out…. or ח”ו worse.
Read and understand the words of the davening, the bensching, the Torah, the Haftarot.
It’s over. HKBH is sending you a million messages. What more do you need?
Surely there ought to be a firestorm over people spreading the virus. The Jewish community has lost enough people. Now it will lose more.
The Hasdidim don’t consider themselves part of mainstream society , so there was nothing wrong with specifically addressing them .
This incompetent “Mayor” will be out of office as of Jan. 1, 2022, because of term limits. I hope that the next one is better; he/she certainly won’t be worse than the present one.
Trump 2020
While I am no fan of DeBlasio, he said this only because our own mosrim calls his radio show and publicly master everything the yidden do. He had to react to all these di gooders, who care about the yidden so much that they bring such hatred toward us by saying in a radio station everything do wrong.
DeBozo is a hypocritical tyrant and like most democrats hates frum Jews
Stop throwing the antisemitism card, you sounds like shady Sharpton always screaming the racist card! Hey where is the seichel? You didn’t know this was assur now? No one is ha ING chasunas, no one levayose, and then like a Hefker velt, hundreds attend a levaya! And besides didn’t you guys in williamsburg vote for him? B. C. He came to your tish?
Just bear in mind that as we head into May the weather gets nice . By May 7th the curve will be down by a month .They said two weeks . Kids can’t stay locked in a house like that. If this continues for much longer , it may be time to consider civil disobedience and resist these paranoid rules . So far we are not there yet and should abide by these rules till May 1st . However , once it becomes paranoia resist
Mr De blasio you are far more dangerous then covid 19
the tweets above are not relevant its NOT anti semitism they just dont get it
FACT CHECK;
1. the shomrim spent hours setting up barricades for the levaya giving out masks to do social distancing right, they didnt want a shopron repeat, the police gave it a chance ( no levaya is not an option)
2. once the caravan of nypd jeeps came rumbling thru , everyone moved out of the street & crammed on to the sidewalk.
3.” the mayor is here”- the sirens & commotion from the mayors arrival brought out everyone from the houses to get a glimpse of the ” matzav”… the mayor somehow thought he can disperse the crowd – he doesnt get the mechanics of it…
4. context- there are kein yirbu 1000 people living on any given block in willy , so anything interesting outside ( crash,fire,music truck..) will have hundreds of onlookers in minutes ..
5. most docs in willy will tell u they are done w/ it
The way this funeral was held was WRONG, should not have been organized, and should be criticized by all for being held.
However, while it’s attendance was 99% Jewish/Hasidim/Ultra-Orthodox/Chareidi (choose the label that speaks to you), keep in mind that 99% of the Jewish/Hasidim/Ultra-Orthodox/Chareidi community in NY (JHUC-NY for short) did NOT attend this funeral. (In fact, 95-99% of the JHUC-NY DO properly comply with the social distancing regulations).
This makes de Blasio’s statement singling
out “the Jewish community” not only wrong from an incitement level, it’s wrong because it’s a bald-faced LIE.
In Israel thousands of jews where killed by either terrorist or as a soldier at war and rest have memories of sirens and bunkers and the kesset is openly hostile to the frum jews so i really love that one mayor can tweet out something he probably thought was helping to keep the city safe and people will scream its time to leave America
What some of our tribe fail to understand is that their actions recorded via video and social media not only cause antisemitism for the general public but also to healthcare workers. I was in the hospital with covid and sensed a strong undertone of antisemitism (even thought of taking off yarmulka a coupe times) and not getting the aid I deserved. I can only imagine how the nurses will react to jewish patients now after this scene.
Did the yidden of williamsburg think it would go unnoticed? Or they just didn’t give a hoot? Like come on guys, there where many chushiva people that were nifter lately with out a levaya, like the Mashgiach of lakewood reb Yehuda Jacob’s etc.. Why do some yidden think they are better or above the law?? Mind boggling
did you realize that DeBlasio is a german jew hater the true colors came out hes real name is not de blasio
Let’s have some respect.
Maybe he could have expressed himself better, but don’t go to war over such things.
Don’t make this into a political football.
I as a chosid am going to say that chasidis is about doing what hkb”h wants you to do now even if it means not davening with minyan or even chas vashalom to eat gebrocs even to be mevatel kol hatorah Kila you do it besimcha because it’s the ratzon hashem
Stay here at your own risk.
The USA will be in turmoil and it’s not going to get better.
Make Aliya before it’s too late.
The leaders and machers will be the first in line to run to Israel and leave the rest of you to fend for yourselves. It’s happened before, don’t let it happen again.
Prepare for aliyah, before it all hits the fan.
Do NOT listen to the critics. They’ll run too.
Thnak you for that info. Good to know that we did not violate rules and it was the mayor that added to the tumilet. I hope everyone on VIn reads this
I hate Trump for everything that he stands for but I hate DeBozo even more when he maligns Jews more when there were a lot more people watching an air show earlier on the same day in NYC. What a phony that goy is!
This was organized by the NYPD they did supply the barricades.
We have a half million chassidim plus in Nee York. Why can’t we all resister to vote and get rid of all these democRATs. It’s easy. We can make the government normal again. Just vote republican down the line. Don’t forget that many democrats are dying out or leaving New York for good. This will give us an upper hand in getting rid of the democRATs.
When Chasidim will start. Following rules and regulations we will start being respected
And then thier fellow politicians will wonder why it seems everybody picks on the chasidim, why don’t car dealerships want to let them in, it’s a 2 way street my friends, when you follow the rules like all Americans you’ll be treated like one
the mayor of nyc suppose to be more sensitive to the Jewish people ,BC , for the anti-Semites to blame the Jews,they don’t need a reasonable reason for it , as we all know the history of the Jewish people , same today as you read in many article’s this A. S. BLAME THE CORONA you know whom (you guess it)
@HUGE Unbelievable comment. AGREED.
Every Jew should work out what yiddishkeit is about. Eretz Yisrael is where Jews should be. Any Rav not preaching that is not worthy of the title.
Did you say more sensitive to jews? Really you have that liberal attitude, that minoritys should be treated differently? Sheesh stop pitying yourself and earn your respecf
The people who were watching the air show, gathered spontaneously. The people at the funeral did not.Why didn’t the organizers, maspidim, funeral director, etc., tell everyone to go home, and announce that a special hesped would be made, when IYH the situation changes? Stop the proceedings, send them all home, don’t start again until the crowd disperses, save countless lives, and avert a Chillul Hashem
De blasio knew he would get away with it-(calling out jews) and even score some points with some of his constituency in doing so – all the while knowing his words would not result in any real monetary damage such as riots and window smashing . (i am not condoning breaking the social distancing rules at all- just not the point in this comment) but the mayor calling out Jews by name in public was not just an accidental slip of the tongue
If every Jew lived in Eretz Yisroel we would be destroyed with one attack. The Gomorrah in pesochim states that Jews are to be scattered all over. There are various reasons and one time in history we were all under one monarchy achesveiros and we almost got wiped out with Haman. When we are all over they can’t wipe us out completely like by Hitler yemach shemoi. Had we all been in one country only in Europe or even Israel the nazis would wipe us out. They could not get the countries like America.
Have pity on the regressive mayor
He has limited ability an no common sense
How did he ever get the job?
They should put them on trains and drop them off in Bungalows in the Arizona desert. That way they can only hurt themselves. They can even have Minyanim and school if they want.
Every few days planes can spray disinfectant on them to keep it from spreading to the outside world.
I bet that would solve the problem very quickly.
Billy maybe we should do that to all the blacks who cause most of the crime. Drop them off on an Island.