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Borough Park Synagogue With COVID-Positive Rabbi Still Holding Large Indoor Prayer Services, Despite $15,000 Fine
By
Jake Offenhartz
and
Scott Heins
Published Oct 12, 2020
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Scott Heins/Gothamist
By
Jake Offenhartz
and
Scott Heins
Published Oct 12, 2020
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A prominent Hasidic rabbi who tested positive for COVID-19 last week continued leading large indoor prayer services in Borough Park this weekend — even after the New York City Sheriff's Office issued the synagogue a fine for violating the governor's hot spot restrictions.
The Bobov-45 shul was one of five religious congregations in Borough Park that received a $15,000 fine on Saturday for flouting Governor Andrew Cuomo's order that houses of worship limit attendance in neighborhoods currently experiencing a resurgence of coronavirus cases.
"Some of these big congregations raise [hundreds of thousands of] dollars on this holiday alone," said Heshy Friedman, a 57-year-old Borough Park resident who opposes the governor's lockdown orders. "Fifteen thousand dollars isn't a big deal for them. It's worth it, like an expense."
In an interview with Gothamist on Monday, Sheriff Joseph Fucito said it wasn't the agency's job to ensure people don't return to the facilities they've cited for violations.
"The sheriff's job is if we see a violation, we issue a summons," he said. "If you're saying they have some long term strategic plan to thwart the rules, it's possible they can get away with it."
Borough Park on Sunday
Scott Heins/Gothamist
In the case of the Bobov-45, the $15,000 fine did not stop hundreds of unmasked adherents from packing into the synagogue for Simchat Torah holiday services on Saturday and Sunday, according to a person who attended both days. A reporter also observed dozens of people, few of whom were wearing masks, leaving the shul on Sunday. Those services were led by Rabbi Mordechai Dovid Unger, who congregants were informed tested positive for the virus last Friday, multiple sources said.
(All of the people who spoke to Gothamist about the services asked that their names be withheld out of fear of reprisal.)
In total, the Sheriff's Office issued 33 civil summonses on Friday and Saturday. Data from Sunday's enforcement was not immediately available. Fucito said that no religious congregations were cited on Sunday because the services finished by afternoon and "most of the sheriff's activity happens in the later part of the evening."
The NYPD has refused to provide enforcement details from this weekend, but said it would “continue our education and awareness campaign and will deploy our resources as conditions warrant.”
Under the rules that went into effect on Thursday, religious services are capped at ten people in the "red zone" areas of Brooklyn and Queens where the COVID-19 infection rate is the highest. All mass gatherings are prohibited. Public and private schools, as well as non-essential businesses, are also required to close for a minimum of two weeks.
Asked about the Bobov-45 synagogue on Saturday, Governor Cuomo said he hoped further action would be taken at the local level. "You cannot allow a law to be violated otherwise no one will follow it," he told reporters. "People will get sick. People will endanger nurses and doctors. People will infect other people who are innocent bystanders, and people will die. This is not a joke."
The number of New York state residents hospitalized for coronavirus has doubled since early September, according to state data. In Borough Park, where the COVID-19 positivity rate is nearly five times the citywide average, local residents went about their schedules as usual this weekend.
Rose Rosenberg, a Borough Park resident walking through the neighborhood without a mask on Sunday, told Gothamist the restrictions were "pure discrimination, pure anti-Semitism." She added that her brother had died from the virus in March. But she remained convinced that growing alarm over the pandemic's return was "fake news."
**"**I'm not concerned about the numbers going up because eventually everyone's going to have it," Rosenberg said. "They're all gonna survive. They'll have an illness like the flu someday, and then it will be over with. It's worth the risk."
Jake Offenhartz
Jake Offenhartz is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Scott Heins
Scott Heins is a freelance photo and video journalist based in New York City, and a frequent contributor to Gothamist + WNYC. His work often centers around labor rights, housing, and policing. In 2018-2019 he traveled to four states while covering a wave of public school teachers strikes, with work featured in The New York Times, The Intercept, Getty Images, Splinter, and Bloomberg Photos. Scott is a dues-paying member of the National Writers Union's Freelance Solidarity Project.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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