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Hasidic Children Left Alone in City Playground, Says Witness
By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 4, 2010
Modified Jan 4, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 4, 2010
Modified Jan 4, 2010
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The Hasidic community in South Williamsburg may have discouraged immodestly dressed bike riders by getting rid of the Bedford Avenue bike lane, but is the neighborhood now free from kidnappers, too? One rabbi apparently thinks so; today the Chaptzem Blog received an irate email from someone who says they witnessed a teacher at a local Yeshiva school leave 35 5-year-old children unattended in a public playground for almost a half hour—while he went for coffee.
The rebbe lead [sic] the children to the large playground, closed the double gate behind him and left them there all by themselves. I could not believe what I was seeing. I checked just to make sure, there was no adult anywhere in sight. An entire cheder class of five year olds were left completely alone by themselves. After checking even more, I realized that the gate on the other side of the playground was wide open, leaving an open opportunity for these children to just wander off...
I just could not go anywhere and leave them alone unwatched, lest something happen to any one of them and I could never forgive myself. About twenty five minutes later the rebbe strolled up to the playground with a steaming cup of coffee in his hand. He did not even give as much as a glance around to see if anyone had seen his careless and negligent actions. Thinking back to that moment now, I am sorry I did not scream my lungs out at him, maybe then he would have learned never to do such a thing again.
Since the e-mail is anonymous and the exact location left vague, it's impossible to verify this anecdotal report. But if true, it's probably safe to assume the rabbi was just teaching children a vital lesson about the importance of kosher coffee.
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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