Edited by: Fern Sidman
Once again Jews in America and around the world are finding that the reprehensible scourge of anti-Semitism has reared its ugly head.
Throughout the centuries, Jews have been blamed for just about anything you can think of; from social maladies, to military conflicts, and a potpourri of bizarre and baseless theories.
It now appears that Jews are being scapegoated for the spread of the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
Recently, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio witnessed the NYPD disperse a well attended funeral in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn for a prominent rabbi. He then tweeted: “My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed.”
Condemnation by Democrats in city government followed and even liberal, left wing Jewish groups who normally support Mayor DeBlasio jumped on the condemnation bandwagon.
According to an NPR report, “there is no data indicating religious Jews are violating social distancing rules at a greater rate than other demographic groups. While there have been high-profile incidents of police disrupting Jewish gatherings, the NYPD has also made arrests of various sorts for failing to practice social distancing, like at a Brooklyn barbershop and at a Manhattan “marijuana party.” And pictures of throngs hanging out at parks and closely congregating for the Navy Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds flyovers indicated that not social distancing isn’t a problem specific to a particular religious group.”
Soon thereafter, DeBlasio issued an apology of sorts when he said that he “spoke out of real distress that people’s lives were in danger.” He added: “I regret if the way I said it in any way gave people a feeling of being treated the wrong way, that was not my intention. It was said with love but it was tough love, it was anger and frustration.”
According to the current stats on how many lives in the New York City area that this dreaded virus has claimed, Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn’s Boro Park, Flatbush and Williamsburg neighborhoods have been stricken by the virus at high rates. Many prominent rabbis, community and civic leaders have lost their lives to the Coronavirus including the Novominsker Rebbe and former NY City Councilman Noach Dear, among many others.
NPR reported that a very large number of Jews who have recovered from the virus have donated plasma in an effort to save the lives of others who have contracted it.
NPR reported that in early March, Yaacov Behrman, a community leader and Hasidic Jewish activist, rushed to get ahead of the virus by marrying his bride, Shevi Katzman, after an engagement of just a week-and-a-half. They had a socially distanced wedding across two Brooklyn backyards — with a few siblings, no cousins, two witnesses and a rabbi, and 2,500 people watching on Facebook Live.
Another heavily populated Jewish enclave is Lakewood, New Jersey. NPR reported that local police arrested many Orthodox Jews at large gatherings including weddings and funerals. The report indicated that “a local news station reported that a school bus was carrying children to a Jewish school that was open, illegally. The reporter later acknowledged that the bus was just delivering food to homebound families.”
Close to Lakewood is yet another predominantly Orthodox Jewish area known as Jackson where many Jews have moved in recent years.
“Unfortunately, there are groups of people who hide behind cultures or religious beliefs and put themselves, our first responders, and quite honestly all of Jackson and bordering towns at risk for their selfishness, irresponsibility and inability to follow the law put in place by President Trump and Governor Murphy,” said Barry Calogero, the town council president of Jackson Township.
At the end of March, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy condemned people who have used the coronavirus pandemic to heap scorn on the township’s Orthodox Jewish community, according to an Asbury Park Press report.
The governor met with Jewish community leaders who expressed concern about anti-Semitism fueled by the outbreak.
“We’re at war right now,” Murphy said. “We need each other more than ever before and any amount of scapegoating or any other bullying or vilification of communities, one community or another — it’s normally completely and utterly unacceptable — it’s even more so today.”
In the Monsey and Monroe areas of Rockland County, New York where large numbers of Orthodox Jews and Chassidim live, NPR reported that the county executive’s Facebook post about police breaking up a large Passover service was met by anti-Semitic comments.
The Anti-Defamation League released a report this week showing that there were more anti-Semitic incidents in 2019 than at any year since it began tracking in 1979.
