Satmar Kiryas Yoel shuts down all institutions in NYC due to coronavirus
Other hassidic groups in New York closing down in light of worsening situation in the state and the US in general.
By JEREMY SHARONrand Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum speaks at a mass gathering of Satmar Hasidic Jews in New York(photo credit: REUTERS/ANDREW KELLY)
The Satmar community led by Grand Rabbi Aharon Teitelbaum and centered in Kiryas Yoel in upstate New York has shut down all its educational and religious study institutions for a 15-day period, which could be extended.The Kiryas Yoel Satmar branch also has communities in New York City where its institutions have also been ordered closed.The grand rabbi himself has self-quarantined at his residence in Kiryas Yoel.Approximately 100 people in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City which has a large Satmar population have tested positive for coronavirus, while some 1,700 cases of the virus have been diagnosed state wide.The decision to shut down the Satmar institutions was given by the grand rabbi following a conference call between assistant to US President Donald Trump Avi Berkowitz and several leading rabbis and Jewish community leaders from the New York Orthodox Jewish community. The shut down covers all of Satmar Kiryas Yoel’s study centers, schools, yeshivas, and mikvas.On Sunday, a large wedding of an important figure in the Satmar community was staged in Brooklyn, leading to outrage that the hassidic community was holding such large events which could cause the infection of numerous people with the coronavirus disease.The Viznitz Monsey hassidic community has also closed all its institutions in New York due to the pandemic, and hassidim were instructed to take their tephillin and prayer shawls home since the synagogues and study centers would be closed
