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COURIER L 26 IFE, OCT. 16-22, 2020
COVID-19 SCRUTINY
else’s house,” said Friedlander,
who is the son of
the Liska Rebbe, a Hasidic
dynasty. “In my building
alone, there’s close
to 40 children. Outside
my house it’s like a playground,
I go crazy.”
Friedlander added that
limiting synagogue attendance
to 10 people regardless
of the synagogue’s
size seemed unnecessarily
harsh — especially in the
middle of the Jewish high
holidays.
“There are shuls that
can accommodate 5,000
occupants. Why are they
only allowed 10 people?”
he said, adding that the
synagogue is a central
meeting point in Orthodox
life. “You really have
to live it to understand it:
the synagogue is not this
cold sanctuary where you
come in, you say a prayer,
and you leave. You congregate,
you do business, it’s
social.”
While Friedlander said
he believes most locals
treat the virus seriously,
another Borough Park
resident, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity,
slammed her neighbors
for what she views as widespread
irresponsibility.
“The general attitude
amongst the residents
in Borough Park is that
they don’t actually care
about the virus at all,” said
the resident, a modern Orthodox
mother of three
and teacher at a yeshiva.
“I believe the widespread
COVID-19 denial comes
from listening to people
who don’t believe in it,
and they believe they have
herd immunity, which is
not true at all.”
The source added that
she worried the actions
of certain Orthodox Jews
refl ect badly on the whole
community.
“It’s a disgrace to people
that do follow the rules,
and they are getting punished
for certain Jews’ actions.”
In Homecrest — another
“red zone” with
a large Orthodox population
— residents also
hold a range of views on
COVID-19 safety precautions,
one local said.
“Generally speaking,
people consume information
differently. Everyone
is exposed to a different
mix of media,” said Amber
Adler, an Orthodox
Jewish mother running
for City Council in District
48. “This is why it
is so important to have a
consistent dissemination
of accredited information
in every community and
in every appropriate language.”
To curb the virus’
spread, the government
should craft a more detailed
containment plan,
Adler said.
“We want decision
makers to make moves
that make sense. Heavyhanded
ZIP code restriction
models are a haphazard
attempt at solving
the problem,” she said.
“We need proactive data
sets such as what I have
called for to track Prevention
Measures in schools
by adding this data to the
NYS DOH ‘COVID-19 Report
Card’ and analyzing
trends.”
Dr. Thomas, who
lives in the Sephardic
Orthodox neighborhood
in Homecrest and Gravesend,
agreed that the
sudden, strict restrictions
seem draconian to locals.
To increase compliance,
offi cials should have
started with more gradual
containment measures before
the start of the Jewish
holidays, he argued.
“Now the government
is trying to react to the
problem,” he said. “They
needed to make a greater
effort preemptively, trying
to get those local leaders
to come more on board
before the holiday season
started.”
Thomas added that
the narrative around
COVID-19 compliance has
become so polarized that
there’s little room for nuance.
“People are being subsumed
into these larger
categories of mask,
anti-mask; Trump, anti-
Trump,” he said, adding
that many synagogues in
his community have adopted
strict safety measures.
“Are there a lot of
Trump supporters in the
Sephardic community?
Absolutely. But there are
a lot of Trump supporters
who are not anti-maskers.”
A single narrative
about the city’s Orthodox
communities can breed
prejudice, Thomas noted.
“It lead to biases, it
leads to anti-Semitism,”
he said.
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