The Jewish writer Elad Nehorai posted a video of the protests which rocked Boro Park, Brooklyn, this week on his Facebook page.
He added the following:
‘Just shared with me by a Hasid (Hasidic Jew) in Borough (Boro) Park. Tonight at a protest led by Heshy Tischler and Kalman Yeger where Hasidim joined together to burn masks publicly, a counter-protester from within the community showed up to call them out.
He was beaten with rocks and is now in critical condition.
This was after Tischler called them his ‘army’ in a ‘war’ and Kalman Yeger gave them a speech instigating them.
This is disgusting, and this is the logical result of the absolute antipathy and evil that has been spreading in parts of the Hasidic community against all logic and reason. Please call this out.
Elad and I, while not exactly friends, do write for Tribe Herald together, and see eye to eye on a lot of situations. The thing I like about him is that he’s not trigger-happy, nor does he have an agenda. He tells it like it is, each time, every time.
I was a part of the Hasidic community in Boro Park for almost a decade, and at first I was so horrified that Hasidim would dare to stoop so low that I didn’t want to give this a second of my time. Behemahs (animals), every single one of them who participated in the protests. In the Hasidic lexicon, it is on par and possibly worse than being called a goy or a shageitz.
But when I saw this post on Elad’s page, I realized that I had an obligation to say something. To use his words, to call this out.
Let’s get to the heart of the matter, shall we? The Jews in Brooklyn feel they have been called out again and again for not abiding by social distancing, or proper wearing of masks. They feel they aren’t the only group of people not following the guidelines, and don’t understand why time and again the blame rests at their collective feet. Anti-semitism is rampant, and with each negative comment from government officials, there are those who use the words to justify harassment and worse. The government only cares about the Jews of Brooklyn when it suits them (for votes and financial support) but kicks them to the curb when it doesn’t.
On the flip side, the government sees that the COVID hotspots are in areas with a high Jewish population, and want to contain what they fear are the start of wild-spread infections in large and uncontrollable numbers. Ways that have stopped the infection from spreading in the past (limiting social gatherings to small numbers, mask wearing, social distancing) need (in their opinion) to be implemented again. They see the largest areas of infection come from areas like Boro Park, and will do nothing in their quest to save lives.
I’m not saying who is right or who is wrong in this scenario, because I want to focus on what I know to be a universal wrong that happened last night. I completely understand there is frustration, and a feeling of wanting to be heard. Peaceful protest (and I stress peaceful) is the right of every American. March if you must, carry signs, chant slogans like ‘Down with DiBlasio’!
Don’t go and start rubbish fires – it doesn’t really help in Israel, and it sure won’t here in the US. Don’t burn masks – whatever happened to bal tashchis (the willful act of waste or destruction). A far better way to have protested (and still followed the Law) would have been to donate the masks to a doctor’s practice like Ezra Medical or even Maimonides Hospital! If the collective didn’t want them, fine, but to go and destroy what someone else could have used? What was everyone thinking?
Or perhaps they weren’t, because surely if there had been one soberly thinking individual, if despicable people like Heshy Tischler and Kalman Yeger wouldn’t have been riling everyone up, then there would not be a man in critical condition today from having stones thrown at him.
Let that sit for a minute. A man who came to counterprotest got stones thrown at him so badly he is now in the hospital in critical condition. Jews are champions for the preservation of life. By and large, logic and order reign supreme not only in our relationship with the One Above but with those around us as well. We are commanded to follow the laws of the land (with few, specific circumstances in which we cannot do so). Last night there was no law, no order, and no Gd. This was a desecration of His Name of the highest order.
What makes it worse is that people like Tischler (who thinks he’s a big tough guy, with his money and connections) and Yeger (who is an elected official) were fanning the flames. Literally. The injury of the man in critical condition lay at their feet – they could have turned this riot in any direction, and they let it go this way. If Gd forbid the man doesn’t recover, his blood will be on their hands as well. May we all pray for this man to recover fully and quickly.
Since when do we act like this? Yes, Jewish lives matter! Jewish. Lives. Matter. And now one lays in the hospital, at risk of losing theirs. If that happens, no amount of money and no amount of political clout will save Tischler, Yeger, or anyone who participated in this riot.
Mamash a shandah, mein tayere Yidden.
