$15,000 Fine After Secret Hasidic Wedding Draws Thousands of Guests
Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews gathered to celebrate a wedding inside a cavernous hall in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood earlier this month, dancing and singing with hardly a mask in sight. The wedding was meticulously planned, and so were efforts to conceal it from the authorities, who said that the organizers would be fined $15,000 for violating public health restrictions.
The wedding, organized on Nov. 8 by the leaders of the Satmar sect of Hasidic Judaism, is the latest incident in a long battle between city and state officials and members of the ultra-Orthodox community, who prize autonomy, chafe at government restrictions and have frequently flouted guidelines like mask-wearing and social distancing.
In October, state officials announced a series of restrictions in several neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens with large Orthodox Jewish populations after the positive test rate in those areas rose above 4 percent. Many residents protested the restrictions, which included the closing of nonessential businesses and limiting capacity at houses of worship.
While the rates in several of these areas have decreased since the implementation of the restrictions, tensions between city officials and area leaders have continued.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/dollar15000-fine-after-secret-hasidic-wedding-draws-thousands-of-guests/ar-BB1bk0G6?li=BBnb7Kz
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Between freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom to own an arsenal, I no longer feel the freedom to be happy, content and at peace.
The problem is that America has lost her foundation of community responsibility upon which this nation was built.
KY.........
