Jewish Groups, Leaders, N.Y. Politicians Tell De Blasio in Letter: ‘We Are Hurt by Your Comments’

Several Jewish groups, community leaders and New York politicians sent a letter to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on April 29 expressing their anger over his April 28 tweet to the Jewish community.

De Blasio’s tweet stated, “My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed. I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period.”

The tweet was in response to a large gathering at a funeral procession in Brooklyn for Rabbi Chaim Mertz, who had died of COVID-19-related complications. Videos revealed a disregard of social distancing although many participants, whose numbers were estimated at about 2,000 and at times stood shoulder to shoulder, wore masks. The New York Times reported that 12 summonses were issued, including four for refusal to disperse, according to Police Commissioner Dermot F. Shea.

The letter, which included Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Bend the Arc Jewish Action and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice as signatories, stated that de Blasio’s remarks came at a time when the Jewish community being scapegoated for the spread of COVID-19.

“Laying blame upon Hasidic communities — among the most visible members of our Jewish family — will not stop the spread of COVID-19, and referring to these particular communities as ‘the Jewish community’ both flattens a diverse group of New Yorkers into a single bloc and fuels the anti-Semitic hatreds that bubble beneath the surface of our society,” they wrote.

The letter acknowledged that it was a mistake for the New York Police Department (NYPD) to give its approval for the gathering because there was no way that social distancing could be adhered to in such a crowd. However, the letter writers argued that it was “also a mistake to single out an entire community and then threaten incarceration, which in this crisis would put more people in danger of contracting and spreading the virus in already dense jails. We need a public health response that starts from social solidarity, not scapegoating and incarceration.”

The Orthodox Jewish community, whose members have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 because, officials say, of the members’ proclivity to gather in large groups, has done a lot of good in response to the pandemic, the letter argued, pointing to the thousands of Orthodox Jews who have donated their blood to provide antibodies to critically ill COVID-19 patients and have provided aid to those in need during the crisis.

“Jews have overwhelmingly led and acted responsibly in this moment of social distancing,” the letter stated. “To suggest otherwise on the actions of a few is the deepest form of marginalization.”

However, The New York Times reported that “authorities have dispersed several well-attended religious gatherings since restrictions on such events were enacted in the face of the outbreak,” including weddings and funerals in New York neighborhoods with large Jewish populations.

The letter concluded: “We are hurt by your comments and request a meeting to discuss constructive approaches to respond to the pandemic that recognize the Jewish community’s earnest efforts to fight COVID-19, protect vulnerable communities, and avoid heavy-handed over-policing.”

On April 30, The Forward reported that the NYPD did in fact arrange the funeral procession with Chasidic community leaders, pointing to a photo they received showing two NYPD officers meeting with two members of the Shomrim, a Jewish civilian patrol group. The NYPD and the Shomrim had a plan in place to ensure that social distancing was observed, but the plan failed when the police said that loudspeakers couldn’t be used to broadcast the eulogies, as people consequently started crowding the area.

De Blasio said on April 29 that he never intended to hurt anyone with his tweet.

“It was said with love, but it was tough love,” he added.

Associate Dean and Director for Global Social Action Agenda at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Rabbi Abraham Cooper wrote in a Fox News op-ed that even if de Blasio didn’t intend to single out the Jewish community, such words have consequences.

“We don’t need lectures about the need to change our behavior to fight this deadly pandemic,” Cooper wrote. “We need leaders to lead, to empathize, to provide accurate information and to be measured in the words and deeds. We hope Mayor de Blasio and all our other leaders do these things.”