New restrictions are coming in Rockland County where COVID-19 infection rates have risen exponentially. That rate is now 4.5%. “It’s critically important that we get this under control. The numbers are starting to grow exponentially. We don’t need that right now,” Rockland Co. Executive Ed Day said. “We’ve made great progress and great strides here.” Day announced that the Governor’s Cluster restrictions will take effect at 12:01 AM, Friday, October 9, 2020. “We are awaiting further details from the Governor’s Office related to the New York State Police Task Force which will oversee enforcement of the restrictions in these zones,” Day said.

Thousands of protestors gathered in Brooklyn’s Borough Park neighborhood for a second night Wednesday, as demonstrators spoke out against Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s new restrictions on schools, businesses and Shuls in Jewish neighborhoods of the city and state amid an uptick in coronavirus cases. The crowd made it clear they would continue to Daven together despite the statewide mandate to restrict houses of worship in virus “hotspots,” and said they feel Orthodox Jewish communities are being unfairly targeted. The protests were mostly peaceful, with many dancing to Sukkos music, as some held Trump 2020 flags. The NYPD arrived in riot gear, and were greeted warmly with shouts of “Blue Lives Matter”. A small fire was lit on 13th Avenue late at night, but was quickly extinguished.

Eli Rozenberg was officially granted a permit allowing him to control El Al on Friday, Globes reported. The decision, made by Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Transportation Minister Miri Regev, and Cyber and National Digital Matters Minister Dudi Amsalem, came despite the efforts of the El Al Board and the Borovitz group, the previous controlling shareholder, to prevent it. The permit was granted on the condition that Rozenberg, who lacks business experience, appoint a board of directors and a CEO who has at least five years of management experience in the aviation sector or has been a senior executive of publicly traded companies.

President Donald Trump’s accountant must turn over his tax records to a New York state prosecutor, an appeals court ruled Wednesday in a decision that likely sets up a second trip to the U.S. Supreme Court over the issue. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said in a written decision that a stay of a lower-court decision will remain in effect so Trump’s lawyers can appeal the ruling to the high court. In August, a district court judge had rejected their renewed efforts to invalidate a subpoena that the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. issued to Trump’s accounting firm last year.

Hagaon Rosh Yeshiva HaRav Gershon Edelstein spoke from his home on Tuesday evening and instructed the public to adhere to health regulations regarding the coronavirus on Simchas Torah, Kikar H’Shabbos reported. The Rosh Yeshivah spoke words of chizuk regarding the obligation of simcha in the home during Sukkos and also addressed the issue of celebrating Simchas Torah under the shadow of the pandemic. “L’maaseh it’s impossible to celebrate Simchas Torah in the same way we always have due to the virus,” the Rosh Yeshivah said. “The medical professionals will issue instructions on how to celebrate Simchas Torah safely so there won’t be infections chas v’chalilah. We must be careful and adhere to these instructions during Simchas Torah.

Israel’s Health Ministry confirmed 4,674 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday morning.  There are currently 61,606 active virus cases, with 879 seriously ill patients, of whom 240 are ventilated. Thirty-three more deaths were recorded, raising the death toll to 1,806. The percentage of positive coronavirus tests continues to decline, standing at 10.5% on Wednesday, the lowest level in weeks. According to the Health Ministry, over 3% of Israel’s residents have contracted the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic in February, meaning one in 33 has been diagnosed with the virus. The government voted by telephone late on Tuesday night to extend Israel’s current state of emergency and the national lockdown for one week, with the restrictions set to end next Tuesday night.

The following is a joint statement by NY Senator Simcha Felder, NYC Councilman Chaim Deutsch, NYC Councilman Kalman Yeger, and NYS Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein regarding NY Governor Cuomo’s irresponsible rhetoric and constitutionally questionable shutdown of the Brooklyn Jewish communities: We are appalled by Governor Cuomo’s words and actions today. He has chosen to pursue a scientifically and constitutionally questionable shutdown of our communities. His administration’s utter lack of coordination and communication with local officials has been an ongoing issue since the start of the pandemic, and particularly recently as we face this uptick.

Prof. Eran Segal of Weissman Institue published worrying data on the morbidity and mortality rate in the Chareidi sector on Tuesday, indicating a dramatic rise in the number of Chareidi niftarim as well as a rise in the number of Chareidi COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in serious condition. The data shows a 36% rise in the number of Chareidi niftarim in the past week and a 16% rise in the number of seriously ill patients., while the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Chareidi sector rose to 28%. Segal added that the rise of coronavirus cases in the general population has stopped and in the Arab population there has been a decrease in the number of cases, the number of seriously ill patients and the number of fatalities.

Following the diagnosis of Hagaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky with the coronavirus on erev Sukkos, his son, HaRav Shlomo Kanievsky, Rosh Yeshivas Kiryat Melech, tested positive for the virus and a day later, HaRav Chaim’s grandson, Yanky Kanievsky, tested positive as well. Father and son had not spent time together in the period before Sukkos so they apparently caught the virus from different sources. Since Yeshivas Kiryat Melech recently suffered from a coronavirus outbreak, with hundreds of bochurim testing positive for the virus, it’s likely that HaRav Shlomo caught the virus at the yeshivah. The other Rosh Yeshiva at Kiryat Melech, HaRav Yaakov Karp, also contracted the coronavirus but has Baruch Hashem recovered.

Hundreds of members of the Borough Park Orthodox community took to the streets Tuesday night defying orders to disperse and lighting a fire in protest of new state-mandated restrictions imposed on area synagogues, schools and non-essential businesses over a COVID-19 surge. One large crowd huddled closely together at the corner of 50th Street and 15th avenue at about 9 p.m. as community activist Heshy Tischler ripped Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio over the order that shuts down schools completely and limits houses of worship to 10 people in certain COVID-19 hot spots. Much of Borough Park is subject to those measures – the most restrictive – which also shutters non-essential businesses.

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