The Justice Department today announced that it filed a lawsuit against the township of Jackson and the township’s planning board, alleging that they violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) and the Fair Housing Act (FHA) by targeting the Orthodox Jewish community through zoning ordinances restricting religious schools and barring religious boarding schools. “Using zoning laws to target Orthodox Jewish individuals for intentional discrimination and exclude them from a community is illegal and utterly incompatible with this Nation’s values,” said Eric Dreiband, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “Let me be clear.

Mayor Bill de Blasio is urging all parents and guardians to make sure their children get vaccinated, this after the city has seen a steep decline in vaccination rates during the pandemic. “The vaccination rate in this city – this is striking – the vaccination rate in this city has been falling during this crisis and the sheer magnitude of it has become clear to us during the last few days,” the mayor said, adding that the data compiled “was shocking and troubling.” The city’s Health Department looked at the vaccination rate — the number of vaccine doses administered — and compared the period from March 23, “when this crisis had really gone into high gear to May 9,” de Blasio said. Then the department compared that six-week period this year to that same period last year.

Agudath Israel of America is grateful to Governor Andrew Cuomo for instituting a pilot program towards eventually allowing visitors in hospitals statewide. Sixteen hospitals across the state will take part in the two-week pilot program and will allow visitation for family members of patients, with the visitors wearing PPE and being checked for COVID-19 symptoms. A number of the hospitals in the pilot program serve Agudath Israel’s constituency, and we applaud their being included. This issue has been at the forefront of Agudath Israel’s concern for weeks, as patients have been denied helpers and visitors by hospital administrations while being hospitalized, harming their physical and emotional well-being.

Lawrence NY – A teenager is lucky to be alive after he took his fathers car for a high-speed joyride early this morning. Sources tell YWN that the teenager lost control of the vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed on Washington Avenue. The vehicle slammed into an electric pole breaking it in half, and then crashed into Mesivta Ateres Yaakov. Bichasdei Hashem he walked out unharmed. Police were investigating the incident. STAY UPDATED WITH BREAKING UPDATES FROM YWN VIA WHATSAPP – SIGN UP NOW Just click on this link, and you will be placed into a group. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The NYPD visited a Satmar (Williamsburg) Shul on South 8th Street on Wednesday morning, and emptied hundreds of people out during Shacharis. In viral social videos you can see the crowd and the NYPD cordial with each other as the people walked out. Sources told YWN that police eventually allowed everyone back inside as long as there was proper social distancing. YWN was unable to confirm with the NYPD if this was in fact the case. As can be seen in the attached videos, nearly everyone was wearing masks. STAY UPDATED WITH BREAKING UPDATES FROM YWN VIA WHATSAPP – SIGN UP NOW Just click on this link, and you will be placed into a group.

26 Iyar 5780 May 20, 2020 To Our Beloved Community, We hope this letter finds you and your family safe, secure, and healthy. We appreciate your strength and fortitude during these difficult times. For the last 9 weeks we have shut down and sequestered all with the hope of flattening the curve and saving lives. B’H our community has been spared the sadness and loss that so many others have experienced. We thank the Ribbono Shel Olam for watching over us and we thank the members of this community for making the necessary sacrifices. We feel that it is time to begin reopening the community. We have consulted with doctors, nurses, and health policy experts to come up with an appropriate and measured plan. It is important to remember that we cannot reopen everything at once.

Religious services and ceremonies of 10 or less people will be permitted across the state starting on Thursday. NY Governor Cuomo suggested drive-thru services and ceremonies as an alternative. Senator Felder issued the following statement for immediate release: “Prayer services are integral to every religious community. We worked diligently to allow minyanim in our shuls. I want to thank Governor Cuomo for announcing today that religious services are permitted.” DEVELOPING STORY – REFRESH FOR UPDATES STAY UPDATED WITH BREAKING UPDATES FROM YWN VIA WHATSAPP – SIGN UP NOW Just click on this link, and you will be placed into a group. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Rockland Chaveirim had launched a search for two missing girls in a wooded area near Monsey, on Tuesday night. Both girls were B”H found a short while later. Sources tell YWN that the girls contacted Chaveirim that they were lost while hiking. They later lost phone communication. They are around 18 years of age, and were lost for at least four hours. At least a dozen specially-trained Chaveirim volunteers were in the forest searching. STAY UPDATED WITH BREAKING UPDATES FROM YWN VIA WHATSAPP – SIGN UP NOW Just click on this link, and you will be placed into a group. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

As the Jewish community awaits with anticipation on a decision if Upstate NY summer camps will be permitted to open this coming summer, at least one camp has reportedly received the green light. Camp Oraysa, located on Todd Road in Woodbourne, NY, sent an email to the parent body of the camp stating that they have been given a permit from the Health Department. YWN was unable to confirm if any other camps received a permit as well. The letter sent to the parents is attached below: STAY UPDATED WITH BREAKING UPDATES FROM YWN VIA WHATSAPP – SIGN UP NOW Just click on this link, and you will be placed into a group. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Yesterday, a Jewish school in Brooklyn, NY was found hosting students learning in apparent violation of Governor Cuomo’s Executive Order. While Agudath Israel of America neither runs nor controls any yeshivos, if any yeshiva violated the Executive Order as it stands, there are no excuses for such behavior. Period. That said, this incident speaks to a larger issue. Courts in North Carolina, Kentucky, and Kansas have struck down Executive Orders that shuttered churches, on the grounds that such orders unlawfully prohibited the free exercise of religion. Yeshivos in our community serve both educational and religious functions, as they transmit our core religious values. Moreover, children have been home for months.