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.

Dear Parents of our Kehillah, Boruch Hashem there has been a consistent decrease in the number of new Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations. Our hishtadlus in vigilance with isolation and social distancing has been a great contributing factor for this decrease. However, even as the virus decreases in our community, as long as it is still active in the surrounding communities, social distancing is the only hishtadlus that we can do to prevent it from being reintroduced and chas v’sholom flaring up again in our community. Although until now children have tended to be asymptomatic or to exhibit mild illness due to Covid-19, they can still pass on the virus to others.

New York’s Democratic Party leadership gave up trying to cancel the state’s June 23 presidential primary Tuesday after an appeals court rejected arguments that holding it during the coronavirus pandemic would endanger public safety. Douglas A. Kellner, co-chair of the State Board of Elections, said he and the board’s commissioner would not appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after the ruling by the three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan.

Dear YWN, I’ve lived in the Five Towns my entire life and I grew up always in the middle between Yeshivish and Modern, and recently due to the conversation of Minyanim the split has me confused. Although I understand the concept of the extreme Chumra we have on Pikuach Nefesh its been really bothering me how come we cant have a Minyan in a backyard with x’s to mark off spots and a guard to make sure its enforced. I always pride my self in having extreme Emunas Chachamim so of course I will listen to my Rabbonim, but the issue I am about to bring up is the final straw for me. Governor Cuomo recently announced that the beaches will be open for Memorial Day.

New York State is piloting a program to bring visitors back in to hospitals, NYS Governor Cumo announced moments ago. As part of the two-week pilot program, 16 hospitals across the state can increase visitation for family/loved ones who must wear PPE and are subject to symptom & temperature checks. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, New York State Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein has been at the forefront of the movement insisting that patients’ family members be permitted to visit them during their time of greatest pain and need. On March 18, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Health Commissioner Dr.

The following is from the Facebook page of News 12 reporter Blaise Gomez. YWN notes that Gomez is well-known in the Jewish community, running round trying to find stories in the Jewish community. Many of her stories prompt hundreds of anti-Semitic comments on her social media platforms and make their way around other hate outlets in Upstate NY. “We saw children at windows inside the United Talmudical Academy in Kiryas Joel this morning – despite the state’s executive order, closing schools in New York. Following our arrival, other children walking toward school, with books in hand, or being driven in were turned away by several men standing outside. A viewer also sent us a photo of children standing outside UTA this morning, which I will post in the thread.

Senator Ted Cruz is calling on the Justice Department to investigate NYC Mayor Deblasio after the NYPD shut down a Hasidic Yeshiva operating in defiance of the executive order. “The next time NYC’s mayor sends out a gleeful tweet about sending cops after Jews, the DOJ should investigate to make sure he’s not violating constitutionally guaranteed religious liberties,” Cruz wrote in a Tuesday morning tweet. “Actually, they should have done it after the last one,” he added. As YWN reported, the NYPD on Monday shut down an Orthodox Jewish school in Brooklyn that was operating illegally during the pandemic.