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.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that Shuls and other houses of worship will allowed to reopen on Wednesday with some health restrictions put in place. Netanyahu tweeted: “After consulting with Minister of Health Edelstein, Interior Minister Deri and Mayor of the National Security Council Meir Shabbat, I decided to allow the opening of the synagogues starting tomorrow according to the following outline: – Up to 50 participants in the space. – Keeping a distance of 2 meters between the worshipers. – Corona trustee appointment (to make sure the rules are not broken). – Wear a mask. – Adhering to hygiene rules. Take care of your health!” 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.

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.

In a special letter written on Monday and published on Tuesday morning, Hagaon Harav Chaim Kanievsky called to Klal Yisrael to be mapkid about the use of cell phones in shuls and batei medrashos. “To the honor of Rabbanim ha’gaonim and gabbaim of shuls in every location,” Harav Chaim wrote: “In our many sins it’s already been many weeks since we’ve been driven out of our shuls and batei medrashos…apparently this is a sign from Shamayim regarding the sin of being mezalzel the kedushas beis knesset by the fact that cell phones are on during davening and people are speaking on them.

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.

In their zest to catch all those “non-essential” businesses that are open around the city, the NYC Sheriff Department decided to illegally block an “essential” service: The Williamsburg Hatzolah garage on Kent Avenue. For those unaware, the ambulance garage is used 24/7 to respond to dozens of emergencies each day. An eye-witness tell YWN that the car pulled up at the garage located at 518 Kent Avenue at 3:21PM Monday afternoon and parked the wrong way. Two deputies exited the vehicle, walked to the garage, and attempted to look into the building. They both nonchalantly turned and walked away towards a few stores located to the left of the building. The two deputies returned to their vehicle at precisely 3:43PM.

President Donald Trump said Monday that he has been taking anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine for over a week to prevent coronavirus infection. “I happen to be taking it,” Trump said during a roundtable event. “A lot of good things have come out. You’d be surprised at how many people are taking it, especially the front-line workers. Before you catch it. The front-line workers, many, many are taking it.” He added: “I’m taking it, hydroxychlororquine. Right now, yeah. Couple of weeks ago, I started taking it. Cause I think it’s good, I’ve heard a lot of good stories.” Hydroxychloroquine, which has been repeatedly touted by Trump as a potential game-changer in fighting the coronavirus, is also often used by doctors to treat rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

The NYPD shut down a Yeshiva in Brooklyn after neighbors reported the school was operating in violation of city and state orders, law enforcement officials told NBC New York. The Yeshiva is on Madison Street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. According to NBC, “more than 100 children were inside the building Monday morning when police arrived”. YWN has confirmed that the “children” are in fact 15 year old Bochrim. The people who complained to the NYPD and called 311 reported seeing children playing on the roof of the school building without 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. (Source: NBC New York)

The FBI has found a link between the gunman in a deadly attack at a military base last December and an al-Qaida operative, a U.S. official said Monday. Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Chris Wray were set to hold a news conference to announce developments in the shooting late last year at the Pensacola Naval Air Station, in which a Saudi Air Force officer killed three U.S. sailors and injured eight other people. The FBI declined to comment ahead of the news conference. The contacts between the shooter, Mohammed Alshamrani, and the al-Qaida operative were discovered on the shooter’s phone, according to the official, who was not authorized to discuss the case by name and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday that he believes New York City will likely meet the state’s seven metrics to begin easing restrictions for the first phase of reopening sometime in the first half of June. “The first half of June is the first opportunity to relax anything,” the mayor said during his daily briefing. According to the state, as of Monday, New York City has only met three of the seven criteria required to start easing restrictions. “We clearly are making progress, there’s several we’ve met and on the others there’s been clear progress in the number of available hospital beds and number of ICU beds, those are two areas where we need to go farther, but we’re getting close to those goals, and I think there’s a point in the first half of June when we’ll meet those.