NYC synagogue is fined $15,000 for hosting 7,000 maskless people at a huge wedding as Bill de Blasio slams the event as 'unacceptable' and warns of 'additional consequences'
A New York City synagogue has been fined $15,000 for hosting 7,000 maskless people at a huge wedding, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday.
On November 8, crowds gathered in the Yetev Lev temple in Brooklyn to celebrate the nuptials of Yoel Teitelbaum, grandson of Satmar Grand Rabbi Aaron Teitelman.
Confirming the fine, de Blasio told New York 1: 'That's just not acceptable, I mean, we've been through so much. This was amazingly irresponsible, just unacceptable.'
He added: 'There appeared to be a real effort to conceal it which is absolutely unacceptable. There will be a summons for $15,000 immediately for that site and there could be additional consequences quite soon as well.'
On November 8, crowds gathered in the Yetev Lev temple in Brooklyn to celebrate the nuptials of Yoel Teitelbaum, grandson of Satmar Grand Rabbi Aaron Teitelman
The mayor noted Monday 'there appeared to be a real effort to conceal' the wedding
Confirming the $15k fine de Blasio called the wedding 'amazingly irresponsible and unacceptable'
Organizers kept the wedding secret after state officials canceled an earlier Satmar wedding, The New York Post reported, citing a Yiddish newspaper, Der Blatt.
To keep the celebration under wraps, the community had shared information on the wedding only by word of mouth as organizers schemed to avoid it being broken up by 'the ravenous press and government officials'.
Religious gatherings can be held indoors, but they must take place in one room and at 50 percent capacity. Masks must also be worn and those who are not in the same household must maintain social distancing from each other.
De Blasio said it is not clear just exactly how many people were at the wedding.
But images of the ceremony show the 7,000 capacity hall rammed with no masks in sight as the community celebrated.
The crowd crammed into the wedding even as coronavirus cases in the city and state rise with de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo threatening further lockdowns if the outbreak isn't taken back under control.
Cuomo had said of the gathering: 'If that happened, it was a blatant disregard of the law. It's illegal. It was also disrespectful of the people of New York.'
New York City was once the epicenter of the pandemic and has seen nearly 25,000 deaths. The state has averaged nearly 5,500 new confirmed cases per day over the past seven days.
'This was amazingly irresponsible, just unacceptable', de Blasio said of the wedding
Hospitals and nursing homes have reported 665 COVID-19 deaths in the state over the past 30 days — more than in July, August and September combined.
'Due to the ongoing situation with government restrictions, preparations were made secretly and discreetly, so as not to draw attention from strangers,' reported Yiddish newspaper Der Blatt, the publication of the Satmar sect. on November 13, according to the New York Post.
'In recent weeks, organizers worked tirelessly to arrange everything in the best way possible.
'All notices about upcoming celebrations were passed along through word of mouth, with no notices in writing, no posters on the synagogue walls, no invitations sent through the mail, nor even a report in any publication, including this very newspaper.'
The large crowds had even slipped under the nose of the local fire station as the organizers moved with stealth to ensure that their cover was not blown.
The FDNY, which is one of a host of city agencies that inspect sites for COVID-19 violations, was not called to inspect the temple despite the large crowds.
However, FDNY spokesman Frank Dwyer told the Post that the wedding 'clearly violated' restrictions on indoor occupancy.
Images of the ceremony show the 7,000 capacity hall rammed with no masks in sight as the community celebrated.
The secrecy around the nuptials was heightened last month after the state caught wind of another wedding in Williamsburg planned for a grandson of Satmar Grand Rabbi Zalman Teitelbaum, a brother and rival of Aaron, the Post reports.
This wedding was expected to attract 10,000 people but was brought to a halt and changed to a virtual ceremony once heath officials stepped in.
'We received a suggestion that that was happening,' Cuomo said at the time. 'We did an investigation and found that it was likely true. There was a large wedding planned that would violate the gathering rules.'
But the synagogue blasted the order to move online, insisting they had taken special measures to ensure the wedding complied with coronavirus safety protocol and claimed, 'nobody verified our plans before attacking us.'
They said the cancellation of the wedding was 'an unwarranted attack' on the temple's congregation, causing them to use increased caution for the November ceremony incase authorities would be topped off again.
'The days leading up to the wedding were filled with tension, not knowing what the next day, or the next moment, will bring; which disgruntled outcast might seize this opportunity to exploit even what hasn't been written or publicized, to create an unnecessary uproar, and to disrupt the simcha, God forbid,' Der Blatt reported.
The synagogue was the location of the secret wedding of Yoel Teitelbaum, which included 7000 guests on November 8, 2020, defying COVID-19 restrictions
Worshipers of the Congregation Yetev Lev D'Satmar synagogue gather outside. A wedding due to be held here was ordered shut down, prompted by city and state authorities after it was believed that it would draw over 10,000 congregants
The temple's decision to host the wedding came despite losing its own president, R'Mayer Zelig Rispler, to COVID-19 last month.
Rispler had openly called for the Hasidic community to abide by state guidelines to cut down spread of the virus after they faced criticism for failing to comply with ongoing efforts to curb the outbreak in the city, where nearly 25,000 people have already died.
Gov Cuomo on Monday designated the southern half of Staten Island as an 'orange zone' requiring schools and high-risk businesses like gyms to close temporarily, indoor dining at restaurants to stop and a limit on gatherings inside houses of worship to no more than 25 people.
Cuomo announced new orange zones in parts of Onondaga County, home to Syracuse, and Monroe County, home to Rochester.
New yellow zones, which require mandatory testing of students, were also created in several parts of the state.
Compliance with coronavirus restrictions in some of New York's Orthodox Jewish communities has been an issue since the pandemic started last spring.
Protests erupted in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn last month after Cuomo announced a crackdown in several Orthodox neighborhoods as virus cases increased. Many members of Orthodox communities complained that they were being singled out.
Cuomo and de Blasio have warned all New Yorkers that even small gatherings during the holidays could fuel a spike in coronavirus infections.
'The problem is that this is a dangerous period because you have increased social activity by definition,' Cuomo said.
