Friday Oct 16 News Updates Lakewood

Weather: Periods of rain. Morning high of 63F with temps falling to near 55. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.

- Candle lighting 5:56 pm Shkia Sunset 6:14 pm Rosh Chodesh MarCheshvan Sunday & Monday

- Over 25 local cholim in hospitals please continue to daven,

- Six NJ Counties have more cases than Ocean county that has 70. Essex has most at 99 Hudson 98.

-28 New covid cases in Lakewood totals 5667/204

-BDE:  Harav Ayreh Leibish Yitzchak Rubin, zt”l, Av Beis Din of Glaguv. He was approximately 70 years old.  levayah took place at his bais medrash on 55th Streetin Boror park

-Rav Moshe Shternbuch, rosh av bais din of the Badatz of the Eidah Hachareidis of Yerushalayim, has released a powerful p’sak against those who submit to authorities names and identities of Torah institutions that allegedly are not complying with draconian Covid-19 lockdown regulations.Rav Shternbuch, in his weekly shiur, stated that these “mosrim,” those who inform on fellow Jews to governmental authorities, may not be counted toward a minyan. read more at Matzav.com  

-Vaad Hapoel for Hatzolas hayeshivos and mosdos Hatorah in Lakewood: Since the awareness campaign not to do mass testing the numbers have  been reduced in the community.

-There is no state mandate to have students randomly tested in school.

-Murphy: “There have been some big realities. And again, I will say that our working relationship with elected leaders, faith leaders and others in and around Lakewood has been outstanding, but there’s no escaping the fact that that’s been a hotspot.. But for the most part, I’ll use baseball terms, forgive me, this is a bunch of singles and doubles, small ball stuff that’s a little bit here, a little bit there.”

- New Hampshire and Massachusetts add the state NJ to a travel advisory as one of the states to quarantine for 14 days if you come from there.

- Cuomo's health commissioner  Howard Zucker admits in a brief in the Brooklyn Catholic Diocese case that “there is no specific percentage threshold to determine when an area should be designated as an orange or yellow zone.” Basically, Cuomo is making up rules and maps based on mood.(OJPAC)

- A "super-spreader event" near Monmouth University led to positive coronavirus tests for more than 100 students and forced the school into all-online classes, officials said Tuesday. The outbreak was traced to a single off-campus private gathering that resulted in 125 positive Covid-19 cases.

- Jays busing dismissal at girls schools today 11:00 am due to limited drivers.

- Changing of the guard Lakewood Hatzolah Captains retire after 10 year term. New captain appointed by vaad Harabonim

-BD'E: Rosh hakahal of Satmar in Monroe Reb Meir Zelig Rispler Z"L 75, was niftar after catching the virus recently.

- LNN - Prime Apartments and the new Chateau Grande shopping center have applied to Lakewood Township to receive 5 year tax abatements on their new buildings.⁣

The tax abatements would begin once the buildings are deemed by the tax assessor as "complete and ready for use for their intended purpose". The first year after completion the owners would pay $0 in property taxes, the second year they would pay 20%, the third year 40%, the fourth year 60%, and the fifty year 80%. After the 5 years they will need to pay the full amount of taxes due.⁣ The Prime Apartments building is currently assessed at over $19 Million.⁣ Committeeman Meir Lichtenstein voted no to the Prime Apartments request, and he abstained to the Chateau Grande plaza request. Committeeman Mike D'Elia abstained on both requests.

- Hamodia: -A group of Catholics and Orthodox Jews filed suit Thursday against New York’s recent COVID-19 restrictions, alleging unconstitutional infringements on freedom of speech, religion and assembly. This is at least the fifth lawsuit brought against the regulations imposed last week.

The federal suit was brought by a group of Catholic priests, Orthodox Jews, and Catholic-school and yeshiva parents, over Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s closure of schools and limitation of houses or worship to as few as 10.

The new filing lists a host of state and city officials as defendants, including Cuomo, State attorney General Letitia James, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, and the state and city health commissioners. (While the state enacts all closure laws, enforcement is mostly up to the cities).

“Seven months into the era of COVID-19, and nearly four months after this Court’s entry of a preliminary injunction protecting the original plaintiffs’ right to religious worship, New York officials simply couldn’t contain themselves,” the suit says. “Instead of respecting plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights and this Court’s crystal-clear injunction entered on June 26, 2020 … the State and City defendants, led by defendant Cuomo and defendant de Blasio, have suddenly done an about face. Less than one month before a Presidential Election and only hours after Cuomo promised Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn that their houses of worship could remain at 50% of capacity — as this Court’s June 26 injunction requires — Cuomo last week imposed a new, draconian crackdown on religious worship and education throughout much of New York City and surrounding counties.”

The new restrictions, which also shutter “non-essential” businesses in the red zones, come after portions of the state, including sections with large Orthodox Jewish populations such as in Brooklyn, Queens, Rockland County and Orange County, have been seeing a COVID uptick in recent weeks.

Cuomo has frequently blamed religious gatherings, often particularly naming “ultra-Orthodox” Jews, for the rise in cases. At his press Oct. 6 press conference announcing the new restrictions, the governor said, “The new rules are most impactful on houses of worship, because the virus is not coming from non-essential businesses. That’s not what this is about. It may be spread by non-essential businesses. The virus is not starting in schools. It may be spread by schools. This is about mass gatherings. One of the prime places of mass gatherings are houses of worship. I understand it’s a sensitive topic, but that is the truth. Period. You want to solve the problem? Acknowledge the problem.” At a press conference Oct. 14, Cuomo said that “the enforcement from the local governments is very uneven, especially when its politically sensitive,” and “that’s what we’re running into with a lot of these ultra-Orthodox communities, who are very politically powerful – don’t kid yourself.”

But the plaintiffs argue that “At no time has Cuomo presented evidence that New York religious gatherings have been a source of viral spreading as opposed to all the other gatherings his one-man rule has permitted for the past seven months,” and that the restrictions particularly target religious practices, as they severely restrict houses of worship while permitting “essential businesses” to remain open without limits on rates of occupancy, which “endangers the government’s interest in ‘containing the virus’ at least as much as religious schools or houses of worship.”

When limiting constitutional freedoms to achieve a compelling state interest (such as curbing the spread of a disease), governments are required to narrowly tailor the restrictions so they are the least-restrictive possible. But the lawsuit says these COVID restrictions are overborad, and cites as evidence comments Cuomo made to Jewish leaders in a conference call hours before he imposed the guidelines, a full recording of which was obtained and published exclusively by Hamodia.com.

In response to a question posed on the call by Harav Yaakov Bender, Rosh Hayeshivah of Yeshiva Darchei Torah in Far Rockaway, about why schools must be shuttered completely, rather than taking a more nuanced approach, Cuomo responded, “I’m a hundred percent frank and candid. This is not a highly nuanced, sophisticated response. This is a fear-driven response, you know. This is not a policy being written by a scalpel; this is a policy being cut by a hatchet. It’s just very blunt. I didn’t propose this, you know; it was proposed by the Mayor [Bill de Blasio] in the City. I’m trying to sharpen it and make it better. But it’s out of fear. People see the numbers going up – ‘Close everything! Close everything!’ It’s not the best way to do it, but it is a fear-driven response. The virus scares people. Hopefully, we get the numbers down in the zip codes, the anxiety comes down, and then we can have a smarter, more-tailored approach.”

Cuomo’s office did not immediately respond Thursday evening night to Hamodia’s request for comment on this latest suit. There have been at least four other suits filed against the restrictions, including one Wednesday evening by three Rockland County shuls. In response to previous suits, Cuomo senior advisor Rich Azzopardi said last week, “We’ve been sued virtually every day for every action taken. We’re concentrating on reducing the virus in these hot spots and saving lives, period.”