Police break up funeral for Brooklyn rabbi who died from coronavirus after dozens gathered in violation of social distancing guidelines just days after crowds packed the streets for another rabbi's procession(16 Pics)
New York City police were forced to break up a large funeral for a rabbi who recently died from the coronavirus just days after crowds packed the streets for another rabbi's procession.
Hundreds of mourners, including children, gathered in the streets of Brooklyn's Borough Park neighborhood on Sunday for the funeral of Rav Yosef Kalish, a 63-year-old Amshinover rebbe who was hospitalized with COVID-19 last week.
Video circulating on social media shows NYPD officers attempting to break up the crowd because mourners were violating the city's social distancing guidelines aimed at stemming the spread of the disease that killed Kalish and at least 2,624 others in New York City.
New York City police were forced to break up a large funeral for a rabbi who recently died from the coronavirus in Brooklyn's Borough Park neighborhood on Sunday because mourners were violating social distancing guidelines
Hundreds of mourners gathered in the streets of Borough Park on Sunday for the funeral of Rav Yosef Kalish, a 63-year-old Amshinover rebbe who was hospitalized with COVID-19 last week
Some of the mourners, including children, were seen wearing face coverings during the funeral procession
Two men are seen loading a casket (pictured) in the back of a hearse outside a funeral home on Sunday
Photos of the service show two men loading a wooden casket into a hearse outside a funeral home in the area.
Images also show mourners standing closely together, which goes against the six-feet apart guideline as suggested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
An NYPD squad car blared its siren as it approached the large crowd near 55th Street and 12th Avenue, prompting mourners to disperse quickly.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said last week that those who defy social distancing orders could potentially be fined up to $500, but it's unclear if anyone attending the funeral was fined on Sunday.
Kalish is survived by his two sons and three daughters.
A second funeral was held elsewhere in Brooklyn on Sunday for Rabbi Shalom Gurewicz, according to Collive.com.
The procession for Gurewicz occurred outside of 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, at 12.30pm.
Video of the procession shows mourners appearing to be at least six feet apart, which is in compliance with the CDC guidelines.
A man speaks as hundreds of members of the Orthodox Jewish community wearing face masks attend the funeral for Kalish
Mourners are seen Sunday wearing masks while attending the rabbi's funeral in Brooklyn
Men and children are seen standing close together during the funeral of a rabbi who recently passed away
Members of the Orthodox Jewish community are seen standing at least six feet apart after attending a funeral for a rabbi who passed away
Mourners are seen wearing masks over their faces during the funeral while others weren't wearing any protection
Sunday's funerals came just days after hundreds gathered in Brooklyn last Wednesday for the funeral of 96-year-old Yosef Leifer, who was the rabbi of Congregation Karnei Reim on Avenue N.
Leifer was a Holocaust survivor who became a rabbi of the Ukrainian Hassidic dynasty known as Nadvorna, which is named after the city in Ukraine in which the dynasty originated.
That funeral procession made headlines after many of the mourners were seen close together without any facial coverings.
New York City is the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States - with more than 64,500 cases and 2,472 deaths as of Sunday afternoon.
Hundreds gathered in Brooklyn last Wednesday for the funeral of 96-year-old Yosef Leifer. That funeral procession (pictured left and right) made headlines after many of the mourners were seen close together without any facial coverings
Also on Wednesday April 1, police in New Jersey broke up a funeral attended by up to 70 people and issued summonses to 15 of them, including a 100-year-old man, in the predominantly Orthodox Jewish town of Lakewood.
It was the fourth consecutive day in which police were called to Lakewood to cite members of the secluded religious community who were found to be flouting stay-at-home orders aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus.
Officials said that 'about 60 to 70 individuals gathered for a funeral' on the corner of Eighth Street and Madison Avenue. The street corner is very close to a Jewish synagogue and a cemetery.
'This gathering was in violation of (Gov. Phil Murphy's executive order), which bans gatherings of individuals, whether they be at weddings, parties, celebrations, or other social events including funerals,' read a statement from Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D Billhimer and Police Chief Gregory Meyer.
'As officers tried to disperse the crowd, the crowd became unruly and argumentative.'
So police had to ask for assistance from the Ocean County Sheriff's Office and the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.
Officers charged 15 men, including 100-year-old Nossom Strulovic, of violating the state ban on public gatherings.
Police break up funeral for Brooklyn rabbi who died from coronavirus after dozens gathered in violation of social distancing guidelines just days after crowds packed the streets for another rabbi's procession(16 Pics)
![Police break up funeral for Brooklyn rabbi who died from coronavirus after dozens gathered in violation of social distancing guidelines just days after crowds packed the streets for another rabbi's procession(16 Pics)]()
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April 06, 2020
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