Brooklyn Hasidic Funerals Go Viral As Coronavirus Hits Community

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — Obituaries for Hasidic community leaders and kosher butchers who died of coronavirus fill the pages of an Orthodox news site. Rabbis shut down religious gatherings to stop the virus' spread. Social distancing guidelines for funerals get shared on Twitter.

But apparent large gatherings of Hasidic mourners and wedding goers in Brooklyn still garner headlines, viral attention and criticism from outside the Orthodox community.

"Hasidic Jews hold another funeral in Brooklyn despite coronavirus pandemic" read a New York Post headline for a Tuesday story about a funeral in Williamsburg.

The attention largely eclipses how the coronavirus has devastated Hasidic neighborhoods like Borough Park, how community members say they've abided by social distancing guidelines and have called out those who don't.

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"It’s hard enough that so many of our rabbis, leaders, neighbors, friends, and family are sick, dying, or dead," wrote Laura E. Atkins, a Jewish Telegraphic Agency editor, on Twitter. "We’ve gutted our communal way of life because we value saving lives above everything.

"And to face unadulterated, gleeful scapegoating on top of that? I’m tired of it."

The 11219 zip code covering Borough Park had 1,136 positive coronavirus cases, according to updated city data released Monday. That's the second-most of any city zip code.

Likewise, the 11230 zip code covering Midwood, another largely Hasidic community, had 946 cases, data shows. That's the fourth-most of any city zip code.

A Crown Heights zip code — 11213 — has 534 cases, according to data.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency tied the virus' spread in part to mass Purim religious holiday celebrations in Brooklyn on March 9 and 10. Some community members told the service they'll forgo similar celebrations for Passover.

Crown Heights rabbis issued guidance forbidding any gatherings for the day before Passover.

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