Published: 31 March 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
NEW YORK CITY MAYOR Bill de Blasio warned city synagogues on Friday that if they continue to hold services and violate lockdown rules, they may be shut down permanently.
“I want to say to all those who are preparing the potential of religious services this weekend: If you go to your synagogue, if you go to your church and attempt to hold services after having been told so often not to, our enforcement agents will have no choice but to shut down those services,” de Blasio told a virtual press conference livestreamed on Friday.
"I don’t say that with any joy. It’s the last thing I want to do, because I understand how important people’s faiths are to them, and we need our faith in this time of crisis, but we do not need gatherings that will endanger people," he said. "No faith tradition endorses anything that endangers a member of that faith."
FULL STORY New York City mayor: Synagogues that don’t comply with coronavirus rules may be shut down permanently (Haaretz)
Photo: New York City police officers block Chasidic Jewish men from entering a synagogue, closed due to the coronavirus, in Brooklyn, New York, March 18 (Andrew Kelly/Reuters)
