Simchas Bais Hashoeva Dancing on Kingston Ave Cancelled For A Second Time
by CrownHeights.info
The annual Simchas Bais Hashoeva that takes place on Kingston Ave was originally cancelled, then it wasn’t, and now it’s cancelled again.
Despite the official organizers originally cancelling the event, a Crown Heights resident refused to accept that decision, arranging for the event to take place despite the risks.
“Rabbi Shemtov acted responsibly & canceled event due to COVID. This isn’t his stage,” Yaakov Behrman wrote on Twitter regarding the stage being built on Kingston Ave. “NYC is threatening to close our schools due to rise in COVID & the alleged lack of compliance. Setting up a stage is endangering & disrespecting our community. It’s time to call out bad behavior!”
The decision to hold the event appeared badly timed, just as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his plan to lock down nine New York City ZIP Codes, made up of mostly Jewish neighborhoods.
The threshold for the becoming a hotspot is a 3% positive COVID rate, one that the 11213 zip code is less than a single percentage away from reaching.
With hundreds of maskless people holding hands and singing to the blasting music, officers from the NYPD’s 71st precinct stood by Sunday night, blocking the streets for the event.
“I made recommendations against it,” Community Affairs Officer Mike Berrata told CrownHeights.info. “The NYPD is providing a detail….we aren’t sanctioning the dancing.”
When asked who was organizing the event, Berrata said “I really don’t know who is behind all of this, especially the stage.”
With the NYPD’s actions effectively sanctioning the event, the community turned out, originally with plans to continue throughout Simchas Bais Hashoeva.
The event prompted the Gedaliah Society to issue a update, in which they said that “we must make the painful medical recommendation that the crowded dancing of Simchas Beis Hasho’eva, with people from other neighborhoods and those of all ages and conditions, not take place this year in the usual manner, due to the risk of spreading the virus.”
By Monday night, the event was cancelled again, this time apparently for the rest of Yom Tov.
Crown Heights was of the first New York City communities to have a mass outbreak of COVID-19, and due to how widespread it was, is argued by some to have grown a form of herd immunity, one which until now has been claimed to be partly successful.
Update 10:30pm: A large group congregated on Kingston Ave, and after multiple attempts to remove them, the NYPD has blocked off the street and Simchas Bais Hashoeva has begun with music.
