Seven thousand men in black and a girlfriend

Entrance to the synagogue in Williamsburg, New York, where a wedding was scheduled for 10,000 guests, on October 19.ANDREW KELLY / Reuters

A fine of $ 15,000 (about 12,500 euros) seems little to sanction the attack against public health that turned out to be, on November 8, the celebration of a wedding in a Williamsburg synagogue, in Brooklyn (New York).

When the rest of the temples, without distinction of faith, have their capacity limited to 50% to stop the transmission of the coronavirus, the betrothal of Yoel Teitelbaum, the grandson of an important rabbi of the Satmar Hasidic sect, brought together several thousand people -the capacity of the enclosure is 7,000-, summoned word of mouth to evade the surveillance of the authorities, and who danced and sang for hours piled up, without masks or safety distance, when the city borders the second wave of the pandemic.

The video of the celebration, released this weekend and that ran like foam on social networks, shows thousands of men dressed in black, with frock coats and colorful fur hats, and a white spot on the stage, motionless, the girlfriend, who is only known to be called Miriam.

The guests attended the show secluded in the chicken coop.

This past Sunday in Williamsburg NY.

A wedding for the grandson the Satmar Rabbi of Kiryas Joel.

Thousands of people.

Not a 😷 in sight.

Also, remember when the other Satmar Rabbi claimed they never planned a large indoor wedding?

This is what it would have looked like.

pic.twitter.com/ThBlgLCfiF

- Naftuli Moster (@nmoster) November 12, 2020

In addition to the economic sanction, the New York authorities have also ordered the precautionary cessation of activities of the synagogue, in the epicenter of the ultra-Orthodox Hasidic community in New York, with the threat of permanent closure "if inappropriate things continue to happen," he said. this Tuesday the mayor, Bill de Blasio.

As the Yiddish daily

, an organ of the Samar sect - to which Chief Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, the groom's grandfather - belongs - recounted, the preparations were almost a state secret to hide the call "from the voracious press and [local] government officials, ”according to the

.

"Due to the current situation of restrictions by the Government, the preparations were made secretly and discreetly, so as not to attract the attention of strangers, without posters in the synagogue or sending invitations by email, not even a society note in a publication like this one ”, adds the Jewish media, contrite for having had to bite the tongue to avoid warning anyone.

In October, local authorities ordered the cancellation of another large ultra-Orthodox wedding in Williamsburg, that of a grandson of Chief Rabbi Zalman Teitelbaum, then Yoel Teitelbaum's brother and rival, after announcing with great fanfare that he expected to gather 10,000 guests.

Rabbi Zalman, also leader of the Satmar sect - the one portrayed in the television series

-, considered the suspension of the wedding "an unjustified attack" on his community, hence his brother and enemy decided to impose the maximum secrecy around the call to prevent the authorities from frustrating the party.

The ultra-Orthodox community of New York is in the crosshairs of the authorities after being associated with several outbreaks of the disease.

After a break of several weeks in July, due to the liturgical calendar, the resumption of the wedding season with mass ceremonies and no capacity limitation led to a peak of outbreaks in September and October, forcing the authorities to increase restrictions in several districts of the city, declared red zones.

The ultra-Orthodox, who denounce an anti-Semitic bias in the measures, have publicly advocated disregarding all health recommendations, including the simple use of masks.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the person in charge of the sanctioned synagogue, who had repeatedly recommended to his faithful to ignore the security measures, died last month a victim of covid-19.

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