Brooklyn

Brooklyn

NYC Mayor's Hasidic senior advisor Joel Eisdorfer eyes lobbying job

“What they’re doing is cashing in on their access to the mayor and City Hall,” one activist told the New York Daily News.

Music

Future of legendary Hasidic cantor at storied synagogue uncertain after injury

Over a six-decade career, Cantor Benzion Miller has been one of the last vestiges of cantorial music’s golden age, his synagogue services one of the best-kept secrets in the city’s Jewish musical life

Borough Park

Second teen suicide in under three weeks rocks Brooklyn Hasidic community

In a tearful eulogy, Satmar rebbe of Williamsburg, Zalman Leib Teitelbaum, called on the community to reflect on these tragedies, and for each community member to also “make an individual accounting” on what must be done to prevent such incidents

Music

AUDIO FEATURE: Hasidic artists in Brooklyn bring the golden age of cantorial music into the digital age

A new book by Jeremiah Lockwood, a musician and Jewish Studies scholar, explores the world of young Hasidic cantorial artists, who have mastered the vocal techniques of the great cantors of a century ago

Israel

U.S. Haredi leadership find consensus in lamenting Israel’s yeshiva draft changes

Leading Satmar newspapers decried the change using dramatic headlines and heated rhetoric, while the Agudah called the new rules a “war on the Torah”

Williamsburg

Report: Hasidic boy commits suicide after father prevented from attending bar mitzvah

The parents’ divorce had led to a four-year separation between the boy and his father. A heart-rending video circulating on social media purported to show the father sobbing heavily while delivering a eulogy at his son’s funeral

Israel

IDF soldier and scion of anti-Zionist Satmar dynasty joins ‘Mislaibeled’ podcast for wide-ranging conversation

Chaim Meisels, the great-grandson of the previous Satmar rebbe, spoke to podcast host Laibel Weiner about joining the IDF, fighting in Gaza post-Oct. 7, Israeli politics, and more

Legislation

New bill would exempt matzah bakeries, other restaurants from environmental rule

Staten Island Assemblyman proposes bill to exempt matzah bakeries, pizzerias from environmental rule that constitutes “discrimination against ethnic restaurants”

Politics

Mayor Adams Jewish liaison Joel Eisdorfer sued over failed business deal

The deal to buy a restaurant was nixed after Eisdorfer’s $300,000 deposit check bounced, but the real estate agent is still suing for his broker fee

Borough Park

Fire at Borough Park synagogue leaves five people hospitalized, with three in serious condition

The fire broke out in the Stavnitz rabbi’s home, above the synagogue he leads, and was caused by a cooking accident

Yeshivas

Judges hear oral arguments in state’s appeal against yeshiva advocates

At issue is whether the state can institute enforcement mechanisms for the regulations it sets for nonpublic schools, including yeshivas

Yeshivas

Haredi leaders call for ‘major day of prayer’ against state intervention in Haredi schools

Oral arguments are set to take place today between the state government and Haredi advocates