Halakha (Orthodox Jewish law) puts great emphasis on giving tzedaka (loosely translated as "charity"), and on no day is giving charity more important than Purim. Halakha commands all Jews to give charity to poor people on this day and mandates extra concern for their well-being. So how is this very great mitzvah (religious commandment) carried out in Chabad's main synagogue located at 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, Brooklyn?
Halakha (Orthodox Jewish law) puts great emphasis on giving tzedaka (loosely translated as "charity"), and on no day is giving charity more important than Purim. Halakha commands all Jews to give charity to poor people on this day and mandates extra concern for their well-being. So how is this very great mitzvah (religious commandment) carried out in Chabad's main synagogue located at 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, Brooklyn?
This morning, I received a call from a person who saw the following incident take place.
It is cold and snowy in New York City, and two female beggars were standing inside the vestibule of 770's main synagogue collecting charity when a hasid walked up to them and ordered them outside. No women are allowed inside, he reportedly told them harshly.
The women went outside into the cold.
At that point, a person watching this happen contacted me and told me about it.
I told him it could have been a mistake, and the women should just go back inside and start collecting again. If someone tries to throw them out, have them ask for one of the gabbais (synagogue officials).
"They're afraid," he told me.
I told him to encourage them to go back inside anyway and ask for a gabbai if anyone tries to evict them again.
So the women went back inside and less than two minutes later were evicted – by two NYPD officers who ordered them to leave.
"They don't want women in here," the cops reportedly said.
The women left and stood outside in the cold, freezing as they tried to collect charity.
The two NYPD officers were originally standing outside the building but went inside periodically toi warm up because it was too cold for them outside. Yet they evicted the two female beggars anyway.
Those two NYPD officers are part of the detail assigned to protect 770 by the NYPD and are likely paid through grants from the US Department of Homeland Security.
Is it the NYPD's job to evict female beggars from a synagogue vestibule while allowing male beggars to stay inside? I don't think so. And I also think the Department of Homeland Security would likely question the money its giving to New York City for these types of jobs if it knew how the NYPD was behaving.
As for Chabad, to make two relatively elderly women stand outside in the cold, especially on Purim, just shows how little Chabad really cares about Jewish law or ethics or, really, anything but themselves.
There is no halakha that prevents those two women from standing in the vestibule. And what Chabad did to those two poor women on Purim will most certainly count against Chabad in whatever heavenly court there is.
Here are photos of the two police officers in question, just in case any of the NYPD brass actually wants to enforce the law and NYPD policy and reprimand these guys: