White House Briefs New York's Orthodox Rabbis On COVID-19 Precautions

Jerusalem Post and Jewish Insider report that the White House yesterday held a conference call with 15 leading Orthodox rabbis in the New York area to encourage them to follow the White House guidelines designed to prevent the further spread of COVID-19. The call was conducted by Avi Berkowitz, an Orthodox Jew who is an assistant to the President. More than 100 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in New York's Orthodox Jewish Borough Park neighborhood. After the call, the Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, ordered all synagogues and Jewish schools in the largely Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel to close.