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Police break up Brooklyn rabbi’s funeral after attendees breach social distancing guidelines

Hundreds of Charedi mourners gathered on the streets to mark the death of Rav Yosef Kalish, who died of coronavirus

April 6, 2020 08:50
Hundreds of members of the charedi community attend the funeral for a rabbi who died from the coronavirus in Brooklyn.

ByAleks Phillips

1 min read

New York City police have broken up a rabbi's funeral with hundreds of attendees for breaking social distancing guidelines.

Mourners gathered in the Borough Park neighbourhood of Brooklyn on Sunday for the funeral of Rav Yosef Kalish, who died of the virus aged 63.

Video footage of the event showed attendees standing closer to each other than the six foot (1.8m) distancing guideline suggested by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

It comes just days after another gathering in Brooklyn on Wednesday for the funeral of Yosef Leifer, a Holocaust survivor. At his funeral procession, mourners were seen close together without face masks or coverings.

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