According to this report in the New York Daily News, there was a cruel and vicious attack on Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn on Sunday:

A husband and wife face hate crime charges after jumping out of their car in Brooklyn and attacking a group of Hasidic Jews, pulling protective masks from the victims’ faces and blaming them for spreading coronavirus, police said Monday.

Paulo Pinho, 35, and his wife, Clelia Pinho, 46, pulled up in their vehicle at Bedford Ave. and Ross St. in Williamsburg shortly after 8:30 p.m. on Sunday to confront the victims, according to cops.

“You Jews are getting us all sick,” the couple allegedly yelled at a trio of men, according to police sources. “The mayor says you Jews are the reason we’re getting sick.”

Moshe Rosenbaum, 39, one of the victims, said Paulo Pinho stepped out of the car and was recording people on his cell phone.

“They came into our area to videotape us without masks,” Rosenbaum said. “But we all had masks on. So he started ripping off the masks of females, mothers with small children.”

Hasidic Jews were subject to evil attacks on Brooklyn streets and worse, as we know before all of this coronavirus business. Bill de Blasio’s recent message “to the Jewish community” and threat to shut down places of worship was dangerous because it kindles flames that we all know exist, and at a time of such anxiety for so many. (And then there is the disregard it shows for religious freedom, and at a time when people are struggling with the kind of existential questions religion sure can help with.) Yes, the funeral he was responding to broke the gathering rules so many of us have been cooperating with. As someone who is longing for Mass and heartbroken for the families who haven’t been able to have funeral Masses for their beloved who have died, I certainly understand though (surely more than I understand anti-Semitism).

Yesterday on his radio show, New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan had religious leaders on talking about people’s need for community and navigating things forward, easing worship in with protections. People need God. People want God. There’s so much seeking going on right now — God is seeking us in this time, reminding us that there’s something greater than days filled with press conference viewing and Zoom meetings. Let’s be careful and be patient with one another. I remarked on social media earlier that I don’t think I’ve appreciated the sun as much as I have during these coronavirus weeks. Staying connected to the Source of all light, we can be light amidst darkness as we combat evil in all its forms for the protection of human life, especially our most vulnerable.

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