Archive for the ‘protest’ tag
3000 Satmars at the Marriott, downtown Brooklyn
May 26, 2009
Marriott Hotel, Brooklyn, NY
click play or use manual controls to view the slideshow. button to the right for full screen [you can't watch the above flash slideshow on the iphone]
More than 3000 Satmar orthodox jews gathered at the Brooklyn Marriott to decry the real estate development in Toledo, Spain that threatens some very old jewish cemetery. Apparently the graves would be relocated and this is unacceptable to some orthodox Jews as graves should be left alone “for the eternity”.
Some view it as a way to erase Jewish historical presence in Europe. I wonder if the developers are just motivated by greed rather than ideology. These are sensitive issues and I can’t find an answer although I always feel it is a shame to destroy or deface symbols of the past.
A rabbi tells me it would be less sacrilegious to build on top of a cemetery rather than moving the graves. That for Jews and Muslim the resting place has to be left alone in peace. I think about cemeteries in Italy that after a few years the remains get collected and removed from the tomb and put in a smaller box in a little crypt. I think about that small Jewish-Portuguese cemetery in Chinatown that is a little patch in between residential buildings. And the issues with the African burial ground in downtown Manhattan.
A rabbi starts wailing and mourning for those dead 500 years ago in Spain.
More than 1000 Satmars are outside trying to get in but there is no room. The NYPD and security have to intervene.
Some hotel guests look very uncomfortable.
I find it a very interesting experience, and I find strange being the only photographer apart from the official hasidic one covering the event.
People at the beginning do not want to be photographed but then after a while they ask me for my card and if I can put these photos on my website.
Here is more info about the Jewish cemetery in Toledo
