A
Athanasiy
Guest
The 20,000 Bobover Hasids, of which Grunfeld and the Reiss brothers were leaders, is the largest Hasidic community in Borough Park, Brooklyn, which is known for its Orthodox populations. The arrests of the rabbis was particularly bewildering, said the New York Times, because “in the pious Bobov community drug addiction is virtually unheard of.” “Everybody in this community is a rabbi,” Dov Hiskin (the Democratic Assemblyman who represents the largely Hasidic district that includes Borough Park) sarcastically told reporters, “If you have a beard, they call you a rabbi.” [NYT, JUNE 17, 18] Hiskind – a former member of Rabbi Meir Kahane’s Jewish Defense League – is a well-known personality in New York City, described by the Times as “one the most ardent and visible advocates of Jewish causes on New York City’s political scene.” FRIED, B1 “[The Bobov Hasids] are completely shocked by the terrible allegations,” Hikind announced the next day, “and hope and pray they are not true.” [GOLDMAN]