Andrew Cuomo is a religious zealot but NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3 trumps an Andrew and a Mario
vote no!
Rabbis on casinos: 'Prevent this evil from happening'
A kol koreh. Via Sholem Hecht.
10:27 am Oct. 30, 20133
More than a dozen prominent Orthodox rabbis
have signed their names to public proclamations urging their followers
to vote against a referendum that would legalize Las Vegas-style casinos
in upstate New York, where many of them vacation and where many of
their children go to summer camp.
“We are faced with a calamitous possibility of casino gambling,” reads one kol koreh, a public proclamation issued by torah scholars, and signed by, among others, Yaakov Perlow, the Novominsker Rebbe, and Rabbi Shimon Weinberger, Skulener Dayan of Williamsburg.
The proclamation is written in Hebrew and was translated for Capital by Sholem Hecht, the Queens Lubavitcher rabbi who is partnering with environmentalists, evangelical Christians and a retired neurologist to lead the poorly funded anti-casino effort.
“Because of this great threat, spiritually and physically, one who protects his life should distance himself in order to save our lives and the lives of our generation," the proclamation goes on. "Therefore, in order to prevent this evil from happening, we call out to awaken the holy community to help us to distance this from us and to vote 'no' on November 5. Protect your souls and the souls of your children. Do not allow this great danger to enter into our communities.”
A kol koreh arguing against legalized casinos ran today in Hamodia, the Jewish Press and the 5 Towns Jewish Times, according to Hecht. Their signatories read like a who’s who of Orthodox Jewish leadership, including, among others, rabbis from the Central Rabbinical Congress, the Satmar organization affiliated with the Zalmanites, and Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, a prominent Jewish school in Brooklyn.
“Whoever put this together only got A-list rabbis,” said Michael Fragin, the host of "Spin Class with Michael Fragin" on the Nachum Segal Network and Governor Pataki's former liaison to the Jewish community. “These are major league.”
The outcome of constitutional referenda are hard to predict, but recent polls show a majority of New York State residents supporting the casino amendment.
What impact might these kol koreh have?
“People who probably would not have paid attention to the voting on this will go from not caring to voting against it,” said Fragin. “This has the potential to sway thousands of votes.”
“This is a community that votes in a bloc that is taking an issue opposite the prevailing position in what will be a low turnout hotly contested referendum campaign,” agreed Democratic political consultant Michael Tobman, who has deep ties to the Orthodox community. “If you’re running a spreadsheet, you now have to make up several thousand voters.”
Separately, “Both Satmar weeklies, Der Yid and Der Blatt, known with their influence on tens of thousands voters from the both Satmar factions and other Hasidic communities in New York city and Upstate New York, featured long articles in their papers on the ills resulting from the casinos, specifically to the Catskills region’s Sullivan County,” reported Yeshiva World on Friday. “They cite an increase in violent crimes and gambling addictions, among other troubles resulting from turning the area in a gambling region. Di Tzeitung, another widely-read newspaper among Yiddish speakers, had a sketching editorial, calling the community to vote “No.”
The rabbis’ stance has not gone entirely uncontested in the Jewish community.
On Monday, Moshe Indig, a Satmar rabbi, wrote an op-ed on a Jewish website arguing that by opposing the amendment and undermining what Govenor Andrew Cuomo argues would be a healthy source of state revenue, Orthodox Jews “ bite the hand that feeds us.”
HI-
Stop scratching on holidays
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
“We are faced with a calamitous possibility of casino gambling,” reads one kol koreh, a public proclamation issued by torah scholars, and signed by, among others, Yaakov Perlow, the Novominsker Rebbe, and Rabbi Shimon Weinberger, Skulener Dayan of Williamsburg.
The proclamation is written in Hebrew and was translated for Capital by Sholem Hecht, the Queens Lubavitcher rabbi who is partnering with environmentalists, evangelical Christians and a retired neurologist to lead the poorly funded anti-casino effort.
“Because of this great threat, spiritually and physically, one who protects his life should distance himself in order to save our lives and the lives of our generation," the proclamation goes on. "Therefore, in order to prevent this evil from happening, we call out to awaken the holy community to help us to distance this from us and to vote 'no' on November 5. Protect your souls and the souls of your children. Do not allow this great danger to enter into our communities.”
A kol koreh arguing against legalized casinos ran today in Hamodia, the Jewish Press and the 5 Towns Jewish Times, according to Hecht. Their signatories read like a who’s who of Orthodox Jewish leadership, including, among others, rabbis from the Central Rabbinical Congress, the Satmar organization affiliated with the Zalmanites, and Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, a prominent Jewish school in Brooklyn.
“Whoever put this together only got A-list rabbis,” said Michael Fragin, the host of "Spin Class with Michael Fragin" on the Nachum Segal Network and Governor Pataki's former liaison to the Jewish community. “These are major league.”
The outcome of constitutional referenda are hard to predict, but recent polls show a majority of New York State residents supporting the casino amendment.
What impact might these kol koreh have?
“People who probably would not have paid attention to the voting on this will go from not caring to voting against it,” said Fragin. “This has the potential to sway thousands of votes.”
“This is a community that votes in a bloc that is taking an issue opposite the prevailing position in what will be a low turnout hotly contested referendum campaign,” agreed Democratic political consultant Michael Tobman, who has deep ties to the Orthodox community. “If you’re running a spreadsheet, you now have to make up several thousand voters.”
Separately, “Both Satmar weeklies, Der Yid and Der Blatt, known with their influence on tens of thousands voters from the both Satmar factions and other Hasidic communities in New York city and Upstate New York, featured long articles in their papers on the ills resulting from the casinos, specifically to the Catskills region’s Sullivan County,” reported Yeshiva World on Friday. “They cite an increase in violent crimes and gambling addictions, among other troubles resulting from turning the area in a gambling region. Di Tzeitung, another widely-read newspaper among Yiddish speakers, had a sketching editorial, calling the community to vote “No.”
The rabbis’ stance has not gone entirely uncontested in the Jewish community.
On Monday, Moshe Indig, a Satmar rabbi, wrote an op-ed on a Jewish website arguing that by opposing the amendment and undermining what Govenor Andrew Cuomo argues would be a healthy source of state revenue, Orthodox Jews “ bite the hand that feeds us.”
HI-
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> Stop scratching on holidays
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
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