Personally, I'm kind of shocked, but I've also become jaded to this sort of thing. Here is an example of someone doing something incredibly stupid and unsafe in order to make a buck - without any concern for their own safety, the safety of the people who work for them or the safety of their neighbors or community. Converting a bus into a matzah factory? With a live gas line? I think "Chaim Yankel" (the YW commentator) stated it best:
Why can’t people just do things, by the book? Building and fire codes are there for a reason.
This is a tremendous chillul Hashem. She tells the reporter, that its in the bus, because its a religous bakery. Oy..
To be honest, while the religious aspect of it may get a lot of play (and, indeed, cause a chillul Hashem), I don't think that the person was doing this to make a religious point or serve a community that would otherwise have to do without matzos for Pesach (for this, see the story of the mikvah in Postville). This was simply someone who was looking for a quick way to make a buck, nothing more.Personally, I hope they throw the book at whomever was doing this.
The Wolf
3 comments:
I am quite sure that both hand and machine baked shmurah matzoh, with pretty much any chumra you care to mention, are available in Spring Valley (I.e. Monsey) without this fellow's bus. So either he was trying to make a few bucks, or he felt a strong need to separate himself from the community.
In any event, fire codes are not some crazy goyishe plot to harass Jews. They are there to allow people in densely populated areas to coexist without burning down each other's houses. Do you suppose this fellow was an expert in fire safety? I don't. SO he should follow what the experts have put in fire codes.
Fact: The bakery was not cited with one single violation. Inspectors have come down in previous years and now they have to be a little more detailed in paperwork because this is the first time the Media was called in. It is not unlawful to have a recreational vehicle on your property. It is not illegal to have an oven in a recreational vehicle. (no matter how big) The oven is fueled by the firewood piled near the bus and the gas line was not in use when the police came by. It is up an running legally, after fire, police, and building inspectors reviewed the law and the oven plans. In short, nothing happened, except a loud mouthed ignorant reporter for News 12 named Antionette Biordi asked a stupid question: "Don't you know you could have blown up all these houses?" When in fact, the police, fire, and building depts, are quite comfortable with the oven after having examined it. Updated newsclip here
Nevertheless, those chasidim made us Jews look little better than trailer trash. Our mitzvos should be baked in a "bekovodik" way - not in some bus turned oven. That news story made me feel ashamed to live anywhere near Monsey.
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