So, the top news story on LoHud this morning was “Cow slaughtered in yard of Ramapo yeshiva.”  Not much of a surprise. It’s a pretty wild story: Neighbors say that a cow was tied to a tree at Yeshiva Bobover on Route 306 in Monsey, unincorporated Ramapo, bordering the villages of Pomona and Wesley Hills (edited by nc) and then slaughtered as the boys who attend the yeshiva watched.

Most comments (70 by mid-day) in our forums were critical of the events. And there’s plenty of criticism from those within the Orthodox community. Vos Iz Neias?, a blog that dubs itself “The Voice of the Orthodox Jewish Community,” carried an item yesterday about The Journal News/LoHud story. The comments there, too, often expressed embarrassment that this would happen, and shock that others would see nothing wrong with slaughtering an animal in a suburban backyard. One commenter (rough translations in parentheses) said:

This whole episode is a shanda and a busha. (shame and major embarrassment.) Would you like in your neighborhood. Chilul hashem. (Putting Jewish people and religion in disrepute.) What about all the diseases that spread before it is cleaned up. What about the children who are terrified. If you go along with this charpah, (perversion of Jewish ways) you have lost your mind.

This yeshiva, in a residential neighborhood, has quite a history of building code violations, and operating a school without getting a public water use permit. So its track record with neighbors in this mixed religious and secular neighborhood is less than stellar. This last event certainly won’t help. The school’s lawyer had said the school officials were unaware of the incident, and the yeshiva’s administrator told VIN that people learning kosher butchering had “used our lot for their practice without our permission.” But staff writer Jane Lerner reports today that Ramapo police said a member of the school’s board of directors said he had granted permission for the activity. And, a cow head and entrails—and blood-covered knives—were found in separate boxes in a nursery school classroom at the yeshiva.

So, the track record of the Bobover yeshiva is one that neighbors know well, and frustrates many, including those in the religious community.
Dr. Mandell Ganchrow of Monsey, the former long-time president of the Orthodox Union, has spoken about the issue of behavior by some Hasidim being not seen as individual, but indicative of a group. In a 2001 interview with The Journal News, he said:

It makes a difference when you wear certain garb that says, ‘I’m Orthodox. I believe in Torah, morality and ethics’ … But we have to be very careful not to judge Hasidim by the deeds of a few. Most Hasidim are hard-working, honest, family-oriented.