Even with looming federal corruption charges, many Passaic residents appear to be turning a blind eye to the allegations against Mayor Samuel Rivera (as was reported HERE on YW). Ask most people on the street what they think of Rivera’s most recent arrest and they’ll give you myriad answers, all supportive of their embattled mayor.
Some members of Passaic’s second largest ethnic group – the Jewish community – are rallying around the mayor.
“The mayor has always been a friend to us, and he hasn’t been convicted and I believe you’re innocent until proven guilty,” said David B. Kaplan, founder of the local branch of the Jewish ambulance service, Hatzolah.
“In Hebrew, we have a saying ‘dan lekaf zechus’ which means to judge someone favorably and that’s what I’ll do,” he said.
(Source: Herald News)
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6 Responses
The Herald News isn’t exactly an accurate source for information about the Passaic Jewish community and what people think about the mayor.
I wonder if Mr kaplan would support the mayor if he had not been supportive of Hatzolah.
As a Passaic resident and taxpayer(Quite high- may I add!) I can tell you that the above is far from the absolute truth- while the frum community has enjoyed a decent and convenient relationship with the Mayor for the sake of expediency- he does not enjoy the support of the average yid on the street- the above quoted resident may have his own chesbon in proclaiming support for Sammy- but I can assure you that it is not the sentiment of the community-
The only problem is that given the local history and past experiences with crooked politicians – The fear of the unknown is quite a large looming issue-
#3, why then should he support him? We support politicians who support our interests. So if he had not been supportive of Hatzola, I would not expect the founder of Hatzolah to support him. Is there something improper there?
#5, when he was running for mayor the first time round the very same people trashed him and considered him an ex con etc. Now suddenly we have to be dan lekaf zechus. Some consistency please. Thats all. And since when does being dan lekaf zechus apply to a goy ?
They didnt ask me. I say if he is guilty (again) toss him out along with the stooges on the city council.