Monsey Scoop reported on Wednesday morning that a long-serving Shabbos Goy and security guard working in New Square has been let go after a sudden and shocking discovery was made: he is Jewish.
The revelation came to light during a casual conversation with a resident, where the “Shabbos Goy” mentioned that his grandmother was Jewish and had lived in a village near Kiev, Ukraine.
The news spread like wildfire, and having been provided the information, the Skvere dayanim instructed local askanim to research and verify the facts before the next Shabbos.
Following a swift investigation into the man’s ancestry, askanim were able to confirm that the near 70-year-old man with over 15 years of service as a “Shabbos Goy” and previously with the NYPD, was indeed halachically Jewish – despite his insistence upon and identification as a Catholic.
As such, the Shabbos Goy has been let go. It was explained to him that he could no longer be employed in his position due to his Jewish heritage, which forbids them from hiring a fellow Jew for work on Shabbos.
The incident is reminiscent of a revelation made last summer that a “Shabbos Goy” who had worked for 30 years on a religious yishuv was actually a Jew. This only became know after the man’s death, when his family insisted he be buried in the Jewish cemetery, leading to an investigation into his ancestry.
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23 Responses
What happens with the Chometz that was sold to the Goy?
Every “official” shabbos goy needs an endorsement from a reliable Rov who investigated the yichus of the “goy” – ESPECIALLY when it is a paid position! (Just as sold foof requires reliable hechsher).
Now they can rehire him as the Baal Tefila.
He would make the perfect “Rebbe”
He has the Yichus but has never seen the inside of a Gemarah.
So much less problematic than חמץ שעבר עליו הפסח
When hiring someone in such a capacity the rabbonim really need to do due diligence, chakira udrisha, just as they would if he were giving eidus lefi tumo to free an aguna.
But although the rabbonim failed in their job, the individual members of the kehilla acted in good faith. They had the right to assume that he was what he represented himself to be. So I don’t think the chometz he held over Pesach should be a problem.
Chometz she’ovar olov hapesach is a penalty. It’s not inherently forbidden, Chazal penalized the owner in order to create an incentive to do the right thing. If you can’t profit by holding chometz over Pesach, then you won’t do it. Ein odom choteh velo lo. In this case, to forbid the chometz that he has already sold wouldn’t penalize him, it would penalize only people who had done nothing wrong, who acted in good faith and as the Torah permits them to (“soklin al hachazokos”). So what reason would there be in penalizing them? What benefit would come from that? Chazal can’t have meant to impose a penalty in such a case, especially on a whole kehilla.
Don’t understand how this can happen. Any Russian has to be automatically suspect as Jewish
מ’דארף מאכן א פרנסה. It’s a living.
Sound like a joke I’ve heard
It happened in other places as well. Especially, if someone comes from the former Soviet countries, where religion follows according to the father, such error (both ways) are unfortunately common.
Beautiful!
who’s having him for Shabbos dinner?
Atem teluktu ecod echod.Every last yid will be gathered before Moshiach comes.
Git Shabbis yidden.
He knew his maternal grandmother was Jewish the whole time? They seem to have missed some basic screening questions before hiring him! You can’t just ask if someone self-identifies as Jewish because in the same way those who aren’t halachically Jewish often identify as Jewish due to paternal heritage, those who are halachically Jewish but were not raised within the faith don’t identify as Jewish and neither group understands the halachic definition.
Let me add, especially in Europe, I have seen and heard of so many cases where assimilated Jewish families hid their Jewish heritage from their own children and grandchildren after WWII. I personally know of a bride who only discovered her grandparents were Jewish on her wedding day as she wed a Jewish groom and they wished the shocked machatunim mazel tov despite a language barrier!
This happens often especially in brooklyn when an older Russian jew is asked to be a shabbos goy. They either don’t understand the question, when asked if they are Jewish or they are too used to Russia so they know its better to hide identity.
First ask his parents names to make sure he understands you and then ask about his mother’s Jewishness.
Its going to be difficult in many cases to track down the ancestry of many Eastern European immigrant families. Perhaps mitigate the risk by recruiting a shabbos goy from demographics (Hispanic?) with much lower likelihood of yiddeshe maternal ancestry.
What happens with the 70 year old Jew with no job.
יחוס goes after the Father
(מיחס לשבטו. למשפחותם לבית אבותם, ).
But to be born a “בן ברית”, you need a mother who is a “בת ברית”, (and a mother being a בת ברית makes you born in the ברית).
The שאלה is לגבי a גר תושב……
It is still efshar lvarer by former Soviet union. AKA Russia.
“Any Russian who identifies as a Yid is a safek Nachri.
And any Russian who identifies as a Nachri, is a safek Yid”
“Any Russian who identifies as a Yid is a safek Nachri.
And any Russian who identifies as a Nachri, is a safek Yid”
And any Russian no matter how he identifies, is a sofek Lubavitcher.
Discrimination! why can’t a jew be a shabbos goy? the ADL should investigate!
A man had 2 positions with a caterer. Shabbos goy and mashgiach. whatever was needed.
Gadolhadorah,
Don’t rely on a Hispanic being non-Jewish. Read the book My 15 Grandmothers by Genie Milgrom. And I personally knew an Irish Catholic woman who traced her maternal line 4 generations back to a Jewish family. Yet she insisted she was Catholic. The laugh was on her though. Her daughter married a Jew.
I hope they will look into whether he needs the parnassah and if so, offer him another job…older people are often in difficult situations where their retirement income is not sufficient for their needs, and they have to continue to work to supplement it. It would be a shame if having found out he was a Jew was, in his mind, the thing that made him poor.