A yeshiva in Orange County is getting some unwanted attention for apparently refusing to close after officials found a raw sewage leak and shut it down.
Even though the Orange County Department of Health closed down O’Hel Toro Yeshiva in Chester, the school remained open today.
Town documents show that the building has open code violations since last year, and that the former warehouse was never approved by the town to be turned into a school in the first place.
Officials say they’ve ordered the yeshiva owner to appear in court. He faces forceful closure of the school and daily fines. They say his fines already add up to $200,000 for allegedly ignoring violations and the county’s order to close.
He is set to face a judge next month.
The school remains open, and officials say there’s no permit on file for septic repairs.
(Source: News12)
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3 Responses
Sounds like a chasid-shoteh sort of story. Of course they want to keep the place open, but it sounds like a dangerous environment to use. Also, it sounds like the yeshiva was not opened really legally. The laws are nuisance but in generally they really are made for people’s good, and they should probably be followed.
1 sided biased story. #1 don’t take this seriously.
We cannot daven in the presence of filth (e.g., we do not recite ah-sher yawtz-er until we leave the bathroom), so I am pretty sure we cannot learn in the presence of a leak of sewerage. And we are obligated to observe civil law not in conflict with halacha. And, of course, we are obligated to keep our bodies healthy, and so entering a building with a sewage leak is sinful, not to mention dangerous to the persons who enter the building and the families they return to when they leave it.
Orange County is right to make a stink about the stink.