A resident and a firefighter perished in a fire that broke out in a Spring Valley, New York, assisted care facility in March 2021.
A father and son who had used a blowtorch to clean the facility’s kitchen for Passover a few hours before the fire have pleaded guilty to some charges. Both will escape from prison.
The Kentucky Jewish Council’s head, Rabbi Shlomo Litvin, has been following the press coverage of the case.
The Chabad rabbi told JNS, “I think it’s important to note that there was no concrete evidence that the koshering process was responsible for the fire.”
There are numerous more explanations, and the fire started more than an hour after they left.
According to Litvin, the plea agreement was influenced just as much by how some media outlets presented the case and the potential jury’s composition as by the facts.
The fact that they were rabbis was hyped up by the media, which minimized the fact that this was never claimed to be anything other than a tragic accident, he claimed.
Those who are biased against Chassidic Jews or who have openly expressed antisemitism have claimed “that this plea deal was because of Jewish money and influence” because the two are avoiding jail time, claimed Litvin.
Although he acknowledged the unfortunate deaths, he claimed that “the media is openly scapegoating Jews for an accidental fire.”
Oliver Hueston, 79, a resident of Evergreen Court, and firefighter Jared Lloyd, 35, perished in the blaze.
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