Haredi leaders launched a sudden, concerted effort last week to re-elect Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Walsh, following a last-minute challenge from a write-in candidate. Walsh is being challenged due to what Haredi leaders called “Jew-haters who want to see Jews in prison,” according to an article published in three leading Yiddish-language newspapers.

Attorney Theresa DiFalco announced in October that she would oppose Walsh in Tuesday’s general election. DiFalco has support among people upset with Walsh for agreeing to a no-jail sentence for two rabbis, who pleaded guilty to causing a fatal fire while kashering — or making kosher — a kitchen at an assisted living facility. Haredi leaders have argued that those upset with the ruling were motivated by antisemitism, and were inciting local fury against Walsh because of “blind rage for Jewish suffering.”

Three popular Hasidic weekly newspapers, Der Yid, Der Blatt, and Di Tzeitung, all ran the same article in Yiddish endorsing Walsh. “At the last minute, antisemites have put forth a candidate who’s running with the goal of attacking the Jews of Rockland County,” the article read.

In a segment on the Yiddish-language broadcaster Kol Mevaser, a speaker described an urgent meeting last week between Monsey rabbis and Walsh, who “is now suffering horrific harassment only for being fair-minded towards Haredi Jews.” A 10-page spread of ads in the Monsey View last week stressed the urgency of voting today, citing “hateful mobs agitating in the streets” against Haredim. A video advertisement circulating on WhatsApp urged voters to support the incumbent district attorney under the campaign slogan “the cry of the imprisoned.” 

Today, on election day, trucks driving around Monsey had large signs encouraging residents to vote for Walsh. The truck signs included a phone number to call for transportation to polling sites. When reached by Shtetl, phone bankers declined to say who organized the effort. In 2020, the same phone number was given in the Monsey View, a Haredi news outlet, in a message by a nonprofit organization called Community Outreach Center urging residents to respond to the census. The COC did not immediately respond to Shtetl’s request for comment.

In June, prosecutors from the District Attorney’s office announced that, after pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter and reckless endangerment in a fatal fire at a Spring Valley assisted living home, Nathaniel Sommer, 72, and his son Aaron, 29, avoided jail time and would receive probation instead. People close to the victims felt that justice had not been served.

In September, a large group of Haredi leaders sent a letter to Judge Kevin Russo, who had presided over the Sommer case, alleging that those unsatisfied with the sentence were running “an anti-Semitic campaign.” The letter, publicized by Lohud, cited an unnamed leader of the campaign expressing “the desire to incarcerate the entirety of the Orthodox Jewish community.”

“We all grieve the tragic loss of firefighter Jared Lloyd and assisted living resident Oliver Hueston,” the Haredi leaders wrote. “Nevertheless, this tragedy should not become a vehicle for inciting anti-Semitic sentiment, nor should it compromise the principles of justice.”

Firefighters urged DiFalco to enter the race after the plea agreement with the Sommers. DiFalco disputed the allegations of antisemitism. “This campaign has absolutely nothing to do with antisemitism or anti anything,” the candidate told Shtetl. “It is about seeking to restore the honesty and integrity of the office of District Attorney.”

Walsh did not immediately respond to messages from Shtetl requesting comment.

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Read more in Shtetl: 

Why Haredi leaders ran a massive campaign for a family court judge in Rockland County

Tensions rise in Rockland after kosher supervisors plead guilty to a fatal fire, avoid prison time