By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press Updated 10:42 am, Monday, February 25, 2013
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A veteran New York Assemblyman on Monday stood by his decision to wear blackface makeup, an Afro wig and a basketball jersey to a costume party in the face of criticism he called "political correctness to the absurd."
Democratic Assemblyman Dov Hikind wrote on his blog Monday that he doesn't understand the criticism swirling around Albany and doesn't know why anyone would be offended by the costume he wore to a party he recently held at his home in Brooklyn to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim.
Assemblyman Karim Camara of the state Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislative Caucus called Hikind's actions "callous and repugnant" and said his fellow lawmaker should apologize.
"The history of the blackface minstrel show is something deeply painful in the African-American community," said Camera, a Brooklyn Democrat. "It brings back the memories of African-Americans being reduced to buffoonery just to gain access to the entertainment industry."
Hikind hired a makeup artist and wore an orange basketball jersey, sunglasses and an Afro at the celebration that traditionally includes costumes.
"I am intrigued that anyone who understands Purim — or for that matter understands me — would have a problem with this," said Hikind, a Jewish leader in New York. "This is political correctness to the absurd. There is not a prejudiced bone in my body."
There was no immediate comment from the Assembly's Democrat majority where Hikind has been long been a rare conservative voice over 30 years.
Earlier this month, Hikind criticized the fashion designer John Galliano, who was recently photographed in New York City dressing as a Hasid with a long jacket and curly sidelocks. Two years ago, Galliano was fired from Christian Dior after his anti-Semitic rant was caught on video.
Hikind demanded an explanation from Galliano for his costume.
"If it was just anyone else, I wouldn't know what to say. But considering who this guy is, considering his background and what he's said in the past, let him explain it to all of us: Are you mocking us?" Hikind told the New York Post.
In Albany, Hikind has championed some conservative and religion-based issues. In 2009, he opposed an early vote to legalize same-sex marriage
"It is about what I believe God wants," Hikind said then. "God doesn't flip-flop on an issue."
Some drivers in the suburbs north of New York City were startled when they saw a man waving his arms, honking his horn and flashing a silver badge in a frantic effort to get them to pull over in traffic.
Even more surprising was who was suspected of doing it: a respected rabbi.
Rabbi Alfredo Borodowski has been arrested in one case and is being investigated in at least two more in which authorities say the apparent reason for trying to pull people over was to rage at them for cutting him off or driving too slowly.
"That girl was driving too slow and I hate when people do this," the 49-year-old Borodowski told investigators after he was charged with impersonating a police officer in June, when he allegedly pulled his Camry alongside a woman's car in Mamaroneck, flashed a badge and shouted, "Police! Police! Pull over!"
The woman, whose name has not been made public, did not pull over. According to her lawyer, Richard Clifford, the rabbi "just laid on the horn and started screaming at her" as she obeyed a 20-mph limit in a school zone. "She was so freaked out with the horn honking and the screaming that she called police immediately. ... I believe my client was in danger with this guy and if she had gotten out of her car it could have escalated."
Borodowski denied to police he was trying to impersonate an officer, saying that he was telling the woman only that he would be "calling the police."
Police confiscated the badge, which read: "Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority Officer 1338." Judie Glave, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees the bridge and tunnel authority, said the badge is "totally fake."
Borodowski's lawyer, Andrew Rubin, acknowledged that the rabbi's behavior has been "manic" and said he's suffering from bipolar disorder. The lawyer said the rabbi will plead not guilty in court this week. A previous hearing was postponed because the rabbi was hospitalized.
The rabbi has been fired from a position at prestigious Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan, one of the world's largest Jewish houses of worship. He also leads a congregation in Larchmont.
The odd saga of the rabbi has grabbed headlines in the car-centric suburbs and gained momentum after his arrest, when other drivers came forward saying that he had tried to pull them over, too.
When Peter Moses' wife saw the story on the TV news, "She shouted, `Oh my God, the guy who stopped us did it to someone else _ and he's a rabbi!'" said Moses, a public relations consultant in White Plains.
Moses said that in May, a motorist tailgated him on a drive from Scarsdale to White Plains, "obviously trying to make me go faster" than the 40-mph limit. Instead, Moses slowed, and the driver passed him and then blocked his path.
"He's shouting, `I'm a police officer, pull over' and he's got this little badge that he's waving at us. I told my wife, `That's not a police officer,'" Moses said.
"Then he's out of his car and he's screaming, `I can arrest you! I can have you arrested!' I said, `Fine, call the police,' then he storms back to his car and drives off."
Moses said his wife asked him not to report the incident, but changed her mind when they learned of the arrest in Mamaroneck. "What we want is for the rabbi to get the emotional help he so obviously needs," he said.
Yet another driver handed State Police a video of a confrontation in late April on Interstate 87 near Yonkers. The man told authorities that he swerved in front of a driver who then flashed a badge and demanded that he pull over.
Police are not releasing the video, but a still image from it obtained by the The Journal News shows a man who looks like Borodowski sticking his head out of his car window, his wispy graying hair blowing in the wind, who appears to be shouting and waving a silver badge in a leather case.
"He was holding up this tiny badge, and I knew the guy could no way be a cop in any sense of the word," the driver, whose name has not been made public, told the newspaper. When he challenged the man, he drove off.
The three complaints prompted the trustees of Temple Emanu-El to dismiss Borodowski as executive director of the Skirball Center for Jewish Learning "in the best interests of the Congregation," said Mark Weisstuch, administrative vice president.
Borodowski was still listed as rabbi on the website [ http://www.sulamyaakov.org/about-us/rabbi-alfredo-borodowski/ ] for Congregation Sulam Yaakov in Larchmont. A call to the synagogue there was answered by a man who said, "No comment. That's his personal life."
As tension rises between the modern-Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/01/ultraorthodox-protestors-smash-bus-windows_n_3689392.html ] in Israel, women are speaking out. Having just written "The Feminists Of Zion - An unlikely alliance between Orthodox and progressive women will save Israel from fundamentalism" published in The New Republic [ http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114124/israels-orthodox-women-new-face-feminism ], Allison Kaplan Sommer, in addition to Nili Philipp who was featured in the article, joined HuffPost Live's Mike Sacks to discuss the unlikely alliance to fight discrimination against women between the secular and modern-Orthodox communities.
Nili Philipp, a member of the modern-Orthodox community or what Israelis call "national religious," might appear no different from many of the secular women. While she does wear a head scarf and clothing that never bares her knees at all times, she is highly educated and an engineer by training. Having moved to Beit Shemesh in 2000, it wasn't until 2011 that she experienced violent outbreaks from male members of the ultra-Orthodox community.
"It was good until about five years ago when trouble started," Philipps told Sacks. Describing the trouble as "harassment in the streets, violence, and segregation," Philips noted that the source was the Haredim (another name for ultra-Orthodox) community.
The Haredim, who lived predominantly within the "ghetto" walls, coexisted with the other members of the community until recently. "For many years people considered them like the Amish people -- the Pennsylvania Dutch country. Like 'look at them with their quaint little customs, let's leave them alone, let's be multicultural, let's respect their traditions. And they do what they want over there and we'll have our modern society over here," said Sommer.
Now, however, as Haredi restrictions against women heighten and as they have gained prominence within the broader community due to increased political power and a growing population, Sommer said, "That's when the rest of the Israeli population is waking up and saying, 'Wait a minute, we have to draw a line somewhere.'"
She continued, "They call them the Jewish Taliban."
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
