Tel-Chai Nation

The Jerusalem Post says the ultra-Orthodox communities have demonstrated what insularity can lead to in a time of health crisis:

The cities of Bnei Brak and Jerusalem, with their many haredi (ultra-Orthodox) residents, lead the nation in numbers of coronavirus patients with 267 and 352 respectively, Channel 12 reported on Friday.

It is thought that a small minority among the community finds it difficult to adjust to the new Health Ministry regulations as they forbid mass prayer, large weddings and studying in big groups – all of which are vital to the haredi way of life.

The largely secular city of Tel Aviv, that has more than double the number of residents than Bnei Brak, is tied for second with 267 patients. This despite social media posts alleging that the residents of the first Hebrew city are lax in their social distancing and can’t give up their daily jogs and drinking coffee at the beach.

On Hebrew social media, a great deal of anger was expressed at some Tel Avivians for allegedly for not caring about the well being of the elderly, who are much more vulnerable to coronavirus, and insensitivity to the great number of people who are facing unemployment now due to the COVID-19 impact on the world economy.

There's a valid issue you could make about Tel Aviv's simpler residents (though it sure is strange the paper refers to them as the first Hebrew city, despite Hebron or Jerusalem qualifying for that position), but the case of Haredis not complying with health regulations is a definite cause for concern, and could lead to the Corona crisis keeping on if they don't cut out their ignorance. This is what happens when you have whole clans and enclaves living without any genuine information available, not even through simple newspapers aimed at their community. Here's some more:

The ultra-Orthodox community in Israel is seeing steep infection rates and a sharp rise in diagnoses of coronavirus in recent days, according to local leaders, health ministry data and Hebrew media reports.

Health Ministry reports have shown the two cities with the highest infection numbers are currently Jerusalem (352) and the largely ultra-Orthodox Bnei Brak (267), followed by Tel Aviv (211).

According to a report in Haaretz Friday, a significant portion of the Jerusalem patients are also from the Haredi community.

This appears to be the more correct sum for Tel Aviv, which the Post apparently got wrong.

Officials have attributed the high infection rates in the region to a lack of adherence to Health Ministry guidelines (there have been many reports of large gatherings taking place in those communities for weddings, prayer services and other events in spite of announced restrictions), the crowdedness of many ultra-Orthodox communities and a lack of access by many to media and communication means.

On several occasions clashes have been reported between members of the communities and police forces attempting to enforce lockdown and distancing orders.

Similar scenes have been reported in the United States.

A good way to send a message is to shut off electricity and water flow to Haredi synagogues and yeshivas in communities violating procedures, to render them otherwise inoperable.

Bnei Brak Mayor Avraham Rubinstein, himself currently quarantined for fear of exposure, urged residents Friday to “wake up!” He said the city was seeing the highest infection rate in the country, with “the forecast far more frightening.” Rubinstein called on the public to “stop with the wise-guy minyans [quorum of 10 Jewish adults required for prayer] of more than 10, keep your distances, and stop the crowding and congestion at supermarkets. Just stay at home and be careful, this is dangerous.”

According to Haaretz, internal Health Ministry data has shown the rate of infection in Bnei Brak has been several times higher than the average in the country, with the number of patients increasing eightfold every three days (compared to a twofold national average). In Jerusalem the cases have quadrupled in the same period.

Several local leaders in ultra-Orthodox communities complained to the paper that very little information on infections was filtering down to their people in comparison to the general population. Haaretz noted that some half of the Haredi population has only highly limited kosher cellphones which are incapable of receiving quarantine notices from the Health Ministry.

“Everything here is being conducted by word of mouth rumors,” one official in the ultra-Orthodox settlement of Modiin Illit told the paper. “Someone hears the neighbor was infected and things are passed on. There’s no monitoring or oversight.”

According to Channel 12 news, as infection numbers have soared (from some 400 patients 10 days ago to 3,035 as of Saturday), more and more ultra-Orthodox communities have come to recognize the truth of the threat, and adherence to social distancing measures has grown.

Religious leaders have increasingly taken steps to encourage their communities to isolate from others, heavily curbing prayer services and allowing the use of phones on Shabbat for virus warnings. On Thursday several Sephardic Orthodox rabbis even declared that families could conduct next month’s Passover seder over videoconference.

Well it's great if some leaders are acting responsible now. But, this is still absolutely horrific when they fail, and all the fault of insular cultists who've abused the psyches of their subjects, all but cutting them off from the wider world out of the slapdash notion general information would literally make them want to leave the flock, or more precisely, are keeping them ignorant because they believe their culture is beyond question. In this brief clip, it says:

Channel 12 quotes an unnamed doctor sounding the alarm about infection rates in the Haredi city of Bnei Brak.

“What’s happening in Bnei Brak is like Italy. Almost every ultra-Orthodox person who comes in for a check is found to be infected with coronavirus. There are families with 100% infection. The Health Ministry should be going door-to-door and taking people who are sick out of their homes. If not, in a few weeks from now, they’ll be flooding in [to the hospitals] in huge numbers,” the doctor is quoted as saying.

Again, it's my firm belief that's why the whole lifestyle should be condemned, if it encourages such insularity and ignorance. What's really obscene is how those Haredi communities who cultivate such behavior provide ammunition that takes away attention from Islamofascism. And if Muslim communities end up acting more responsible, then of course, Haredi communities end up making Judaism look bad instead, as they provide antisemites - including Islamophiles - with weapons.

Update: look who's defending insular Haredi clans who've failed to act responsibly:

Former Peace Now secretary-general and Meretz MK Mossi Raz called on secular Israelis to refrain from blaming Haredi Jews for the outbreak. "My secular brothers, do not libel the Ultra-Orthodox," he said. "Maybe some of the Haredi localities have a higher percentage of carriers...[but] it is caused first and foremost by poverty and high population density."

Raz added that "even if the Haredi community has a minority that disobeys (justified!) government instructions, please do not attack the entire community for the acts of this minority. This is a time for solidarity."

IMO, there's something wrong when a radical leftist who was in charge of such a repellent anti-Israel group as Peace Now takes the role of defending ultra-Orthodox screwballs after they caused all the trouble they're going to cause. Especially if he hasn't changed an iota.

Update 2: the Jewish Press reports that negligence among Haredis in the USA has also led to tragedies.

Labels: communications, haredi corruption, Israel, Jerusalem, Moonbattery, United States