In some Haredi communities, being ill with Corona carries stigma
In this JTA/Times of Israel article, they bring up how there's those in Haredi communities both here and in Europe who're reluctant to admit to being infected with Coronavirus, because of the stigma it brings with it:
The coronavirus has spread rapidly among members of the Jewish community of Antwerp, which has a large Orthodox population. At least five have died and another 10 are hospitalized in serious condition.There's only so many wrongheaded stigmas an insular community could apply to one, including the notion that "snitching" on a criminal offender is inherently wrong, effectively allowing criminals off the hook. And they even lead to a situation where those infected by illness won't seek treatment until it gets really out of hand. Simply terrible.
But the virus is hardly ever mentioned there by name.
“People call it ‘the disease’ or they say they have ‘fallen ill,’ but there’s a taboo, a stigma on it and a sense of shame around it,” said Martin Rosenblum, a doctor in the Belgian city who sees patients from its predominantly Haredi Orthodox population. “It means that some people with the virus wait until they’re in really bad shape before they try to go to hospital or get help.” [...]
In Belgium, Rosenblum said that Jews there see contracting the virus as a sign of frowned-upon contact with the outside world.
“[The coronavirus] was seen as something like AIDS, happening in the outside world and afflicting the decadence out there,” Rosenblum told Radio Judaica, a Belgian-Jewish station, last week.
There’s a bit of historical-religious precedent, too.
One pamphlet circulating in Haredi communities in Israel through WhatsApp, even though many Haredi Jews avoid using smartphones, is headlined “Saying corona is forbidden” and promises that censoring the virus is “the way to weakening corona.” It quotes Johanan bar Nappaha, a third-century rabbi, who ruled against mentioning diseases publicly.
“When you say ‘corona,’ you’re making the disease grow,” the pamphlet reads.
There’s also the fear that one could be seen as a contaminated threat to a specific community.
Labels: belgium, communications, Europe, France, haredi corruption, Israel, Italy, Moonbattery
