How Orthodox defiance of pandemic lockdowns is cleaving Israel
| TEL AVIV, Israel
The lockdown scenes midday Sunday in the two cities provided a COVID-19 split screen 鈥� a tale of two Israels.
In Jerusalem, tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox mourners turned out at a tightly packed funeral for a prominent rabbi who had died from the coronavirus. Their gathering was in blatant defiance of government restrictions that police said they were helpless to enforce.
In Tel Aviv, police patrolled public squares to scare away potential crowds and ensured the stalls in open-air markets remained shuttered by the lockdown.
Why We Wrote This
If a society is divided in the face of a common enemy, what does that say about its future cohesion? For Israelis, the unequal enforcement of pandemic lockdowns is creating a 鈥渨atershed moment.鈥�
The disparity was lost on no one, and points to a festering societal division that is far deeper and older than adherence to pandemic protocols.
The restrictions are 鈥渒illing us. I can鈥檛 have one person come in here, or I鈥檒l get a fine. It鈥檚 sad to see the market closed,鈥� says Abed Ovadia, a normally boisterous fruit seller in Tel Aviv鈥檚 Carmel Market, standing in an empty stall usually brimming with apples and pears.
When the conversation turns to the large-scale disobedience among the ultra-Orthodox, Mr. Ovadia vents.
鈥淭hey defy everything. They exploit the fact that they have power in the Knesset. If they didn鈥檛 have that power, they wouldn鈥檛 behave like that. That鈥檚 why people are suffering.鈥�
Failure to curb virus
Mr. Ovadia鈥檚 frustration resonates far and wide. Even as Israel鈥檚 unparalleled vaccination program races ahead, the country鈥檚 third pandemic lockdown in a year has failed to curb deaths or the virus鈥檚 spread.
Part of the failure stems from the government鈥檚 poor enforcement of lockdowns in neighborhoods and cities that are home to the country鈥檚 ultra-Orthodox minority, known as Haredim 鈥� Hebrew for 鈥淕od-fearing.鈥�
The community, 12% of Israel鈥檚 population, has long represented a looming social and political challenge for the country because of its high birthrates and socioeconomic separatism. But the pandemic has spurred a sense that Haredi autonomy is something that politicians and Israeli society need to confront immediately.
In addition to footage of mass weddings and funerals, television news has been filled with images of riots, fires, rock throwing, and border police violently chasing down rebellious youths 鈥� scenes deeply troubling for Israelis because of their resemblance to clashes with Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
鈥淲e鈥檙e talking about life and death now,鈥� says Yossi Klein Halevi, an author and fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, of the lockdown confrontations. 鈥淭his is a watershed moment for Israeli society.鈥�
The secular-Haredi rift 鈥� and accommodations 鈥� date back to Israel鈥檚 founding. In return for support in parliament, secular politicians have allowed the ultra-Orthodox to craft their own school curricula and have given young men exemptions from military conscription.
But the pandemic鈥檚 heavy toll has thrown into relief that the Haredim operate as an autonomous entity and can leverage their political power to resist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
What is seen as his government鈥檚 lax approach to Haredi defiance has secular Israelis boiling over.
鈥淓nough! Who runs this country?鈥� tweeted parliament opposition leader Yair Lapid, saying ultra-Orthodox elementary schools stayed open while students in the rest of the country remained at home. 鈥淲hoever doesn鈥檛 comply should have funding stopped. In a sane country, there is one law for everyone.鈥�
Analysts say much of the problem is a question of political will. Mr. Netanyahu, running for reelection in March and in the midst of a corruption trial, is being criticized as overly deferential to ultra-Orthodox politicians and rabbis, whom he needs in his coalition.
鈥淭hey have their own prime minister 鈥� their rabbi. They only listen to what their rabbi says,鈥� says Arik Golan, the owner of a pet supply store in Tel Aviv. 鈥淎nd their rabbi doesn鈥檛 listen to our prime minister.鈥�
Haredi soul-searching
Yet the crisis of leadership extends to within the Haredi community, as well.
The ultra-Orthodox minority 鈥� which mostly lives apart, in impoverished, densely populated neighborhoods 鈥� has suffered the worst fallout from the pandemic. Among Israelis older than 60, nearly four times as many Haredim have died per capita than the general Jewish population, according to Israel Health Ministry data.
Even amid the clashes challenging the government鈥檚 authority, there鈥檚 also been, for the first time, some public soul-searching within the Haredi community as well as criticism of the leadership.
鈥淕uilty are we,鈥� read a banner headline in the Haredi newspaper Mishpacha.
Last week, following rock-throwing clashes with police in Bnei Brak, a Haredi city outside Tel Aviv, one ultra-Orthodox commentator attacked leaders for making excuses and equivocating.
鈥淚 am pulling my hair out in anger and shame at people who are burying the Haredi public and explaining why they are right,鈥� said Moshe Glesner, an ultra-Orthodox television host on a public affairs program. 鈥淲e are paying with our lives.鈥�
To be sure, the ultra-Orthodox defiance is not confined to Israel. Communities in New York and the United Kingdom have also held mass gatherings in defiance of local restrictions. Denying the severity of the pandemic and scorning science, they insist on keeping synagogues, schools, and religious seminaries open.
Political consequences
In Israel, however, where the Haredim reject the secular Jewish state on theological grounds, the politicization of the pandemic has more grave consequences.
鈥淚sraelis are beginning to realize that Haredi separatism 鈥� the Haredi state within a state 鈥� is not just offensive, but literally a life-and-death danger,鈥� says Mr. Klein Halevi. 鈥淚srael will not be able to remain a cutting-edge society with 12% of its society living in the 19th century. We certainly can鈥檛 continue subsidizing this separatism.鈥�
Israel battled the pandemic in January with mixed results. It led all countries by a wide margin in vaccinations per capita. But the presence of more potent variants of the virus and the lockdown failures have kept new infection rates among the highest in the world, pressuring hospitals and resulting in a per capita death rate twice the worldwide average.
Responding to the mass funeral Sunday, Dror Mevorach, the COVID-19 ward director at Jerusalem鈥檚 Hadassah Hospital-Ein Kerem, told Israel Army Radio: 鈥淲hen you see this, and you know for sure that dozens, if not hundreds, will become infected, and they will infect hundreds of others, and that will lead to people dying 鈥� it鈥檚 difficult to watch.鈥�
Israel鈥檚 failure to enforce COVID-19 restrictions on the ultra-Orthodox 鈥渆xposes a bitter truth about Israel鈥檚 resilience,鈥� wrote Ben Caspit, a columnist in the Maariv newspaper. 鈥淭here is no state here. There is a loose confederation of tribes, devoid of central authority, common values, 鈥嬧�媜r a common goal. Israel鈥檚 fa莽ade is disintegrating into fragments live on television.鈥�
Self-interest vs. the state
The bitterness over the lack of unity may have a cost. A Jan. 26 survey by Channel 12 news found that 61% of Israelis want the next coalition to exclude ultra-Orthodox parties, reflecting how the pandemic has made the independence enjoyed by Israel鈥檚 Haredim a top issue, with broad implications.
In normal times, few Israelis focus on what鈥檚 necessary to end the ultra-Orthodox separation and integrate the community, says Gilad Malach, an expert on the Haredi community聽at the Israel Democracy Institute: teaching a general studies curriculum, ensuring young men get jobs rather than remain in yeshivot, and ending the exemption for military conscription.
But after a year of the pandemic, Israelis recognize the immediate consequences of allowing the ultra-Orthodox to persist as a state within a state.
鈥淯ltra-Orthodox society is very clear that it sees itself as having full autonomy whether to comply or not with the orders of the state,鈥� Mr. Malach says. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 comply regarding issues of life and death, will you comply with the orders of education?
鈥淲hen there鈥檚 a contradiction between their self-interest and the needs of the state, they prefer their self-interest 鈥� their community wins.聽This is the challenge of the state.鈥�
