In call with Haredi leaders ahead of Sukkot, PM says no relief on restrictions
Netanyahu urges mayors to call on their residents to ‘strictly adhere’ to government health guidelines; ultra-Orthodox account for some 40% of new cases
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated to ultra-Orthodox leaders ahead of the start of the Sukkot holiday that their community would not receive special treatment in his government’s crackdown against violators of coronavirus rules.
“There will not be relief [from restrictions],” Netanyahu said in a conference call with Haredi lawmakers along with the mayors of Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Modi’in Illit, Rechasim, Beitar Illit and Elad, all communities with majority Haredi populations.
“The prime minister asked the mayors to call on their publics to strictly adhere to health guidelines and not gather,” Netanyahu’s office said.
Netanyahu also ordered government officials to assist ultra-Orthodox local authorities in combatting the pandemic, his office said, without detailing specifics.
Read: Is ultra-Orthodox ideological disobedience fueling Israel’s soaring virus rate?
Meanwhile, the Ynet news site reported on Friday that over 1,500 yeshiva students of the Gur Hasidic sect have tested positive for COVID-19 after spending the High Holidays together in the bloc’s main study hall in Jerusalem. Those 1,500 students made up 70 percent of a group that spent the holiday period together in order to be closer to the sect’s leading rabbi, Yaakov Aryeh Alter.
On Thursday, President Reuven Rivlin made an “emergency” visit to a top ultra-Orthodox rabbi, Shalom Cohen, urging him to encourage his followers to obey COVID-19 restrictions as Haredi communities continue to be among the hardest hit by the virus in Israel.
Rivlin’s visit to Rabbi Cohen came as a number of prominent rabbis stepped up calls to obey coronavirus regulations amid a growing crisis among Israel’s ultra-Orthodox. Haredim account for a disproportionate number of Israel’s disastrous infection rate — some 40 percent of new cases, according to figures released Thursday. The ultra-Orthodox make up some 10% of Israel’s population.
Criticism of the ultra-Orthodox has been growing, with widespread reports showing some are disregarding lockdown restrictions during the High Holiday season, including by continuing to host mass gatherings. TV reports have shown numerous large sukkahs, capable of holding hundreds of people, being constructed in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood; Sukkot starts on Friday evening.
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, who heads the Shas political party, has denied that the high rates of infection among the ultra-Orthodox were because they were not following the virus rules.
Deri told Channel 12 news that most of the Haredi infections were among young people because they were going out to get tested, while claiming secular youth were not.
Also Thursday, Jerusalem Chief Rabbi Aryeh Stern issued a ruling calling on the public to adhere to Health Ministry instructions and refrain from holding mass gatherings over the Sukkot holiday.
Stern called on Jerusalem residents to act with consideration for their neighbors’ safety.
“If we act with unity… and with solidarity, then I completely believe the Lord will end this plague quickly,” he wrote.
Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky and Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, the leaders of the Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox community in Israel, with hundreds of thousands of followers, on Wednesday also issued a call to favor outdoor prayer.
Kanievsky himself tested positive for the virus on Friday,
“The rabbi is currently feeling well and is continuing his studies as usual, under close medical supervision,” a statement on the 92-year-old’s behalf said.
A video of Kanievsky studying Talmud in his home was posted shortly after the diagnosis was announced.
לאחר שאובחן כחולה קורונה מאומת: הרב קנייבסקי בן ה-92 לומד היום בביתו@AkivaWeisz pic.twitter.com/JFEnQoyTHF
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) October 2, 2020
The diagnosis came just two days after the Haaretz daily reported Kanievsky violated quarantine, hosting visitors at his home in Bnei Brak following Yom Kippur, despite being required to self-isolate due to his exposure to a confirmed coronavirus carrier — his diver.
Kanievsky faced criticism at the start of the pandemic for his handling of the crisis.
He made headlines on March 12 when, despite appeals from the Prime Minister’s Office and the Israel Police, he insisted that yeshivas and schools remain open in defiance of government calls to close them, handing down a ruling stating that “canceling Torah study is more dangerous than the coronavirus.”
The crisis in the ultra-Orthodox communities is a major concern for health officials, who ascribe the high over-representation of ultra-Orthodox Jews among new infections in Israel to holiday gatherings, crowding in yeshiva educational institutions, and dense living conditions.
The Times of Israel Community.