Bnei Brak rabbis join call to ban all public prayer

Ultra-Orthodox rabbis in Bnei Brak join a call by Haredi spiritual leader Chaim Kanievsky to ban all public prayer and heed by Health Ministry rules to stem the outbreak.

In a ruling, the Haredi rabbis prohibit all prayer gatherings. Under current Health Ministry guidelines, prayer is permitted outdoors if it is in a group of 10 or fewer, and participants stand 2 meters apart.

The rulings come after a rabbi’s funeral in Bnei Brak drew hundreds on Saturday night, causing widespread fury and warnings by doctors that the densely populated Haredi city in central Israel, where many were flouting the lockdown rules, would soon become “like Italy.”

Kanievsky, in his ruling, had said those who violate the virus rules fall under the Jewish legal category of a rodef, or one who endangers the public, and against whom sanctions may be taken. He said residents may inform the authorities if they witness violations and suggested that a person who is meant to be in quarantine and infects others, causing deaths, is akin to a murderer.