Israel: ultra-Orthodox Jews facing coronavirus

Prayer in the street in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Jerusalem, October 1, 2020. MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP

Text by: Guilhem Delteil Follow

4 min

For nearly a month now, Israel has been the country in the world with the most new cases of coronavirus per capita.

Contagion is rapid there and the new confinement, started two and a half weeks ago, is doing nothing for the moment.

As during the first wave in March-April, two communities are particularly affected: Israeli Arabs on the one hand, but even more ultra-Orthodox Jews.

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from our correspondent in Jerusalem,

Currently, a third of coronavirus patients belong to the ultra-Orthodox community, while this only represents 12% of the Israeli population.

This community, which scrupulously respects the rules of Judaism, is therefore clearly over-represented among the sick.

And the trend is only likely to increase in the coming weeks.

While the country once again crossed a record of new patients, the national coordinator of the fight against the coronavirus revealed this Thursday, October 2 that 40% of new cases are ultra-Orthodox.

Some well-known personalities in the community are also affected.

On Friday, the entourage of Chaïm Kanevsky, a very influential rabbi, announced that the nonagenarian had tested positive.

Preserve a way of life

At the start of the pandemic, the lack of information in this community, which lives quite cut off from the rest of the country, was an important factor.

But today, the reality of the health situation is known to the ultra-Orthodox and in particular to their leaders.

On the other hand, the instructions - wearing a mask, social distancing and now confinement - remain very little applied.

The months of September and October are a holiday period in the Jewish calendar.

A period of prayers in synagogues, of gatherings.

On Monday, October 28, a well-attended rabbi had organized a big meal to mark the end of the Yom Kippur fast.

Several hundred people were present and they were not wearing the mask.

Ultra-Orthodox leaders have also fought against the closure of synagogues,

- religious schools.

For them, there is on the one hand the conviction that the study of Torah protects, but also the will to preserve their way of life.

By closing schools for several months, they fear that young people will detach themselves from religious studies, that this will weaken the social bond within their community.

And for them, contagion ultimately represents a lesser danger.

Tensions with the rest of society

For many non-ultra-Orthodox secularists or practicing Jews, this attitude puts the whole country in danger.

Because if the ultra-Orthodox community lives largely inwardly on itself, the spread of the virus in the country cannot be contained without its help.

Moreover, for many Israelis, including health professionals who say so publicly, the current confinement is not justified by health reasons, but political ones.

The initial initial plan of the national coordinator of the fight against the coronavirus was to isolate the neighborhoods and cities most affected.

But the ultra-Orthodox political parties, which are in government, opposed it.

To get the restrictions accepted by their constituents, they demanded that other sectors of society also be restricted.

The non-ultra-Orthodox therefore largely have the feeling that confinement is imposed on them so as not to offend a key electorate for a weakened Prime Minister.

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