Covid-19 in Israel: the ultra-Orthodox are still resistant to confinement
Audio 01:25
Ultra-Orthodox Jews demonstrated against the containment measures on January 24, 2021 in Ashdod (illustrative image).
AP - Oded Balilty
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
Nights of violence follow and resemble each other.
Clashes have pitted the police against the ultra-Orthodox community for nearly a week in several cities across the country.
Some of these rigorous Jews refuse to comply with general confinement and restrictive measures due to the coronavirus.
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With our correspondent in Jerusalem,
Sami Boukhelifa
Mea Shearim, the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Jerusalem, the sound of a prayer escapes through a back door at the back of a bakery.
A dozen ultra-Orthodox Jews are gathered despite the ban.
Yaacov Grouba comes there every day, he doesn't even wear a mask.
“
For me the Torah is most important and it is what protects us and allows us to stay alive.
If the authorities understood the importance of studying Torah, they would leave our schools open as are basic necessities,
”he explains.
While the community is very affected by the Covid-19, it is demonstrating to keep its yeshivas, its religious schools, open despite the risks of contamination.
Among the students of these schools, 19-year-old Shulem does not see the risk of studying in a group.
“
All the students have already contracted the coronavirus.
So for us confinement doesn't make sense.
The authorities want to close our schools because the health situation is only getting worse.
But it is at your place that the situation is deteriorating… we are back on our feet
”.
► Read also: How Israel became the champion of vaccination against Covid-19
Yet in Mea Shearim, not all of them hold this speech like Illal.
"
I am a Sephardic Jew and in my community, my rabbis ask us not to participate in demonstrations, to respect the rules, to close schools and to listen to doctors,
" he explains.
Illal also condemns the violence of the ultra-Orthodox against the police.
Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu
, for his part, has promised to crack down on the rioters.
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