Israeli police officers march by burning garbage during clashes with ultra-Orthodox Jews in Bnei Brak
Credit: Oded Balilty/Oded Balilty
It was no secret that Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jews had grown weary of lockdowns, but few could have predicted the intensity of the violence that struck the poor, densely populated neighbourhood of Bnei Brak.
As crowds of the fervent believers took to the streets, police deployed batons and stun grenades as they battled with the young men in their distinctive black suits and hats.
Then, a gang of extremists broke away from the crowd as they targeted an Arab bus driver, dragged him from his vehicle and beat him.
The driver, who feared he was going to be “lynched,” looked on in horror as the rioters set the bus ablaze, reducing it to a smouldering heap of metal.
After being sequestered in their homes, banned from communal prayer and locked out of their religious Yeshiva schools, some of the so-called Haredim — “those who tremble before God" in Hebrew — had finally reached the end of their tether.
Community leaders stressed that the violence in Bnei Brak did not reflect the community as a whole. But they acknowledge that the pandemic has deepened Israel’s schism between ultra-religious communities and the secular state.
“It is a big, big crisis, a crisis among the Haredis and a crisis between the Haredis and the state,” said Betzalel Cohen, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi and head of the Beit Midrash education centre.
Ultra Orthodox Jews protest against the restrictions imposed by the Israeli government
Credit: AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images
The anti-lockdown protests were an eruption of anger in Haredi communities towards the state which, some of them claim, is destroying their way of life by imposing coronavirus restrictions.
Many have been accused of refusing to wear face masks and holding illegal prayer sessions, while thousands gathered in the streets last month for the funeral of a prominent rabbi — who had himself succumbed to coronavirus.
According to Israeli researchers, ultra-Orthodox Jews over 65 in Israel are three times more likely to die of Covid than secular citizens of the same age group. They also accounted for more than a third of the country’s Covid cases in 2020.
The refusal of ultra-Orthodox men to serve in the army, as well as their reliance on state funds to support their lifelong religious studies, are also longstanding sources of friction in Israeli society.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews take cover as Israeli police use water cannons with stinky water to disperse them as they block a highway during a protest against the detention of a member of their community who refuses to do military service, in Bnei Brak, Israel, Sunday, Dec. 27, 2020
Credit: Ariel Schalit/Ariel Schalit
Though the Haredis have faced intense criticism for flouting the rules, they say the secular world needs to understand that lockdown has placed their cherished traditions in jeopardy.
“With a society like ours, the coronavirus is the opposite of our way of life,” said Avraham Yustman, vice president of the ultra-Orthodox Kemach Foundation, which supports vulnerable families.
“Our life is about community, while coronavirus makes us live separately. It is one of our most important values — and the corona broke it.”
“The pressure grew and grew, and that made them act like this,” he added, referring to the Bnei Brak riot, while the thousands who gathered at the rabbi’s funeral were “just ten per cent of the people who would have taken part if there was no coronavirus.” Israeli police arrested four people in connection with the attack on the bus, and a 22-year-old man has been charged with lighting the fire.
The closure of religious schools, Yeshivas, was a particularly fell blow for young Haredi men, who leave the family home when they reach adolescence and embark on a lifelong study of the Torah.
In response, some communities set up so-called capsule Yeshivas, where students could only take part after providing a negative Covid test.
“Even if there were coronavirus cases, they were put aside and locked down in the Yeshiva, and would not be sent home,” said Mr Cohen, himself a former head of a Yeshiva.
The capsule system appeared to be a success over the summer, but once the third wave crashed over Israel, Mr Cohen said, it was “wrecked.”
Ultra-Orthodox Jews pray covered in prayer shawls in divided sections which allow a maximum of twenty worshipers, next to their house as synagogues are closed following government measures to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, in Bnei Brak
Credit: AP/AP
Some Yeshivas simply ignored the rules, and even in those that did the disease quickly spread through dormitories.
The Haredis’ insistence on holding mass gatherings during a pandemic has bemused secular Israelis, but community leaders say that they simply do not grasp their way of life, partly due to hostile media reports.
“It’s important to understand that going to study the Torah at a Yeshiva is not like going to a [secular] school in London,” Mr Yustman explained.
“When a Haredi goes to study the Torah, he is fulfilling a commandment, he is serving God by doing it. It is written in one of the holy books that a man must sell his belongings to study the Torah.”
In some ultra-Orthodox neighbourhoods, notices are posted on street corners urging Haredis to shun the vaccine for Covid-19.
“The vaccine is completely unnecessary! The pandemic is already behind us,” reads one of them which, deploying hugely inflammatory rhetoric, equated queueing for a jab with waiting to board a train to Auschwitz.
But again, those in the community who agree to speak with the media say this only reflects an extreme fringe of Haredi society.
“Most of the Haredis are pro-vaccine, but of course some Haredis buy into the conspiracies, and fake news,” said Mr Mr Cohen.
One prevalent rumour circulating in the Haredi world says that the vaccines are designed to sterilise people, though such baseless claims can also be found in secular societies and on social media.
There is also growing frustration among some Haredis with contradictory advice from rabbis, which has been blamed for the communities’ slowness in acknowledging the dangers of Covid. For example, Yisroel Hager, a leader of the ultra-Orthodox Vizhnitz, recently called on believers to defy Covid restrictions and open schools in mid-January.
But within hours, he retracted that advice, which he said was simply an expression of frustration, and urged communities to follow the rules and sign up for Covid vaccines.
“I was disappointed that many rabbis have not made it clear that the vaccine is a must,” said Mr Cohen ruefully.
That frustration could be made clear at the ballot box, as Israelis go to the polls for the fourth time in just two years in March.
Ultra orthodox Jewish men wait to receive a COVID-19 vaccine from a nurse at Ichilov Medical Center in a Yeshiva at the Ultra orthodox city of Bnei Brak
Credit: Shutterstock/Shutterstock
While extreme Haredi factions do not vote, most follow the advice of their rabbis who endorse the candidates who have committed to preserving their way of life.
In practice, this means those who do vote tend to support United Torah Judaism, which traditionally represents the Ashkenazi sact, or the Sephardic party Shaz [Guardians of the Torah].
Shaz is a frequent coalition partner with Likud, the ruling party of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This has granted Haredis substantial influence over the political sphere despite making up just 12 per cent of the population.
But young Haredis are increasingly being exposed to the wonders of mobile phones and the internet, as the pandemic has moved classes and even weddings online.
Mr Cohen said it was possible that the youngsters, stung by their rabbis’ muddled response to the pandemic, might shun their advice and tick the box of a non-Haredi rival.
He also expressed concern that the closure of the Yeshivas had made it more difficult to mentor troubled youths.
“I do not think they [the rabbis] know this is happening, because in In Haredi life, the young must listen to the old but the old don’t listen to the young,” he said.
“It’s like a volcano. Inside there is a hot lake, but you don’t see it until it erupts.”
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