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8 | SEPTEMBER 24 • 2020
1942 - 2020
Covering and Connecting
Jewish Detroit Every Week
jn
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How to reach us see page 12
essay
A Mystery: Why Do So Many Haredi
Jews
Disregard the Pandemic?
A
s fervently observant
Jews, the haredi
Jewish community
holds fidelity to Halachah
(Jewish Law) as its central
tenet. This
attitude has
often inspired
me and other
Jews across the
whole spectrum
of observance.
All segments
of the haredi
community take pride in that
fidelity.
And yet a significant
segment of the haredi
community treats the
COVID-19 pandemic as
irrelevant to their lives. They
do not wear masks; they do
not practice distancing; they
congregate in large groups
at schools, religious services,
weddings and, poignantly,
funerals.
This behavior constitutes
a mystery and calls for
analysis.
The great codes of Judaism
all require us to preserve
health. Dangerous situations
require us to take protective
action — pikuah nefesh —
even when doing so overrides
nearly all other demands of
Jewish law. An observant
Jew must telephone the
doctor on Shabbat, ride to
the hospital on Yom Tov, eat
on Yom Kippur to protect
someone who is in danger
or even possibly in danger.
The COVID-19 pandemic
certainly poses as great a
danger to haredi Jews as to
others.
Yet when epidemiologists
warn that we need to practice
distancing, to wear masks
and to avoid large indoor
gatherings, this segment of
the haredi community carries
on, ignoring the dangers, not
taking protective actions.
Furthermore, city and
state governments and,
in some countries, the
national governments, have
mandated protective actions,
and significant haredi
populations have flouted
those laws, regulations or
recommendations. Jewish
Law generally requires us to
respect civil laws, especially
when disrespect could
lead onlookers to disdain
us. Yet this segment of the
haredi community seems
unbothered by the image it
projects to the environment.
That disobedience
constitutes a mystery. I
tentatively propose two or
three factors to explain this
mysterious phenomenon.
One factor, worldwide:
haredi society sees itself as
an insular community, with
fidelity to its own mores,
more-or-less unchanged
through the centuries. In
each country where it has
flourished, haredi Jews
have followed the traditions
of their ancestors and the
rulings of the rabbinic
leaders, while scarcely
paying attention to whatever
government rules.
In principle, haredi Jews
say, governments come
and go, but haredi society
continues unchanged. Haredi
society carries on even under
hostile governments, which
demand that we change our
age-old practices. Thus,
when a government agency
demands that we alter our
way of life, especially our
religious observances, we
stoically disregard their
demands. The governor
of Michigan or the health
minister of Israel, like the
czar of Russia, cannot get us
to change where we recite
our prayers.
Another factor, specifically
in the U.S.: A segment
of the haredi community
— and segments of other
Jewish groups — have
Louis
Finkelman
continued on page 10