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Rabbi's Blog

rabbi 05 smallsf badge lgRabbi Joel Landau  (rabbi@adathisraelsf.org) has been the Rabbi of Adath Israel since May 2013. He was ordained by the Chief Rabbinate in Jerusalem and has served previously as a congregational Rabbi in Charleston, South Carolina and Irvine, California. A full biography of Rabbi Landau is available here.


 

Over the course of the past several weeks, both in Israel and the United States, some segments of the Chareidi community have not been adhering to COVID-19 protection measures. The following two articles can help us gain a better understanding of these individuals’ perspectives. The first article is written by Rabbi Menachem Bombach, a Vizhnitzer chassid who grew up in Meah Shearim, studied at the Mir Yeshiva and has a B.A. in Education and an M.A. in Public Policy. The second article, titled “What a Coronavirus Teshuva From Bnei Brak Can Tell Us About Ourselves,” was written by Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein in response to Rabbi Moshe Shaul Klein, who penned a lengthy responsa explaining how Torah study and prayer protects the community and therefore, there is no need to follow the government’s COVID-19 guidelines.

Blog #1: 

In recent weeks, Israel has been overwhelmed by skyrocketing COVID-19 infection rates. According to Ronni Gamzu, Israel’s coronavirus czar, more than 40 percent of all new Coronavirus cases are found in members of the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community.

According to the government statistics bureau, however, the Haredi community makes up only some 12% of the overall Israeli population (a number that is expected to increase dramatically, until the Haredi community constitutes approximately 25% of the population in 2048). This shows us that during corona times, even a small group of people can have an enormous impact on the nation’s future.

What accounts for the dramatic rates of infection in the Haredi community? How have we gotten into a situation that not only threatens human life but touches on raw nerves politically and socially, and is causing a huge rift between the different sectors in Israeli society?

For starters, it is important to note that while there is a tendency to lump members of the ultra-Orthodox community together and to blame all the Haredim for the rise of infection in Israel, there are different factions within the Haredi community.

The Haredi community is divided into three main factions: Lithuanian (Ashkenazi), Hasidic, and Sephardic. The Lithuanian-Ashkenazi and the Sephardic Haredi communities are generally careful to abide by Israeli national law (roughly speaking, that is; there are those who break the mold in each of the groups). Rabbi Gershon Edelstein who leads the Lithuanian Haredi sect and Rabbi Yosef who leads the Sephardic Haredi sect both came out with an unequivocal call against large gatherings and demanded the closure of synagogues.

The Hasidic faction, however, is split in its practices; some Hasidic groups are very particular to follow national laws, while others are less compliant. The Admor of Karlin, the chief “Rebbe” of the Karlin Hasidic community, who has been a wondrous figure in Israel during the last 40 years, has an unwavering commitment to the laws of the state. Similarly, the Admor of Gur stringently adheres to the law of the land. Along with the heads of these Hasidic dynasties, however, are other Admorim who are less particular about following the Israeli government’s regulations.

While I don’t defend anyone who is not keeping to the rules – in fact, I condemn such behavior in the strongest terms – I do believe it’s critical to gain insight into how those who are breaking the rules can be so mistaken to begin with.

In order to understand why so many members of the Hasidic community — of which I am a member — are becoming infected with COVID-19, it is necessary to look beyond the crowded living conditions that characterize the community and to understand the deep-rooted primal, worldview that underlies the Haredi community’s discourse and the behavior that comes along with it.

There are three main reasons why the leaders of some of the Hasidic factions have given up the fight against the coronavirus:

  1. Practical – Some of the factions see COVID-19 as a heavenly decree that cannot be fought and believe that it is only a matter of time until we all get the disease, after which we will have herd immunity. At the same time, those who ascribe to this approach take steps to protect elderly people and other members of the community who are at high risk, in order to minimize the damage done by the disease. This explains the high number of cases among young yeshiva students in the ultra-Orthodox community, and the low mortality rates among older members of the community (at least at the present time).
  2. Spiritual – Some Hasidic factions are concerned that closing community institutions such as yeshivot and synagogues will damage the spiritual life of the community. They fear that as a result of such closures, there will be an increase in members who stray from their ultra-Orthodox lifestyle, the educational system will disintegrate, and marriages will be strained when couples are confined to home and cannot go about their daily routines.
  3. Psychological – During times of uncertainty, there is a need to create stability. Some of the rabbinic leaders of Hasidic factions want routines of prayer and study to continue in order to protect their followers psychologically. In Hasidic communities, many tales are told about the great “mesirut nefesh” – self-sacrifice and strength of character – of various saintly rabbis, who continued their service of God and kept on praying and studying Torah even in situations of extreme difficulty. The rabbinic leaders of these factions hope that future generations will look back at the community’s behavior during the coronavirus pandemic as a shining example of perseverance in the face of adversity.

The problem with the list of reasons above is what it is missing. In the communities that do not follow the health regulations imposed by the government to minimize the spread of the coronavirus, there is no awareness of the fact that we don’t live alone, but rather are part of a larger society. There is no understanding that we are part of a nation, that our actions affect our surroundings, and that sometimes we cannot make decisions just for ourselves. There is no recognition of the fact that Israel has governing bodies, professional systems, researchers, public health officials, and doctors who are formulating policy and whose positions are constantly being reviewed because decisions made in this area have critical impact. Some Hasidic factions are not taking these variables into consideration at all.

I myself do not know the right way to deal with the pandemic. Thankfully, the decisions regarding how to deal with the current chaos and its consequences are not in my hands. However, if we want to see change in the way similar challenges are dealt with in the Haredi community in the future, it is essential that a core curriculum of general studies be added to ultra-Orthodox education. We must ensure that the coming generations will continue their study of Torah and religious studies, but that they will also learn about civics and will have a knowledge and understanding of science and statistics. These studies will raise their civic awareness and sensitivity.

Blog #2: 

It has been the best of times, and the worst of times, for Torah Judaism. We’ve seen strong, sensible leadership in parts of the community, and failed leadership elsewhere. We’ve seen the resilience of the halachic process, in a torrent of teshuvos (responsum) addressing new and important issues, delivered by responsible talmidei chachamim (scholars). But we have also witnessed Orthodox Judaism held up in front of the world for derision – and we cannot deny that they have found justification for their complaints.

Taking a closer look at teshuva/responsum from Bnei Brak allows us see the strengths and weaknesses of the Torah community’s response.

The teshuva (responsa) examines the application of the gemara’s principle that shluchei mitvah einam nizakim – loosely, in the context of the responsum, that those involved in the performance of a mitzvah meet no harm as a consequence of that involvement. The author, in classic responsum style, deals with its parameters and exceptions, and applies the principle to the restrictions that the Israeli Ministry of Health has placed on shuls and schools. His conclusion is that COVID-19 presents only a slight risk factor (of 120,000 diagnosed at the time of its writing, “only” 800 deaths, mostly of those with pre-existing conditions), and therefore within the range to rely of the aforementioned principle. Shuls, therefore, should be reopened. Masks should not be mandatory while davening, and perhaps not at other times, because they depress the wearer with thoughts of the plcague, which causes more harm than the virus. When a child in school is diagnosed positively, it should not cause all other children to miss their Torah studies for two weeks. Because the state of affairs has carried on for so long, we are in the position of the fish urged by the fox to come up on shore where it will be safer for them. Torah study and proper davening are our lifeblood and disturbing them for too long is a greater threat to the community.

The positive: The teshuva is a testimony to emunas chachamim in Chazal (belief in the words of our Sages), something to which others only pay lip-service to. He treats the words of our Sages with seriousness and would not think of dismissing their statements as aggadic (homiletic), and therefore irrelevant. One need not agree with the analysis of the relevant texts to respect that, and appreciate that this is precisely what poskim /decisors have done for centuries. He understands the spiritual dynamic of his part of the community and recognizes that prayer and learning are what keeps it going. What for others is fungible (i.e. it can take other forms, without destroying the flow of life), for his community is absolutely essential. That is real and palpable, and something we should all aspire to.

So what’s wrong with it? Plenty.

  • First and foremost – there is not the slightest mention of the impact of a rising infection rate on the rest of the population. If the medical facts were correct – and they are not – the teshuva would still be all wrong. The goal of the restrictions remains preventing the overwhelming of the nation’s medical system. The author can assert that “only” so many people become ill, but they recover. The reason they recover is that many are treated in hospitals, some of which have run out of beds and are turning away patients. He does not consider the many, many doctors and nurses who have been infected, and taken off active duty. (Israel recently requested that all retired physicians and nurses report to hospitals to help out.) He does not deal with the many individuals – new chemo patients, for examples, who cannot get treatment and whose lives are therefore imperiled, because hospitals cannot tend to them. There is a complete disregard for the bigger picture – the impact of a rising infection rate on the nation as a whole. He writes as if no one else existed but Bnei Brak.
  • He ignores the impact of his words on others. If you look at umpteen teshuvos across the centuries, you will find talmidei chachamim writing like chess players, anticipating the moves of others. Authors thought about the consequences of their decisions, in other communities, and at future times. Did it occur to the author that a call to flout government regulations would be quickly picked up outside of Israel as well? Within Israel, he may have felt that there is so much hatred of charedim by the rest of the population, that a bit more would make no difference. What happens, however, when Jews in the US decide that they, too, can decide to ignore the law of the land? We know now that the actions of some of our US subcommunities have precipitated a chilul Hashem unlike anything we have seen in our lifetimes. As Rav Asher Weiss, shlit”a, put it, “We don’t know what the Ribbono Shel Olam wants from us. One thing we can tell. He is not happy with us.” Is this a time that we should be inciting our non-Jewish neighbors against us?

When the author teaches the laws of refuah on Shabbos, he undoubtedly makes mention of the responsum of the Chasam Sofer that permits treating far more patients on Shabbos than the limited group of Shabbos-observers sanctioned by the gemara itself. The Chasam Sofer permits this because, in larger populations dependent on the medical services of others, we would all be endangered if service providers reciprocated any refusal on our part to treat them. Did it not occur to the author that this might be the case with COVID as well? Even if he did not know of the documented cases of medical personnel in NY openly speaking about their refusal to risk their health on people who had been careless about their own, he should have recognized that possibility, and addressed it in his teshuva.

  • His claims that the majority of COVID deaths occurred to people who were so sick previously, that the slightest medical challenge took their lives. To the rest of us, COVID is not a great risk. Really? He seems to confuse “pre-existing conditions” (prevalent in so many people over 60) with “gravely ill.”
  • He decries the poor care given to older patients in nursing homes, which he attributes to exaggerated fears by caregivers to contagion. Tell that to the families of the caregivers who died in the process. While some of the unsung heroes of this war are in fact charedi volunteers, is the author ready to call on his children and grandchildren to report to those facilities to help out?

What’s the takeaway from all this? It can’t be pointless venting, as cathartic as it sometimes feels. That just cannot be a Torah approach. I would suggest that it was the Tzanzer Rebbe who nailed it a few days ago in his Sukkos message, delivered while himself suffering from C-19. In free translation, from Sivan Meir-Rahav’s report:

We are required to be in quarantine. We have no possibility of gathering in shuls or for simchas. We have to keep our distance, doing the best we can, observing the dictate of "V’Nishmarten me’od le-nafshoseichem" (preserve your souls). But we must stop and think. Perhaps all this isolation stems from the fact that there is division and dissension among us, and that we lack a generous eye and peaceful disposition towards our fellow? Everyone thinks of himself, of his friends and relatives, on his own community of Chassidic group – and ignores our people as a whole. [Emphasis mine – YA] Rather that look generously at the other, and judge him favorably, we fall prey to lashon hora and rechilus (tale bearing). For this, we are paying the price, measure for measure. "You wish to be for yourself? Fine. Go it alone, by yourself."

The Torah way in criticism is to find fault with the other only as a way of discovering the problem within ourselves. We have many, many people who are incredibly devoted to the community – and the nation. (Many of the finest are secular Jews, who live and breathe for the benefit of the nation as a whole.) We cannot say that this is an emphasis in the chinuch we give our children.

The Ponovezher Rov, who was responsible for so much of the early development of Bnei Brak, was invited to the inauguration of a Chassidic organization there. He danced ecstatically – despite having no connection to that chassidus. He exulted, “Today – here – I am a chassid!”

It is not enough to simply relate the story as a footnote to the life of a great person. We need to abstract the lesson of real responsibility to groups outside of our own, and to the nation as a whole, and harp on it. We likely will not influence others. But we need it for ourselves.