Enough is Enough

I received a complaint after my last post. I was asked not to criticize any specific communities and instead speak about the good that people do. I respect this person a lot and have not posted in a while because I was contemplating what to do. I have decided to say my last words on this subject although that is not a promise.

I think we all know how the virus has hit the Haredi community especially hard . It is way out of proportion to the overall numbers of other communities. A doctor I know says that the majority of the people in the ICU  at the hospital where he works are Haredi . Newest statistics show that 1/3 of all cases are from Haredi Neighborhoods.

75% of cases in Jerusalem are from Haredi neighborhoods.

A lot of this could have been avoided. It happened because some of the leaders in this community ordered  their followers to DISOBEY THE LAW.

This flaunting of the rules is not  confined to Israel. I have seen the same things happening in New York, New Jersey, Toronto and other places.

The amount of extra lives lost will not be known until we beat this thing but it won't be insignificant and not to compare money to lives, the loss of national income for the extra weeks ( or perhaps months) will also be substantial. We also will be in quarantine longer.

Should I also mention that some important people in the government a contracted Coronavirus  after the minister of health , who ordered the shutdown and then continued to go to a secret minyan, gave it to other government officials. What would happen if our top leaders would be in the hospital like England. Iran and Hezbollah are still out there.

All this could have been avoided if the state and the rule of law were respected.

Jews are told we must respect the rule of law of the countries we live in but some of us have become arrogant.  We think that because we are members of a free society that we can do what we want. Like little children say,' it's a free country'.

We forget where our place in society should be. We can not put our own needs in front of the rest of humanity. Would anyone think to have a funeral with hundreds of people during a lock-down ( as in Brooklyn this week) if this was prewar Poland or Russia and the law was not to congregate? Do we need the threat of violence for people to follow the rules which, as opposed to prewar Poland and Russia, are in the best interest of everyone?

Something needs to be done. I am fed up when hearing anyone who criticizes Haredi or Hardei society being called anti-semetic, Nazi , etc. We should not longer tolerate medics getting stones thrown at them while they are trying to save lives because they are seen as representatives of the government. We should no longer tolerate policemen being called Nazi or shikse.

I also no longer  want to hear the excuse that it is only a small minority that is doing this and therefore you can not condemn a whole community. If those of us outside this society are not allowed to criticize and those within it won't, what is the answer?

Who is ultimately responsible?

Why is it, that even today, our leaders are so scared of the Haredim, that they backed off a plan to lock-down the hardest hit neighborhoods, because 90% of them are Haredi and they were told they were discriminating.

They should be thanking the government for spending the resources to save their lives.

What should happen, in a society that follows the rule of law, is that these leaders who told their followers to flaunt the law, should be held accountable. The money sent to their yeshivas should be used to pay back the rest of us and the Rabbi's themselves should be tried for the deaths they caused because there is no doubt that people died because of them.

We are starting to hear of friends who have lost loved ones to this virus. Others have parents in the hospital.

It is getting very real very fast.

When this first started and the lock-downs were announced, the orthodox Jewish community had the opportunity to do the right thing and show the world how to act. This is especially true in a community that has recognized leaders with the authority to get people to listen. Instead some of us  had the attitude that their religious beliefs, were more important than people. It is something I have been harping on for a long time.

I have Haredi friends and family, some of who I know read this blog. I am asking you please to start demanding of your leaders to speak out,

publicly,

loudly

without holding back.

This חילול השם  (desecration of g-ds name) happened and continues to happen. We  need to do more than saying how wrong some rabbis are.

It needs serious backlash.

It needs to be a fundamental understanding that people, and life , are more important than ritual. This is the halacha ( Jewish law).

I am not saying that ritual is not important. In my opinion, without it the Jewish people are done. Yet we have to find the balance and recognize that some of us have gone too far.

I am asking my friends in the community , please start to say something. The change can only come within.

Every-bit will help.

Sorry there is  not one joke in this post but this a very serious issue. I will try to stay away from it for a while and truly apologize if I have offended anyone. That was not my intention.

I am trying to get another out before tomorrow but if not Chag Sameach