BNEI BRAK, Israel – Israel’s attempt to quell a turbulent pandemic has collided with a hard-hit ultra-Orthodox community that has proved resistant to blockades and is suspicious of the country’s massive vaccination campaign.
On Sunday, thousands of ultra-Orthodox mourners attended two funerals of famous rabbis who died of coronavirus. The mourners flouted the ban on public meetings of a maximum of 10 people on the same day that Israel’s office extended a rigid block that includes a ban on all international flights. Thousands of men dressed in black wool caps and agglomerated suits, many without a mask, show the images of the event. Fearing violence, the police avoided arrests while some leading Israeli politicians were boiling.
“This is how enforcement looks uneven,” said Benny Gantz, defense minister and head of the Blue and White party. “Millions of families and children are locked in their homes and obey the rules, while thousands of haredim fill the funeral, most of them even without masks,” he said, using the Hebrew word for ultra-orthodox.
Funerals followed protests against the blockade in Bnei Brak and other ultra-Orthodox cities the week before, in which ultra-Orthodox men threw stones at the police, set fire to trash bins and knocked over street signs and lampposts.
Many of the mourners gathered for a rabbi’s funeral on Sunday in Jerusalem did not wear masks.
Photograph:
Ariel Schalit / Associated Press
Israeli health officials have also struggled to persuade ultra-Orthodox to get a vaccine against Covid-19. Although much of Israel has lined up for vaccines, the ultra-Orthodox population has been slow to board, with some doubting the safety of the vaccine and others suggesting that the country’s citizens are being used to test its effectiveness.
“This is not a vaccine. It’s an experience, ”said Izhar Mahpud, a 57-year-old resident of Bnei Brak, an ultra-orthodox city east of Tel Aviv that was one of the hardest hit by Covid-19 in the country. “I’m not ready to be a rat in a laboratory.”
Israel plans to vaccinate a large part of its population by March and make the economy work again, allowing the small nation beside the Mediterranean Sea to serve as a global showcase for how to fight the deadly virus. But the ultra-orthodox undermined these lofty goals, largely by resisting blockages and avoiding vaccines.
Israel’s ultra-Orthodox make up about 12% of the population, but account for nearly a third of the country’s coronavirus infections. Israel currently has 68,331 cases of active coronavirus with new infections hovering at around 7,000 a day.
The authorities are struggling to keep the latest increase in check. A British variant of the virus is responsible for about 70% of current coronavirus infections, even though almost a third of Israelis received the first dose of a vaccine. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month banned all international flights and lawmakers on Sunday passed a bill that doubles fines for blocking violations.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews argued with Israeli police during a protest against the coronavirus blockade restrictions in Ashdod last month.
Photograph:
Oded Balilty / Associated Press
Public health officials say the ultra-Orthodox community is particularly vulnerable to the rapidly moving virus. Their large families usually live in crowded apartments and traditionally avoid electronic communication that helps to disseminate information about vaccines.
Data from the Israeli health ministry show that Israel’s ultra-Orthodox are being vaccinated at a lower rate than other groups. Among those over 60, who have been campaigning for the longest time, 85% of all Israelis have received the vaccine, compared with 78% of ultra-Orthodox Israelis.
Ultra-Orthodox and Arab cities are lagging behind in general immunity to the virus due to lower vaccination rates, according to Eran Segal, a computer biologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science who presented his findings to the Israeli government on Sunday night. “This will slow the decline of the pandemic,” said Segal.
Health officials say infections in ultra-Orthodox communities have declined in recent days, as some leading rabbis have endorsed vaccines. Efforts are also underway to combat misinformation and get residents to get the vaccine.
In the large ultra-orthodox city of Bnei Brak, local authorities set up a war room. In the wood-paneled oval room on the top floor of the city hall, with portraits of important religious figures lining the walls, ultra-Orthodox young people sit around a large circular table with large jars of hand sanitizer and work on the phones. They look at spreadsheets with information on everyone who has been vaccinated or not.
The authorities called almost 10,000 people who had not been vaccinated – and spoke to almost 7,000 of them. About 5,000 said they wanted a vaccine, but had yet to get it. Another 1,500 or more did not want to be vaccinated. Municipal authorities work to overcome any obstacles raised in the connections.
For those who do not have a ride to the vaccination post, they provide. If vaccine candidates are unable to contact their health insurance providers, they also help. And if someone they reach doesn’t want to get the vaccine, they’ll see why.
Avi Blumenthal, who leads the health ministry with the ultra-orthodox, said he and his team are combing through lists of Israel’s ultra-orthodox cities to find rabbis who are against vaccination and looking for answers. In one case, an ultra-Orthodox community in Jerusalem had low vaccine rates that many attributed to its rabbi’s alleged anti-vaccine stance. But when health officials interviewed the rabbi, they found that he was actually pro-vaccine – someone spread a rumor attributed to him that the vaccine is dangerous.
An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man received a coronavirus vaccine in Jerusalem last month.
Photograph:
abir sultan / epa / Shutterstock
Yehuda Shaish, 63, who runs four ultra-Orthodox schools in Bnei Brak and nearby cities, said he waited until the rabbis blessed the vaccines. “After the rabbis authorized it, I was happy,” he said.
Despite the blessings of the rabbis, many ultra-Orthodox remain skeptical about vaccines. Yedidya Hasson, 28, who runs a network of WhatsApp groups of 30,000 people in which some members question the wisdom of vaccines and restrictions on coronavirus, says she will not get the vaccine at least for now because she fears possible health risks.
“When it comes to vaccines,” he said, “I think the media in Israel is hiding the truth.”
Some ultra-Orthodox leaders say that while the community’s distrust may help explain the resistance to vaccines and recent demonstrations of civil disobedience, this distrust does not justify violating rules that endanger public health. “You expect religious men to be more moral,” said Rabbi Dov Halbertal, a prominent ultra-orthodox lawyer and commentator. “But when it comes to the biggest test of saving lives, we are failing.”
Israel says it is on track to vaccinate everyone over 16 by the end of March. To understand how the small country vaccinated more of its population than any other so quickly, the WSJ visited clinics that are giving vaccines to young and middle-aged citizens. Photo: Tamir Elterman for The Wall Street Journal
Write to Felicia Schwartz at [email protected]
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