The ultra-Orthodox public is beginning to internalize the guidelines, but slowly • Despite increased publications and closing meetings, Avraham Rubinstein, Mayor of Bnei Brak, emphasizes that sectoral thinking is necessary: ​​"Just cross the street and warn this is a problem; a public without TV gets into excessive pressure"

• One hundred goals, this week

  Photo:

  Oren Ben Hakun

Veterans praying at Itzkowitz Synagogue in Bnei Brak, too, apparently rubbed their eyes in amazement. The institution, one of the most active synagogues in the world, closed its doors this week, for the first time in its history. What no wars did was do the Corona virus. The ultra-Orthodox cities sometimes looked like ghost towns. It took time, including public outrage, but most of the ultra-Orthodox public aligned and began to follow the rules of the Ministry of Health.

You cannot say that persuading the ultra-Orthodox sector to follow the guidelines was easy, far from it. Last week, long after the general public shut down homes, moved away from places of entertainment and stopped going to work, in the ultra-Orthodox world as was customary. The ultra-Orthodox giants announced that the yeshivas and Torah students would work in their order, almost completely ignoring the Ministry of Health's directives, which prohibited the gathering of more than ten people.

"The criticism was not basically justified," defends Avraham Rubinstein, the mayor of Bnei Brak and the secretary of the Torah Torah Council's Greatest Council, on the ultra-Orthodox sector. "The Torah scholars said it was possible to learn after we agreed on an outline with the PM, and then saw that it was not possible. The ultra-Orthodox public does what they are told, but they need to understand that their exposure to the media is less. People don't have internet or TV, and some don't have a radio either. The public needs to understand and embed the messages in its own language. It takes time".

Phone on Saturday

Efforts to explain to the ultra-Orthodox sector how dangerous the situation has been on several levels. Every synagogue and bulletin board in the central cities were hung with signs explaining passersby about the Ministry of Health's guidelines, and at the same time an emergency gathering of rabbinical leaders was held so that they would issue neat instructions and lead the ultra-Orthodox public in their wake. "We convened more than 15 rabbis, great-grandchildren of Bnei Brak, and all signed codes of conduct that included very detailed guidelines, much more so than those of the Ministry of Health," Rubinstein says.

Among other things, the ultra-Orthodox residents were instructed not to hold Arabic prayers in the synagogue and morning prayers and only a limited ministry. Women and children under the age of bar mitzvah who do not have to attend prayer are forbidden to go to synagogues, as are the elderly and those with medical backgrounds. It has also been suggested that weddings and multiplayer events should not be held in private homes. At the same time, Rabbi Yitzhak Zilberstein, one of the leading Haredi publicists, said that blue-collar suspects must leave a lighted phone and answer it on Saturday, and it was later decided to operate vehicles proclaimed on Saturday using non-Jewish drivers, to warn of a Corona patient walking around the area.

The situation in the world had a significant impact on the upheaval that occurred in ultra-Orthodox society. Thousands of patients in New York's ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods have become increasingly aware of the Corona virus. In the ultra-Orthodox Wetsap groups, a chilling viral video was circulated in which Zalman Goldstein, a Chabad devotee from the Crown Heights neighborhood, told of the dire situation.

"... It is a destruction. People are not willing to find out that they have patients at home and are afraid to discover it, but there are already dozens, maybe hundreds, of patients here." While there is no internet for many of the ultra-Orthodox, the video description, along with telephones from relatives abroad, has done their job and made the danger much more tangible. The fact that many in the ultra-Orthodox community in Corona have also benefited from the understanding of the challenging situation.

In fact, the lack of digital media has also caused excessive fear of the Corona, which sharpened the need for the ultra-Orthodox in a customized information system. "The ultra-Orthodox public is under pressure quickly because it has no Netflix or activity for children," says an ultra-Orthodox official. "Therefore, if you walk through the streets and warn unsupervised and filter this is a problem. There was someone who posted ads that said 'Better to live at home than to find yourself at home.' It puts the public into excessive fears."

Mayor Abraham Rubinstein // Photo: The Municipality of Bnei Brak

As mayor of Bnei Brak, Rubinstein found himself in the role of the most senior ultra-Orthodox leader in the municipal field. He quickly took control of the situation and began to spread messages to the ultra-Orthodox public as a whole, regardless of the municipality he runs. Every morning he manages a war room in which he incorporates all the elements in the municipality, and at the same time examines how to help the ultra-Orthodox public in general. "We issued ads to all the newspapers where the guidelines were explained. We put the ultra-Orthodox world into line." Also, telephone lines are activated where Rubinstein updates the ultra-Orthodox on the situation, bypassing the Internet limit that exists in the sector.

Now, the ultra-Orthodox population is in alignment with the general public, but not without shocks and challenges along the way. A few days ago, it was reported that a Corona patient was at a wedding in which there were more than 100 people in a private home, in which case a groom was arrested along with two other people after having a multi-part wedding in Beit Shemesh. Proclamations that are supposed to alert the danger on Saturdays also run into problems. Last Saturday, extreme haredi people were documented as preventing vehicles from traveling, even though this was allowed by the industry's largest arbiters.

After the corona, Rubinstein says, there is a need for rethinking the appeal to various sectors, which of course also the ultra-Orthodox public. He dismissed the criticism of the ultra-Orthodox and said that it must be understood that it works differently and therefore other solutions are needed. "I appeal to the policymakers - share our decisions. It is true that the Health Ministry is ruled by Minister Litzman, but that does not mean that the public should not speak. The Ministry of Health has made good life-saving decisions, but adjustments need to be made."

Ironically, it was precisely the closure of the yeshivas that resulted in more families crowded in the sector than people allowed by the Ministry of Health. "Instead of my children being 16 together in the Torah Talmud class, they are all together, 24 in number, in a closed room," said Joelish Cruise, the ultra-Orthodox community commander this week.

"If you close a meeting and bring the guys home, many people get a flat, in the densest city in Israel. I told the PM - sectoral thinking is needed."

The ultra-Orthodox have to deal with simple problems these days, and some of them are similar to the general population and some are unique to them. "We distribute lunch to the elderly and the children in special education. In some cases, these families have problematic behavior, and if we do not provide them food they may not eat at all," Rubinstein says.

The city of Bnei Brak will now also have to organize very differently for Passover. "Two weeks before Pesach, Bnei Brak is usually the opposite - there is a distribution of apparel, vegetables, fruits and more. Now we have to plan and see how to do this division without people's gatherings."