By Passover we knew for sure. We were mourning the deaths of our dear family and friends. We were recovering from the virus ourselves.
When it all began sometime around Purim, we did not
understand how deadly this novel virus would be. We couldn’t know. We
couldn’t be blamed for not knowing. We didn’t realize that eating
together, and singing and dancing together were the easiest ways to
transmit this deadly disease. But that was Purim. By
Passover we knew for sure. We were mourning the deaths of our dear
family and friends. We were recovering from the virus ourselves.
Seven
weeks later, on Shavuot, COVID-19 was still raging. And on Rosh
Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simhat Torah it still raged.It’s not what we wanted, it’s not what we expected, but it is – as the saying goes – what it is.So why can’t the Jewish world, the haredi,
ultra-Orthodox world in particular, accept this hard truth? Why do some
people think that they are different from everyone else?As Jews, we know how to abide by rules and regulations: Shabbat,
kashrut, the 613 commandments we obey on a daily, weekly, monthly and
yearly basis.
How is it that people either don’t realize or don’t care
that by flaunting the rules being imposed on us by medical
professionals, they are risking their lives, the lives of people about
whom they care, even the lives of people whose names they now know but
whose lives they have – because of their own selfish and self-serving
needs and desires – altered forever.I’m angry. I’m more than angry. I’m enraged, and I’m embarrassed.My
fellow Jews are rioting. They are burning protective masks, mocking
social distancing and fighting with police. And the whole world is
watching.And it’s been going
on this entire pandemic.
How can such people – the “People of the Book”
– not realize that instead of saving lives as we are instructed, they
are causing the loss of lives?Weddings
are celebrated and then, about five days later, the parents or
grandparents of brides and grooms are testing positive for the virus.
They might die. Thousands of people attend a funeral of someone who died
from COVID-19, and then hundreds become infected. Again, they might
die. People mourn, sitting
shiva – not Zoom shiva but real shiva, where well-wishers enter their
homes to share condolences – and the mourners themselves end up sick,
hospitalized or dead. A grandmother contracts it from a grandchild. An
uncle catches it from a nephew and is admitted to the ICU.
It is a
deadly cycle.INCONVENIENCING
OURSELVES in order to respect and honor the elderly and those most at
risk should not be treated as a burden, it should be treated as a gift.
When we have the ability to help save lives, why would people – our
people – choose instead to engage in acts that will, ultimately and
inevitably, take lives? Why?The
haredi community believes they are being singled out and even
persecuted, in the United States as in Israel, because they are
different, because they stand out. They are right. They are being
singled out. But not for those reasons. They have thrown the health
recommendations out the proverbial window and their number of
coronavirus cases has skyrocketed. That’s why.When
the number of cases declined in Orlando, Florida – the home of Disney
World, “the happiest place on Earth” – until this past week, there has
to be a reason.
Maybe it’s because it’s Sukkot, and Orlando was the
destination of choice for thousands of Jews from haredi communities
across the USA.Do they not see the correlation or can they just not accept the truth?The
riots I am seeing on television and social media, the open disregard
for the law of the land, is the stuff of anarchists and hate groups, not
the Orthodox Jewish community. The logic is warped. The violence is
real.Synagogues, stores and
restaurants in some Orthodox communities are pretending to comply. They
are posting large signs on their doors that say “CLOSED,” and in smaller
letters, in Hebrew or Yiddish they write, “Use the back door instead,”
as if the police don’t know what’s happening.
The haredi community might
not be fluent in the use of Google Translate, but the police certainly
are. And in the end, who are they hurting? Who are they fooling? More
importantly, who are they killing? Against whom are they committing the
ultimate sin?Doctors and
scientists still do not fully understand this virus, but there are some
things they know. They know that avoiding large groups save lives. They
know that wearing masks save lives. They know that social distancing
saves lives. And they know the importance of hand-washing. It’s not
rocket science, but it is science.Maybe,
just maybe – if we all do our best to follow the advice of the health
professionals and others who know what they’re talking about – by next
Purim we will be able to sing and dance and dine and rejoice with no
fear of spreading the virus.