Pandemic: Orthodox defiance of lockdowns breeds resentment in Israel

Even as Israel’s unparalleled vaccination program races ahead, the country’s third pandemic lockdown in a year has failed to curb deaths or the virus’s spread. Part of the failure stems from the poor enforcement of lockdowns in neighborhoods and cities that are home to the country’s ultra-Orthodox minority, or Haredim.

The growing community has long represented a looming challenge for the country because of its socioeconomic separatism. The rift dates back to Israel’s founding. In return for support in parliament, secular politicians have allowed the ultra-Orthodox to craft their own school curricula and have given young men exemptions from military conscription.

Their autonomy was on display Sunday, when tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox mourners, blatantly defying government orders and their community’s own losses from the pandemic, turned out at a tightly packed Jerusalem funeral for a prominent rabbi who had died from the coronavirus.

The pandemic’s heavy toll has spurred a sense that Haredi autonomy is something that politicians and Israeli society need to confront immediately. “We’re talking about life and death now,” says author Yossi Klein Halevi of the lockdown defiance. “This is a watershed moment for Israeli society.”

TEL AVIV, Israel

The lockdown scenes midday Sunday in the two cities provided a COVID-19 split screen – a tale of two Israels.

In Jerusalem, tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox mourners turned out at a tightly packed funeral for a prominent rabbi who had died from the coronavirus. Their gathering was in blatant defiance of government restrictions that police said they were helpless to enforce.

In Tel Aviv, police patrolled public squares to scare away potential crowds and ensured the stalls in open-air markets remained shuttered by the lockdown.

The disparity was lost on no one, and points to a festering societal division that is far deeper and older than adherence to pandemic protocols.

The restrictions are “killing us. I can’t have one person come in here, or I’ll get a fine. It’s sad to see the market closed,” says Abed Ovadia, a normally boisterous fruit seller in Tel Aviv’s Carmel Market, standing in an empty stall usually brimming with apples and pears.

When the conversation turns to the large-scale disobedience among the ultra-Orthodox, Mr. Ovadia vents.

“They defy everything. They exploit the fact that they have power in the Knesset. If they didn’t have that power, they wouldn’t behave like that. That’s why people are suffering.”

Failure to curb virus

Mr. Ovadia’s frustration resonates far and wide. Even as Israel’s unparalleled vaccination program races ahead, the country’s third pandemic lockdown in a year has failed to curb deaths or the virus’s spread.

Part of the failure stems from the government’s poor enforcement of lockdowns in neighborhoods and cities that are home to the country’s ultra-Orthodox minority, known as Haredim – Hebrew for “God-fearing.”

The community, 12% of Israel’s population, has long represented a looming social and political challenge for the country because of its high birthrates and socioeconomic separatism. But the pandemic has spurred a sense that Haredi autonomy is something that politicians and Israeli society need to confront immediately.

In addition to footage of mass weddings and funerals, television news…