The divide on the proper response to COVID-19 has been a fight that has taken place globally, nationally, and locally for the past 6+ months. Now, in early October, the fight has brought the New York Orthodox Jewish community to the center of the ring. With high positive test results, especially relative to other areas across the state, zip codes that are home to some of the largest populations of Orthodox Jews are about to be subject to lockdowns that will close non-essential businesses, schools, and massively restrict the members of those communities ability to gather together in shul – or even outside – to daven. The Governor, in laying out his lockdown strategy, compared these zip codes to embers in a wildfire with no choice other than to “run to those embers and stamp them out immediately and dramatically.” Many people here in our community support the Governor and his proposals and have cast blame on our fellow Jews for not wearing masks and making no attempt to socially distance. While that is a fair and understandable approach, I ask everyone who shares that view to consider the following:
As recently as early March, it was inconceivable to imagine any government official here in the United States effectively closing down our shuls and yeshivas for any reason. Yet, here we are, in October 2020 and shuls and yeshivas are being shuttered. Sure, we can chalk it up to science and blame certain people for not following the rules, though if thousands of years of Jewish history has taught us anything, those are merely the excuses of the day. Is it so farfetched to imagine a ban on shechita for the inhumane treatment of animals? What about the government stepping into to prevent bris mila under the guise of medical ethics? Is that the line we’ll draw to speak up and fight back together as a community? This is dramatic, of course, and highly unlikely in a democratic country like the United States with strong protections for personal and religious freedoms. The more likely outcome is for this pandemic to run its course and life will return to normal. But how many times in galus have we been singled out as a community and made to suffer? Are we so sure that this time is different? Are we really confident enough that this will pass to stay quiet and even voice our support of policies that clearly target our fellows Jews? Did we forget what being a visibly Orthodox Jew was like pre-Covid? The armed security guards we needed to hire to stand in front of our shuls and schools, the attacks on men walking home from shul in Crown Heights and Borough Park, the stabbing of people gathering together at a Chanukah party. This was life right here in New York seven months ago! Do we really think siding with the politicians and media that are attacking and singling out the more visibly Orthodox Jews will really make our lives safer once this is all done?
To borrow the Governor’s analogy, what we witnessed this week are embers of anti-semitism, the same embers that have ignited the massive fires that burned down Jewish communities of previous generations. It is our responsibility, as Jews, to run to those embers and stamp them out immediately and dramatically. We need to unite as a community and condemn these targeted measures. We need to stand alongside our brothers and sisters in Brooklyn and Queens and demand they are not treated differently than racial justice protesters just because they are Jewish. It is time for achdus and to declare together that our shuls and yeshivas are essential businesses! Yes, there were people who were careless and they didn’t wear masks or socially distance and they are responsible for a chilul Hashem but the embers of anti-semitism are burning again and while it may seem far away and self-contained, sometimes all it takes is a gust of wind for the flames to head our way.
Anonymous
Bravo. Well said. Interesting that so many blame their fellow Jews for rise in antisemitism while forgetting that pre-corona we were being attacked. Perhaps the pre-corona attackers were prophets in disguise and they knew that a few months later some Jews wouldn’t wear masks. Yup, that must be it.
I couldn’t agree more. The fact that people are OK with losing their civil liberties because of a virus that has a 99.97% survival rate is insane.
Anyone who compares the current COVID battle to classic anti-Semitism of the past is misinformed. I’m a child of survivors so my take on this may be different than others’.
Let’s be real. The fear is that these “embers” will flame up and the next thing you know, Jewish stores will be smashed, the Wannsee Conference will be reconvened and Jews from all walks of life will be rounded up. This is a natural fear because it all happened once and nobody did anything about it until millions were dead. And since hatred of Jews has occurred through the centuries, the fear is that it is happening again.
But the current situation is not that. What is happening is that our religious rights are being impacted – not our existence as Jews. That’s a huge difference. Huge.
The current COVID battle affects a relatively small number of Jews in one city in one state in the entire country. I work with many, many Jews in my profession and 90% are not frum, don’t live in Brooklyn and really have nothing more than a passing interest in what is happening. They wear masks and socially distance and go about their daily lives. I went to law school and while 75% of my class were Jews, there were TWO of us, in a class of about 200, who were Shomer Shabbos. I was the only one who wore a kippah. I promise you that nobody else I work with currently, including one Jewish man who is so clueless that he works on Yom Kippur, is worried about their existence.
Yes, what the mayor and governor are doing are very disturbing, hypocritical and are of questionable legality. But at the same time, these new rules should not surprise anyone. Many frum Jews in BP and Flatbush and other places laughed off the mask/social distancing requirements as “goyische nareshkeit” (to quote one person I know) and believed that Daas Toirah and davening every day would protect them. I read articles by people who said if you listened to your Rov, you’ll be protected from COVID, period. It didn’t matter to these people that the vast majority of gedolim had already ruled that masks/social distancing laws MUST be complied with. These gedolim were ignored. It didn’t matter to these people that gedolim like the Novominsker Rebbe and Pittsburger Rebbe and others have died of this virus. It didn’t matter to these people that Jewish newspapers were filling up with names of people who died of COVID. They just continued laughing it off. They remind me of the Jews who lived in the end of the Bais Hamikdosh period – they thought that as long as they kept bringing korbanos and the Bais Hamikdosh stood, they couldn’t be hurt so they flaunted the rules.
Yes, DiBlasio is a hypocritical creep (and pretty much everyone detests him, Jews and Gentiles). Yes, Cuomo is acting like the tough guy to try to get people to forget the senior citizens who died because he sent infected people to nursing homes. But there is some reason to what they are doing. Sickness rates are up in areas of tree city where Chasidim are populous. But there are shuls everywhere in NYC that are not affected at all – shuls in the upper west side, the lower east side, Staten Island, the Bronx – mainly because they listened to the rules so they don’t feel threatened.
Nobody understands better than I do what anti-Semitism can lead to – my mother a”h had an Auschwitz number on her arm all her life. My 90 year old uncle still has his. He would tell you that the current unrest is not the result of an anti Semitic government but of people who just won’t listen to the law, even if it means a temporary inconvenience.
So please – yes, we can be angry about being scrutinized and being “singled out”. But let’s keep our perspective. These things aren’t happening out of the blue. We started it. Maybe if we just respected dina d’malchusa dina a little more, we could live peaceably.
Ns: is it also insane to not want to make a Chilul Hashem by wearing a mask? Is it so hard? And if your father is one of the people who dies of the virus, was it worth it?
Very well said!!
I don’t agree with everything you said but thought you did a good job laying out the other side of this. I do have two issues: (1) this has happened “once before.” I know the Holocaust is the most recent example – and the deadliest – but Jewish persecution has happened every single generation in every part of the world. Why will it be different this time? (2) The impact being on a “small number of Jews.” That small group will be the overwhelming majority of the future Jewish population. Your professional acquaintances and law school classmates will be “killed off” due to assimilation if that hasn’t happened already. I think we should be sensitive to that small group’s thoughts and feeling.
To: Re:5TResident
(1) I agree that our history is pockmarked with persecutions throughout history. I’m not saying such persecution will never happen in the United States. I am saying that the current incident probably isn’t it.
(2) I agree that the feelings of the small group should be considered but in this case, what the small group was being asked to do was not that hard. Just wear a mask and don’t create huge crowds. Simple.
It’s not as if the government was trying to ban Glatt kosher shechita (chas v’sholem a million times), like they are doing in Poland. In that case, again only a small segment of American Jews who keep Glatt kosher would be affected (maybe 10% of American Jews keep any kind of kosher, to say nothing of Glatt kosher) but it would be a HUGE deal because there would be no way for frum Jews to get around that issue.
So in sum, yes, I agree that the needs of small groups must be honored but if the small group created its own problems, that has to be considered too.