The coronavirus crisis has turned into a research laboratory that allows us to study the relationship between the ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) community and the state of Israel.
Haredim flock in masses to leading Torah authority Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky for guidance on lockdown-related issues. But the rabbi does not give any answers, or answers each person differently.
On Tuesday, Shas chairman Aryeh Deri abstained from voting when the government was deliberating whether to tighten the lockdown. It is a peculiar event as, until now, Deri has consistently supported the government's lockdown decisions.
Perhaps he realized he could not vote in favor of the lockdown if the very people he represents do not support it. Or maybe Haredi politicians find it increasingly challenging to remain key influencers in the machine that runs the modern Jewish state.
When the government considered closing synagogues on the High Holidays, Deri fought to prevent the vote but failed. Afterward, he ran to every radio station and begged the Haredi public not to worship indoors, but pray outside.
Silence can reflect a political stance, too.
When controversy erupted over continuing the country's vaccination campaign on Shabbat, neither Chief Sephardi Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef nor Shas publicly expressed any opinion. As often happens in their interactions with secularism, they chose to turn a blind eye.
Ingratitude hit new heights this week occurred this week when Maj. Gen. Roni Numa, who is handling the coronavirus in the Haredi sector for the IDF Homefront Command, was attacked the Haredi public after saying in a briefing that the lockdown was not enforced in the ultra-Orthodox community due to political pressure and the upcoming election campaign.
Numa took the concept from the relationship between the Haredim and the military and applied it to the current relationship between the ultra-Orthodox and the coronavirus pandemic.
Since the government is unable to conscript Haredim, it grants them draft deferments and other exemptions that allow them to continue studying and avoid enlistment, legally.
The same with COVID – since the government is incapable of closing Haredi schools and yeshivas, it creates exemptions for them.
But those who say that Haredim should be forced to comply with lockdown restrictions are wrong. Forceful policing is not only ugly, it is ineffective. When the police arrive in Bnei Brak to close a synagogue, half of Bnei Brak goes outside to watch and gets infected while standing in the street.
The only solution is to deny the Haredi community budgets and fine them for violations. IN the first lockdown, when fines for breaking rules were more substantial, many Haredi school principals ran to their rabbis for permission to close the institutions.
Why should the Haredim allow the government to impose fines and deny budgets? Because if they do not, they will continue to clash with police and will end up with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Opposition, which will see the funds allocated to them by the government shrink much more considerably.
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