JERUSALEM – Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Israelis gathered on Sunday for the funeral of a prominent rabbi in Jerusalem, shattering the country’s ban on holding large public gatherings during the pandemic.
The funeral procession of Rabbi Meshulam Soloveitchik, who died at the age of 99, made its way through the streets of Jerusalem in the latest show of the refusal of ultra-Orthodox Israelis to respect coronavirus restrictions.
The phenomenon has undermined the country’s aggressive vaccination campaign to control a furious outbreak and has threatened to hurt Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the March elections. Two challengers accused Netanyahu of not enforcing the law due to political pressure from his ultra-Orthodox political allies.
Crowds of densely packed people gathered outside the rabbi’s home, ignoring restrictions on outdoor gatherings of more than ten people. Many did not wear masks. Thousands of ultra-Orthodox funerals dressed in black passed through the city’s main entrance to the cemetery where Soloveitchik was to be buried. A handful of police officers blocked intersections with traffic to allow participants to pass, but did not appear to take steps to prevent illegal assembly.
Israeli media said Soloveitchik, a leading religious scholar who led several well-known seminars, had recently suffered from COVID-19.
Alon Halfon, a Jerusalem police officer, told Channel 13 TV that police had no choice but to allow the mass procession to continue. He said police action had helped reduce the size of the crowd and that about 100 tickets were issued for health violations. But in such a dense environment, with children in the crowd, trying to disperse the crowd would have been “unwise and dangerous.”
The Israeli Ministry of Health has recorded more than 640,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and at least 4,745 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Recently, Israel has averaged more than 6,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus each day, one of the highest infection rates in the developing world. At the same time, Israel has vaccinated more than 3 million citizens, also one of the highest per capita rates in the world.
Health experts say the vaccination campaign can take several weeks to affect infection and hospitalization rates. The Israeli cabinet met on Sunday and hoped to extend the national closure for another week. The government last month imposed restrictions on the movement and closure of non-essential schools and businesses in an effort to curb Israel’s pandemic flight.
A disproportionate number of Israeli coronavirus cases are within the country’s ultra-Orthodox minority. The strictly religious community, which accounts for about 11% of Israel’s 9.2 million people, has accounted for about 40% of new cases.
Many ultra-Orthodox sects have kept schools, seminaries and synagogues open, and have held mass weddings and funerals in violation of the closure restrictions that have closed schools and many businesses in other parts of the country. Violent clashes between members of the ultra-Orthodox community who violated the rules and police officers trying to enforce them have been seen in recent weeks.
Ultra-Orthodox leaders say they have been unfairly identified and argue that the country’s secular public does not understand the importance of public prayer and religious studies in their community. They claim that the insolent are a small part of their diverse community and blame the outbreak of crowded living conditions.
Netanyahu has long relied on ultra-Orthodox parties for support, and critics say he has refused to antagonize his allies before the critical election. Without ultra-Orthodox support, it will be extremely difficult for Netanyahu to agglutinate a governing coalition, especially when seeking immunity from an ongoing corruption process.
But there are indications that this alliance could become a responsibility because of widespread anger over ultra-Orthodox behavior during the pandemic. A poll last week indicated that more than 60% of Israelis do not want ultra-Orthodox parties to serve the next coalition.
Sunday’s funeral came a day after police used a water cannon to disperse anti-Netanyahu protesters near the prime minister’s residence. And Israeli media showed that police aggressively handed out fines to people who violated the closure in Tel Aviv, accusing police of following both standards.
Gideon Saar, an Israeli right-wing politician who challenged Netanyahu in the election, criticized the prime minister on Twitter, saying that “images of Jerusalem show that Netanyahu has given up enforcing the law for political reasons. This will not happen in a “There will be a law for everyone and it will be enforced.”
Another challenger, Yair Lapid, leader of a centrist party that appealed to middle-class secular voters, said in a speech in parliament that he had nothing against the ultra-Orthodox or their parties.
“I have a big problem with someone who thinks the law doesn’t apply to him,” he said. “The law is for everyone.”