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JERUSALEM: Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Israelis participated in the funeral of a prominent rabbi in Jerusalem on Sunday (January 31), flouting the country’s ban on holding large public gatherings amid 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 display of ultra-Orthodox Israelis’ refusal to abide by COVID-19 restrictions.
The phenomenon has undermined the country’s aggressive vaccination campaign to control a violent outbreak and threatens to harm Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the March elections.
A crowd of people gathered in front of the rabbi’s house in a public rejection of restrictions on outdoor gatherings of more than 10 people.
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Thousands of black-clad ultra-Orthodox funeral attendees passed the main entrance of the city toward the cemetery where Soloveitchik would be buried. Police officers blocked traffic intersections to allow participants to pass, but did not appear to take any action to prevent the illegal assembly.
Israeli media said Soloveitchik, a prominent religious scholar who led several well-known seminars, had recently suffered from COVID-19.
Israel’s Health Ministry has recorded more than 640,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and at least 4,745 deaths since the start of the pandemic. At the same time, Israel has vaccinated more than 3 million of its citizens, one of the highest per capita rates in the world.
Health experts say it will take several weeks for the vaccination campaign to have an effect on infection and hospitalization rates. But large public funerals such as that of Soloveitchik in Jerusalem, and of a prominent Arab sheikh killed in Jaffa last week, have confused efforts to prevent the spread of the disease.
A disproportionate number of coronavirus cases in Israel are within the country’s ultra-Orthodox minority. The strictly religious community, which makes up about 11 percent of Israel’s 9.2 million people, has accounted for about a third of confirmed cases of the virus.
Many ultra-Orthodox sects have kept schools, seminaries, and synagogues open, and have held mass weddings and funerals in violation of the law. In recent weeks there have been violent clashes between members of the ultra-Orthodox community who disobey the rules and police officers who try to enforce them.
Ultra-Orthodox leaders say they have been unfairly singled out and argue that the country’s secular public does not understand the importance of public prayers and religious studies in their community.
Gideon Saar, a right-wing Israeli politician challenging Netanyahu in the upcoming parliamentary elections, criticized the prime minister on Twitter, saying that “the photos from Jerusalem show that Netanyahu has given up on law enforcement for political reasons. This will not happen in a government headed by me. There will be a law for everyone and it will be enforced. “
Israel’s cabinet was scheduled to extend the country’s general lockdown for one more week on Sunday night, as the infection rate remained high.
The government imposed movement restrictions and the closure of schools and non-essential businesses last month in an effort to suppress Israel’s rampant pandemic.
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