Misdirected Anger

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (Arutz Sheva)

It appears that the criticism of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s recent tweet will not go away. Here is what he said:

My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed. I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period. 

He has been strongly criticized by spokesman from a wide variety of Jewish organizations for singling out Jews for violating social distancing guidelines at a funeral. (For which he later apologized.) While at he same time ignoring a large gathering of New Yorkers who on the same day violated them too by gathering to see a flyover tribute to health workers.

While I agree that on the surface this seems unfair, the criticism de Blasio is getting is - in my view -  even more unfair. I say this even though my political views are mostly the polar opposite of his. I would have never voted for him if I was a New Yorker. But one has to be fair. And judge what people say in context. Especially the context of the times we are now suddenly living in.

Let us examine the context and circumstances of those violations. 

The Jews that violated the guidelines had done so in the context of attending a funeral in Williamsburg of a beloved Chasidic Rebbe. This was not done without some forethought and planning. It involved coordination with the NYPD who had approved attendance of that funeral provided social distancing guidelines were scrupulously adhered to. 

Despite that intention  social distancing was quickly abandoned by the Chasidim attending.  Now, I’m sure they were not deliberately flouting those rules. But clearly they were more concerned about honoring the beloved Rebbe than they were about adhering to those guidelines. 

The NYPD should have known better. This was not their first rodeo. They had to know something like this those was going to happen.  But even though they should’ve known better, clearly the leadership of those Chasidim who coordinated with the police should have. 

I am not being unkind here. Just factual.  I am sure these Chasidim believe they were on the right side of the issue here. They are not well informed about the dangers of COVID since they generally do not access the secular media. They generally mistrust them - seeing the outside world as hostile. Also, the idea of not attending a funeral of a beloved Rebbe was unthinkable to them. Making them oblivious to the fact that they were congregating in ways that endangered themselves. And ultimately others - if they contracted the virus and interacted with them - spreading the virus unintentionally while still asymptomatic.

So while de Blasio said ‘the Jewish community’, I believe he meant this specific one. These Chasidim think they were right in what they did, so it is hard to completely blame them. The real culprit is the culture in which they live that has a faulty perception of the outside world thereby mistrusting then. Making them vulnerable in situations like this.

I think that deep down, Mayor de Blasio must sense that this is the problem. Which is why he framed it the way he did. He was understandably angry. He probably thought that if they aren’t going to listen, he will threaten playing hardball with them.

So why didn’t the mayor have an equally harsh tweet against the other people who violated the social distancing guidelines? Perhaps he should have. But I think there is a difference between an ad hoc group of people doing something on the spur of the moment and a group that deliberately defies the rules in order to attend a funeral.

It is disturbing to me as an Orthodox Jew to see other Orthodox Jews being so stupid - even if it IS unintentional.

Stupid because of a culture of deliberate ignorance! 

We are supposed to b a light unto the nations. We are supposed to be a wise nation – as the Torah describes us. The  world is supposed to look at our wisdom and emulate us. Instead they see a group of Jews who by their appearance are seen by many as the most religious among us and thereby the most representative of doing the will of God.

Mayor de Blasio probably just reacted and did not give his tweet all that much thought. But it wouldn’t surprise me that underlying it was some of this kind of thinking. He probably thought that - of all people, - members of the Jewish community should know better.

He said, ‘Jewish community’. But he couldn’t possibly have meant the entirety of it. He knows that the Jewish people are not a monolithic group of which these Chasidim in Williamsburg are the most representative. He reacted out of anger and concern for their welfare and that of others. I am convinced that he does not have an antisemitic bone on his body. It doesn’t help matters that some of us continue to condemn him as though he did. It makes us all look paranoid.

What about de Blasio’s actual  warning, though. Has it penetrated? Has this community been duly chastened and now understands what is at stake? Hardly. From Arutz Sheva: 

Congregation Kahal Tolaas Yaakov in Williamsburg, New York, on Friday was served by the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene with a cease and desist order.

The order came after the synagogue continuously violated New York State's executive order regarding gatherings and religious services.

Last week, the congregation held a large funeral for Rabbi Chaim Mertz, prompting Mayor Bill de Blasio to "name and shame" the city's entire Jewish community.
This week, a second event, this one with at least 100 participants, was held, leading the city to issue the order. 

Need I say more? Have they not by now seen the folly of their ways? I guess not. Are there other groups violating these guidelines? Of course there are. But what the world is learning about the Jewish people because of them is that we are not as smart as we think we are.