Where is the Religious Leadership?

Store in Brooklyn with a sign in Yiddish saying they're open (Washington Post)

It almost seems like the more religious one is, the stupider they get. The only people they listen to are their religious leaders. Some call it Daas  Torah. Others might see a Chasidic Rebbe in that role. Point being that if they do not hear a specific directive from their religious leadership, they can pretty much do whatever they want.  In some cases that extends to even violating the law when it suits their purposes. 

Not that their leadership actually approves of violating the law. But that they don’t focus all that much on it. At least not as much as on ritual and custom. Leaving the impression that it isn’t that much of a big deal.

In far too many cases they might pretend to care about the law. But they really don’t. Other than fearing the consequences of being caught violating it. Which is not always enough to stop them - believing they are smarter than the law and will get away with it. 

When they get caught, it results in a massive Chilul HaShem. This has happened more times than I can count. To underscore how little they care about the actual law, a few years ago a Chasidic Rebbe with a substantial following was caught defrauding the government to fund his religious institutions. He served time in prison for that. If a spiritual leader has no ethical or moral issues stealing money for the government, why should the average religious Jew feel any different?

One might argue that it isn't only the more religious Jews that get caught violating the law. That is certainly true. Unfortunately I know more than a few 'wise guys' that are not Charedi and  thought they could outsmart the government. They are currently serving long prison terms. But they do not have religious leaders they look to for ethics and morals. Charedim do. The sad irony ends up being that the more religious one appears to be, the worse they make Judaism look by such behavior. 

Which brings me to COVID. It seems like the more religious one is, the less seriously they take the pandemic. There is little doubt in my mind that if Charedi religious leaders treated the pandemic as seriously as davening with a minyan Charedim would take it a lot more seriously. They would do what is necessary to  protect themselves and others around them. But the opposite seems to be the case. 

When you see value only your own religious leadership - and that leadership express fervor only for ritual and custom. the consequences can be dire. Not only for themselves, but for their family, their community and all of observant Jewry. And I'm not taking only about Chilul HaShem. Desecrating the name of God is of course one of the most serious transgressions a Jew can commit. I am talking about endangering lives. From the Washington Post: 

Things began to slide after an ultra-Orthodox wedding in mid-August seeded the virus in the densely populated Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn.

After city officials saw a small uptick in cases, the NYC Test & Trace Corps deployed its mobile units and began robocalling residents. It translated informational fliers into Yiddish to communicate with the Hasidic Jewish community there. Public health experts spoke with community leaders and writers at local papers.

But unlike earlier in the summer, the numbers continued to rise. By the first week of September, city officials identified four potential hot zones in Brooklyn and Queens… 

On Oct. 4, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) said the cases in Brooklyn and Queens were an “extraordinary problem, something we haven’t seen since the spring.” He proposed wielding a more severe tool — government-ordered shutdowns of schools, businesses and other public gathering places in nine Zip codes. The plan was sent to the governor’s office because state authority is required.

Cuomo greenlit the hotspot shutdowns, but shifted the zone boundaries to be more granular than the Zip codes the city had proposed 

On Oct. 8, the zone rules went into effect. In five red zones, businesses were ordered shut and mass gatherings were made a finable offense.  

Enlarged image of sign on the door (above)

With the current unprecedented spike on COVID cases all over the world, one would think that a religious Jew would understand the serious life and death issue at hand and take heed. But that is not what is happening in Brooklyn. Although the stores were officially shut, some were secretly open. One storeowner in a neighborhood where stores were shut down, put a sign up on his door in Yiddish saying, Come on in. We’re open! 

This is not an isolated case. A few years ago I saw a sign like that personally on a visit to Lee Street, the main shopping drag in Williamsburg. It said ‘Closed’ in English and ‘Open’ in Yiddish. Apparently the store owner did not want to serve a ‘certain type’ of clientele. 

This kind of thing is too common for their leadership to be unaware of. Which can only mean they don't see all that much wrong with doing it. 

I am disgusted by this attitude. But, unfortunately  not surprised by it. If your leaders don't treat this kind of thing as seriously as Davening with a Minyan why should you treat it any differently? Problem is  at a time where COVID infections are at an all time high, hospitalizations are up and so too are deaths... you may actually kill someone.