Nebech an Ignoramus is Still an Ignoramus

The streets of Ramat Bet Shemseh - Bet (Times of Israel)

At a time where I am really trying not to criticize fellow Jews, bending over backwards to be Dan L’Kav Zechus (judge people favorably) there is one segment that seems to makes that almost impossible. Before I elaborate, I offer the following anecdote about my Rebbe’s grandfather, R’ Chaim Soloveichik. It goes something like this.

A fellow asked him about a friend who had become an Apikores in the form of an atheist. But it was not because of rebellion. He was an honorable man who sought only Emes – truth. But, Nebech,  in his search for Emes he concluded that there was no God. Much as he wanted to believe in everything he was taught as a child and believed up until that moment, his intellectual honesty led him to that mistaken conclusion. This fellow asked R’ Chaim whether a sincere fellow like that who had no particular anti Jewish animus - but simply and honestly came to make that mistake should still be considered an Apikores.

R’ Chaim understood and had sympathy for that man’s now atheist friend . But replied, ‘Nebech an Apikores is still an Apikores’. Point being that it doesn’t matter how he got there. It matters only that he is - even if we feel bad about the circumstances that got him there. How God judges such a person is not relevant to us.

I think that’s true about any situation. None more so than under the current COVID pandemic. To paraphrase R’ Chaim,  ‘Nebech an ignoramus is still an ignoramus’.

That is the best way I can describe most of the people that populate places like Ramat Bet Shemesh – Bet (RBSB). They are Nebech ignoramuses. From the Jewish Press: 

Effective Sunday (yesterday) 6 am, selected neighborhoods in Beit Shemesh and Netivot were set to enter a lockdown for a five-day period.

The Knesset committee in charge of fighting the COVID-19 novel coronavirus announced the decision Friday to impose the lockdown after both cities showed a sharp rise in the number of COVID-19 infections.

There is a large population of haredi (strictly Orthodox) Jews in Beit Shemesh, and in the southern city of Netivot as well. The lockdown is set to end on Friday at 6 am. 

Except for emergencies, people will not be able to leave.  And no one will be permitted to enter.  Food and other essentials will be allowed continue as before

This is happening at a time when Israel is beginning to lift some of their restrictions in the rest of the country.

The reason for the lockdown is no doubt the same as it was for Bnei Brak a couple of weeks ago. RBSB has large concentration of COVID infected people. Israel wants to contain this extremely contagious virus from spreading. A spread with an exponential reach – if not contained. RBSB will remain shut until heath officials there determine the danger of spread to be reduced to ‘acceptable levels’.

There is more than a one reason the numbers are so high. The one offered by communal leaders there (who admit a higher incidence of the disease) is the density of the population in Charedi cities. There are lot more people there ‘per square inch’ than in most other cities, making it almost impossible to practice social distancing effectively.

Granted. That is certainly one reason. But it is clearly not the only one. Form the Times of Israel: 

Hundreds of extremist ultra-Orthodox residents of Beit Shemesh have held protests against the government’s coronavirus restrictions that have kept synagogues and yeshiva study halls closed, with some even donning yellow Stars of David. Footage and photos on social media of the protests held Monday showed several of the protesters wearing the badges reminiscent of Holocaust-era Jewish persecution… The protest came on the eve of Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day. 

Ignorant youthful protester in Ramat Bet Semsesh - Bet (Times of Israel)

Using Holocaust imagery - comparing Israeli authorities to Nazis has always enraged me. Still does. But I will control my anger at this moment in time and instead try to understand why they are doing this.

What motivates them? Why, one might ask, would people protest what is clearly life saving measures? So much so that even R’ Chaim Kamievsky - who is one of the most revered non Chasidic Charedi leaders in Israel today, said that anyone seen violating the government’s mitigation rules should be reported to the secular police.

I believe that it is because of the willful ignorance by which this community chooses to live. They are so opposed to the influences of the ‘outside world’ that they have virtually closed themselves off from it.  This is how they are raised - cradle to grave. ‘Do not trust  the outside world.’ ‘Nothing they say has any Torah value (except by occasional coincidence)’. 

They should therefore never listen or even attempt to find out what the outside world and their ‘illegitimate’ authorities say.  It is only their own rabbis that they should listen to. Who themselves are largely ignorant of what the outside world says. Even if they do know - they nevertheless dismiss it as being anti-Torah. Which they believe is the real agenda behind everything the government does, no matter how they ‘disguise’ it.

That is the only explanation for why hundreds of them can protest the life saving  measures required by the government. They are willfully ignorant of the facts. Which is how they are raised. they therefore go about their daily business unaware just how deadly this disease is; or how contagious it is; and how quickly it can spread. And protest any interference with their way of life.

Nebech, it’s not their fault. They actually believe they are serving God by ignoring the outside world and not trusting them for anything. That is the only explanation why otherwise fine and decent people who – among themselves (and even to outsiders) are kind and generous souls –  and yet have no problem with some of their members protesting the closing down of Shuls and schools. They just don’t understand the dangers involved. They are ignorant of vital information that can save lives.

If they were to succeed in rebuffing the lockdown they would not only be endangering their own lives, but anyone they come into contact with.

One can feel bad for these people and understand their ignorance. But sympathy will not save any lives. Being a ‘Nebech’ ignoramus is a dangerous proposition in this case. The lockdown must be enforced. Whatever it takes. Those protesters must not be allowed to succeed. They must be crushed! Even if it means arresting every single one of them and throwing them all in jail.  

It is so sad that there are people among us that are otherwise as sincere about keeping God’s laws as anyone could possibly be- sacrificing so much to live their lives the way they do. And yet because of their misplaced piety - end up doing so much harm. Unintentional though it may be.