What the Charedi World is Really Like

Chaim Lebovits’ son, Nachum, donating blood (Forward)

That’s what I’m talking about!

This is an example of a major Kiddush Hashem. An example where one man is making a difference.

There are lots of stories where ordinary people have done extraordinary things. The best example of which is how some righteous gentiles risked their lives and even the lives of their families to save Jews during the Holocaust.

When stories like this happen in our day, they are often featured on daily news broadcasts where after reporting all of the negative news in the world, they want to end on a high note with a positive story.  This is that kind of story.

What makes it especially notable is who this ‘ordinary’ individual is, the community he comes from, and how it is usually portrayed in the media. Which is almost always in a negative light.  Which sometimes ends up generating an increase in antisemitism. Most recently by implying blame for the spread of the coronvirus pandemic in this country  on Charedi Jewry  - and perhaps even blaming them for spreading it to the entire world!

But this story is more than about just one individual or one community. It is about the values of observant Jewry. The people of the book who are tasked to be a light unto the nations - exemplifying the highest standards of ethics and morality. In this case they (we) have demonstrated exactly that.

The individual who is most responsible for this major Kiddush HaShem is a man named Chaim Lebovits, a shoe wholesaler from Monsey, New York. He was contacted by Dr. Shmuel Shoham, a friend of his who happens to be an expert on infectious diseases in transplant patients at Johns Hopkins University. 

Dr. Shoham realized early on that communities that had a high concentration of people infected with COVID-19 would also be a natural resource for antibody rich blood plasma, once they fully recovered. Monsey was clearly one of those places.

Mr. Lebovitz agreed to help and began looking for candidates that could donate their blood plasma way back in early March. Long before most of the world even realized the extent of this deadly disease. And before any kind of mitigation efforts were even suggested by health officials. Once they were, his business closed up and he dedicated all of his time to this one project. And he has been wildly successful – reaching out not only to his own community in Monsey, but to many Orthodox communities all over New York and New Jersey, from New Square to New Rochelle. From the Forward: 

The latest efforts have seen more than 120 Hasidic Jews from Monsey and New Square, perhaps the most insular Hasidic village in Rockland County, N.Y., take an entire day to travel to Delaware to get hooked up at the nearest blood bank that had the capacity to take them.  

The project caught on with people from all of those communities. Not only by donating their blood but by becoming active - helping him carry out this project. He has even gotten wealthy philanthropists to help finance it. And some major Charedi Poskim and community religious organizations to back up him up: 

Rabbi Yisroel Reisman and Rabbi Reuven Feinstein — have said that Jews are encouraged to donate plasma — and can even drive on Shabbat and holidays in order to do so. The Orthodox Union and Agudath Israel of America, the two largest Orthodox umbrella organizations, are sending messages to the community about the science of plasma and its use in treating Covid-19. 

How successful has he been? Through his efforts - over 3000 people have donated blood thus far: 

(He) hopes to organize more than 45,000 people from the Orthodox community around New York City to donate plasma. Dr. David Reich, president and chief operating officer of the Mount Sinai hospital system, said that more than half of the donors to their plasma collection efforts have been Orthodox…

On Sunday, the Mayo Clinic received 1,000 blood samples to test for antibodies from donors in Lakewood, N.J., a major Orthodox hub, to be tested for antibodies, according to Dr. Mike Joyner, who leads the convalescent plasma program at Mayo…

Joyner said he expects to process thousands more tests from Orthodox Jews, and that the community’s contribution to making New York a center of plasma donation could help people across the country recover from the disease faster. He said he wants New York City to become the “Saudi Arabia” of supplying plasma. 

Those who might think that Mr. Lebovitz is doing this only for his own Charedi community, or even just the wider Orthodox Jewish community alone, are wrong. Here is what he said: 

“The plasma isn’t just used for frum” — religious — “people or Jewish people, it’s for people in general,” Lebovits said. “We as observant Jews have an obligation to preserve life, and save life, and help as many people as we can.” 

In the middle of all this – on the last day of Pesach - his brother passed away from cancer. And yet he did not curtail his efforts and went ahead full steam while sitting Shiva– saying that he doesn’t have time to grieve right now. He felt it would be selfish to do so when other people’s lives are at stake! He will wait until all this passes to do that. 

What a beautiful story! What a Kiddush HaShem! And what a refreshing change from what is often reported in the media about Charedi miscreants and outliers – usually without mentioning that they are in fact outliers and not what the Charedi community is really all about. Which is Chesed. Chesed is in the DNA of all the Jewish people. A trait we inherited from our ancestor and Patriarch, Avrohom.

Although first appearing in Mishpacha Magazine in an article by Jonathan Rosenblum - I am happy to see this story reported as well in a secular Jewish newspaper often accused of Charedi bashing. Perhaps this will change how they will report on this community in the future. Without any preconceived bias. One can only hope.