Predictions for after the Storm

Whenever this crisis is over – may it be soon – there are likely to be radical changes in Orthodox Jewish community life, both in the Diaspora and in Israel.

Among them may be:

 A crisis of confidence in rabbinic leadership.  Disillusion and anger are being expressed all over the internet and press at the way in which the leading Haredi rabbis dealt with this crisis.  They failed to recognize the initial danger of the virus, to the point of dismissing it. That failure was compounded by opposition to cancelling minyanim, schools / yeshivot, public gatherings etc.  When such gatherings did happen – and they are still happening – no-one seems able to stop them.  Attempts to do so were too little, too late. 

The results are that in New York and – especially – in Israel, the ‘hot spots’ of coronavirus, with accompanying tragedies, are mostly in Haredi areas.   There is considerable public anger in Israel at the Haredi community.  The anger is fueled  by images of Haredim attacking police, firemen and other officials trying to enforce public health provisions.  There may be parallel public feeling in the USA, especially in the NY-NJ area.  Mayor de Blasio’s threat to permanently close down shuls and yeshivot who were not complying with emergency orders speaks volumes.

Like the Orthodox anti-vaxxers, all of these attitudes show a fundamental ignorance of basic science; a view that “the rules don’t apply to us”; and an antipathy to the rule of law.  They stem from an awful education system, imposed on our community by rabbinic dictum, and supported by Orthodox political parties.

Related to this will be the effect of closing shuls and yeshivot for weeks, and possibly months.  For teenagers who have no experience of unstructured leisure time, the freedom may be addictive.  Will they uncomplainingly return to an 8:00AM – 6:00PM learning routine?  I am not sure.  Will their fathers return to daily minyanim?   As the WW1 song said. “How will we get the boy back on the farm after he’s seen Paree?”

Another effect – not at all clear at the moment – will be the financial consequences to institutions, organizations and businesses.

Pesach observance, especially among the wider Orthodox community will never be the same. At a time when all shopping is actually very difficult, the public has looked to see what products they can use that are permissible without special, expensive Pesach hechsherim.  It turns out there are many.  But if they are OK this year – why weren’t we told about them last year?   Or the year before?    There is a perception that the rabbinic authorities have not been at all sympathetic or understanding to the practical problems of the Jewish family, especially those who don’t live in major Jewish areas, or who are financially pressured.  The commonest plea to the religious authorities was to permit kitniyot.  There are precedents for this.  It’s not clear how helpful this would actually be (rice and beans would have been the main purchases) – but the psychological gesture would have been huge.  No-one budged.

The ‘ZOOM heter’ opened another window regarding digital electronics which will never again be completely closed.  Interestingly, this is probably the only rabbinic ruling in recent years enthusiastically and positively received by the Jewish public!  It seemed to be a real demonstration of human empathy and understanding to very acute social distress.  (Sephardi leniency towards the use of electricity on Yom Tov is a well-established principle.)   But it was quickly squashed by Ashkenazi poskim, even if one or two seemed to indicate, grudgingly, that the Sephardi scholars had a point.

We are living in unprecedented times.   They do not compare to wartime, G-d forbid; but they are imposing novel and disruptive conditions on all of our lives, and specific disruptions on the Orthodox Jewish way of life which has grown in the last few decades.   In such circumstances, leadership needs to lead in ways which inspire confidence – at every level (ve’hamavin yavin!).   But the significant and fundamental adjustments and sacrifices which are being made, and the unavoidable impact of  suffering and bereavement must leave their impact on all of us. 

Things will not return to what they were.  What will change?