Understanding why some Hasidic Jews resist social distancing restrictions
An anthropology student offering some commentary on Charedim and funerals and the health crisis. I would call this sympathetic and insightful.
Excerpts:
"Hasidic Jews are being called a lot of things as people react to the defiance of social distancing rules by a few thousand people at a funeral in Williamsburg. Many of the things they’re being called are wrong."
"The community is insular, but not ideologically anti-science. I taught science in a Yeshiva middle school. It was an all-boys’ school that stressed religious study. Parents and teachers were forced to make Faustian bargains because time and energy were limited resources."
"This community is not anti-intellectual. It is selectively intellectual, as are many other communities in different ways."
"When they feel misunderstood, or worse, pilloried, the bond between information-holder and audience erodes and there is no longer confidence in the covenant. Rosseau wrote that the sciences had caused the corruption of virtue and morality. Members of the scientific field have to work harder to tighten the bonds of that relationship.
"No community member actually believes that scientists are evil. But for a self-sufficient people who find comfort in ritual and have a long, problematic history with authorities and society, it is reasonable to ignore mainstream experts and embrace your religious ritual, however dangerous or illogical."
"Another factor is ritual. Comfort comes from embodied practice. Ritual has always provided solace for Orthodox Jews. Wake up, wash hands. Wrap tefillin if you are a man. Go to ritual bath if you are a woman.
"One of the most highly ritualized areas of practice is mourning. A loved one dies and the griever doesn’t even know what to do with oneself as he is overcome with sorrow."
"These rituals give comfort and free one’s mind from otherwise paralyzing sadness. The grief of losing your friends and family is often too much to bear, especially when there is mass loss around you and many funerals you can’t attend because restrictions on travel. Walking with a procession and accompanying the dead is a ritual that provides comfort for all the lives that have been lost to this disease."
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