Last week, Bernie Sanders surrogate Linda Sarsour and former Women’s March Co-Chair Tamika Mallory posted multiple tributes on Facebook honoring a major Nation of Islam leader.
“To God we belong, to God we return. Rest in power Minister Abdul Hafeez Muhammad,” Sarsour wrote honoring the Eastern regional minister and representative of Louis Farrakhan, who passed away on April 11 due to COVID-19 complications.
Muhammad, 56, was the student minister of the historic Mosque No. 7 in Harlem who worked under Louis Farrakhan, who has a prolific history of anti-Semitic and homophobic remarks. The Nation of Islam has been declared a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“I could count on Abdul Hafeez Muhammad! That means a lot,” Mallory wrote on her Facebook wall. “Not many people are consistent, dependable and kind. He was that. Long live Abdul Hafeez Muhammad.”
In another post, Mallory wrote about how Muhammad arranged transportation from an airport during a family crisis, to which Sarsour commented: “He was one of a kind.”
In her third public post about the Nation of Islam leader, Mallory gave a shout out to the organization. “I was so caught up in my personal feelings about Min Hafeez, I forgot to give my condolences to the entire Nation of Islam family,” she wrote. “Ameen,” Sarsour replied in the comments.
Both activists faced controversy for their ties to the Nation of Islam while they led the Women’s March. Sarsour delivered a speech at a 2015 rally organized by Louis Farrakhan in his celebration and has hired the group as her personal security. She strongly defended fellow Mallory when Mallory was criticized for attending a speech where Farrakhan declared, “The powerful Jews are my enemy.”
Mallory has yet to condemn any of Farrakhan’s comments against Jewish people, but did post a photo on Instagram of them together, calling him the “GOAT,” shorthand for “greatest of all time.”
During the controversy, Muhammad publicly defended the Women’s March from accusations of anti-Semitism. “We salute Tamika Mallory for standing firm as a strong Black woman in the face of these attacks,” Muhammad said during a sermon in 2018. In his speech, Muhammad claimed that the anti-Semitism accusation against Mallory was a “deception” to distract from the “truth” of Farrakhan’s conspiracy theories about Jewish people.
During Farrakhan’s Feb. 25, 2018 speech, which Mallory attended, he claimed that “white people running Mexico are Mexican-Jews,” Jews control the FBI, are the architects of “degenerate behavior in Hollywood turning men into women and women into men,” and that they are chemically inducing homosexuality in black men through cannabis.
“A tool of the liar is deception,” Muhammad said. “So you expose the deception by exposing the liar. The liar fights truth. This requires one who knows the truth also having the courage to tell the truth. And, most of all the willingness to face the opposition that results. Farrakhan is that person. The question is who will stand with him?”
Following his passing, Sarsour is standing with Abdul Hafeez Muhammad.
“You always showed up,” Sarsour wrote of the minister above a video of him giving a sermon. “You always had our back. You always had the right encouraging words. You always reminded us where we came from.”
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The coronavirus couldn’t dim the annual torch-lighting ceremony in Israel for Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day, or Yom Hashoah.
In a prerecorded rite without an audience, six torches representing the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust were lit in honor of six living survivors at the start of the commemoration on Monday night at Yad Vashem’s Warsaw Ghetto Square in Jerusalem.
Usually the survivors, accompanied by children and grandchildren, light the torches themselves. But because of the coronavirus crisis, the survivors remained at home.
The theme of this year’s remembrance is “Rescue by Jews: One for All,” and Yad Vashem has included an online exhibition about Jewish rescuers during the Holocaust.
These survivors were honored with torches:
Zohar Arnon was smuggled out of Budapest and traveled through Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Syria and Lebanon to reach Israel, where he fought in the War of Independence.
Aviva Blum-Wachs was smuggled out of the Warsaw Ghetto and survived until liberation under a false Polish identity.
Haim Arbiv was born in Benghazii, Libya, and deported to the Giado concentration camp, where he remained until being liberated by British forces.
Lea Meream Reuveni through her boldness was able to save her family as they hid throughout France and Italy.
Avraham Carmi, who spent much of the war hiding in the Warsaw Jewish cemetery and survived Majdanek and Birkenau, later fighting to defend the Etzion Bloc during the War of Independence.
Yehuda Beilis smuggled 22 children out of the Kovno Ghetto and survived Dachau.
Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and Holocaust imagery continue to be mainstays at anti-lockdown protests against governors and in state capitols.
A placard at an anti-lockdown protest held Saturday in Columbus, Ohio, in front of the state capitol bore the image of the body of a rat standing on its hind legs with a Star of David on its back, with the head of a Jewish man but a long pointed nose, rubbing his hands together. The sign reads “The Real Plague.”
A photo of the sign being held out of the window of a minivan driving near the downtown Columbus protest, taken by Cleveland.com reporter Laura Hancock, was retweeted hundreds of time. A second photo tweeted by Democratic Ohio State Rep. Casey Weinstein, who is Jewish, showed two men holding the sign outside of their vehicle.
“There are symbols of hatred mixed in,” he told Cleveland.com. “I think it’s important to call that out. I’m not going to let that pass. I’m not. There are people out there exercising their rights. By no means am I saying they’re all anti-Semitic, they’re all racists, but there is an element there.”
In Idaho, Republican state Rep. Heather Scott called Republican Gov. Brad Little “little Hitler” and compared his shutdown orders to Nazi Germany during a podcast interview Thursday, the Spokesman-Review reported.
“I mean, that’s no different than Nazi Germany, where you had government telling people, ‘You are an essential worker or a nonessential worker,’ and the nonessential workers got put on a train,” Scott said during the interview with “The Jess Fields Show” that was posted online.
Scott defended her use of Holocaust analogies in a post on Facebook.
“My videos and interviews are generating a lot of positive responses and people are waking up. My recent analogies are poignant and relative to our times.,” she wrote. “While human lives are certainly more valuable than a business, we cannot underestimate nor ignore that our businesses are the life blood of the citizens who own them, the communities they are in and to the customers they serve. Losing the former destroys the latter.”
Also last week, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis became emotional during a news briefing about the coronavirus crisis in his state when a reporter said that the public has compared his stay-at-home order to Nazism, and chants comparing Michigan’s governor to Hitler were among those heard at a protest of the state’s stay-at-home order by thousands of demonstrators.
Our hearts go out to the members of the Haredi community in Israel and worldwide, who are, in disproportionate numbers, among the sick and the dead of the coronavirus pandemic. They are civilian casualties of the cruel, unrelenting war on all humanity being waged by COVID-19. The fact that this war is not driven by anti-Semitism (as was the Holocaust) − i.e. it is not directed at Jews specifically − makes it no less heinous, and the victims no less innocent.
Numerous people angrily have blamed the Haredim for the high losses in the community, arguing that initially, their leaders rejected medical instructions. Various Haredim have continued group religious experiences and Torah learning after health authorities called for social isolation. Those religious activities spread the disease in their midst.
Bad judgment does not justify rejection or hatred of innocent victims. The Haredim are flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone and of the Jewish people. They deserve compassion and care during this time of trouble.
However, before the Shoah, many Hasidic leaders told their followers not to go to Israel or America. During the catastrophe, many advised against fleeing (especially when done in cooperation with Zionists) and strongly opposed resistance. The outcome was a much higher percentage of deaths among Haredim (approaching 90% average). But nobody would think of condemning the victims for following bad advice and policies. Bad judgment does not justify rejection or hatred of innocent victims. The Haredim are flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone and of the Jewish people. They deserve compassion and care during this time of trouble.
Women wear face masks as they join hundreds of members of the Orthodox Jewish community attending the funeral for a rabbi who died from the coronavirus in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Proper understanding of the Haredi situation includes acknowledging the legitimate factors that increased their vulnerability to the pandemic. Haredi families are larger, and typically, they live in smaller quarters, which leads to increased contagions. They live a rich, more intense religious communal life. But these experiences multiply unintentional transmission from one infected person to many others.
Respect for the truth − and commitment to prevent a recurrence − require we critique the flawed Haredi theology that leads to greater losses in these communities.
At the same time, respect for the truth − and commitment to prevent a recurrence − require we critique the flawed Haredi theology that leads to greater losses in these communities. First and foremost, they follow literally the biblical model in which God controls and does everything in history. They firmly believe that as long as humans please God by doing mitzvot, God will defeat their enemies and grant them victory. They are oblivious to the main rabbinic interpretation of the Bible’s covenant idea − that God has self-limitations. God has asked humans to take more active roles in history, with the results depending much more on the people of Israel’s efforts. (See the Talmudic interpretation of Purim in which that Exodus/redemption would not have happened unless Esther and Mordechai executed their plans to defeat Haman.)
When presented with the question “Should Haredi schools be closed to prevent infection?” Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky replied, “God forbid. Learning Torah protects and saves [the Jewish people].” (Talmud Sotah 21A). He dismissed medical considerations because God controls every detail of history. Learning Torah would please the Lord, who would protect Jewry. This is the same theology that undergirds the Haredi refusal to let their youth serve in the Israel Defense Forces. Not tanks and jet fighters, but the exempted students learning Torah are the real defense force of the Jewish state.
Charedi Orthodox men praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Jan. 12. Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images
This theology is refuted by facts. It has not led to catastrophe in the past because 90% of Israelis understand Israel would be destroyed instantly by its enemies if it did not have an army. The 90% serve their time and risk their lives, allowing the Haredim to be saved from the folly of their interpretation that makes the Torah unlivable for a whole society. In the coronavirus case, this policy – which totally fails in reality − was applied to the community. The consequences are devastating.
The second serious misinterpretation in Haredi theology is to see sickness and natural catastrophes as divine punishment for sins rather than as natural phenomena. The Talmud disagrees: “The natural order operates objectively”; it does not differentiate between righteous and wicked people. (Talmud Avodah Zara 54B). Rabbi Kanievsky was quoted as saying the virus is a punishment for lashon hara (harmful gossip speech); people should stop and repent, and the plague would stop. The Book of Job was incorporated into the Bible by the rabbis to make clear that sickness and disaster are not retribution but part of the larger scheme of nature. God rebukes Job’s friends for insisting that his sins have caused the tragedies in his life. Moral: The innocent victim should not be blamed for his/her suffering.
Rabbi Kanievsky was quoted as saying the virus is a punishment for lashon hara (harmful gossip speech); people should stop and repent, and the plague would stop.
The flip side of punishment for sin is the Haredi teaching that if you are doing a religious act, God will keep you safe. “Those who are agents doing a mitzvah will not be harmed.” (Talmud Pesachim 8B). Some Haredim allowed themselves to be exposed to the coronavirus because God would protect them. Many Evangelicals around the world have done the same. Given the natural laws and medical evidence of a pandemic, this behavior is nothing but magical thinking. Magic claims that through certain words or actions − in this case, religious faith/behaviors − God is “compelled” to do what the practitioner wants.
The Torah treats magic as abhorrent. It constitutes a denial of God’s freedom. The Bible insists no Divine action can be compelled by human gifts, behaviors or tricks. Magical thinking also disrespects God’s miraculous Creation; it claims to override the objective and dependable system of natural processes and laws. The sad outcome of a lack of secular education is that people more easily slip into pre-modern, magical thinking. The Haredi penalty for grasping at magic is greater contagion.
The Haredi penalty for grasping at magic is greater contagion.
To protect people’s religiosity, Haredi rabbinic leadership prohibits secular education and excludes most internet as well. As a result, Haredi Jews are not equipped to participate in the science and medical fields that are the key areas to prevent and find cures for dangerous pandemics. The side effect of this well-intentioned but wrong way of protecting religious devotion is that the average Haredi Jew lacks understanding of the serious threat of the coronavirus and the urgency of taking preventive actions. Unfortunately, the Gedolim − the Torah greats − who make the rulings that guide behavior are just as uninformed as their followers. This explains their delayed and initially counterproductive responses to the threat. The community has paid a terrible price for its leadership’s ignorance of science and secular knowledge.
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL – MARCH 31: Israeli police troops detain an Ultra Orthodox Jewish man as they enforce a partial Coronavirus lockdown in the Mea Shearim nighborhood on March 31, 2020 in Jerusalem, Israel. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has spread to many countries across the world, claiming over 30,000 lives and infecting hundreds of thousands more. (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)
In the past century, the Haredi Gedolim, overall, were guided by the same defensive insular theological thinking and lack of secular information when they opposed Zionism. This resulted in a Yishuv with a more secular culture − and exposed their community to the catastrophic Nazi assault. They should have been turned out of office (as would happen in a democratic political system), or they should have turned in the direction of integrating modern thinking and Jewish religion. Instead, in the name of preserving the religion, they were granted unlimited authority. By Haredi definition, the Gadol − the great Torah scholar − is infallible in his rulings. The Ruach Hakodesh/Holy Spirit allegedly speaks through them − even when they speak with little or zero knowledge of the realia.
We can only hope that the reality check of the plague will awaken the whole Haredi community to the need for new directions in their religious thought and attitudes to the rest of society.
We can only hope that the reality check of the plague will awaken the whole Haredi community to the need for new directions in their religious thought and attitudes to the rest of society.
All Jews are responsible for one another. The proper response is not blame or rejection, but to consider, together, how to end the political coalitions and manipulations that have provided funding and special privileges to keep the Haredi community whole and on its current path. The failed outcome is an expanding, sometimes inspiring community − but one deprived of essential knowledge, mired in poverty and now vulnerable to disease. Everyone, together, must draw the lessons of this disaster to prevent a future repetition.
