The Bnei Brak Municipal Council has come up with an innovative inducement to persuade its residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19, ply them with cholent.
Vaccination rates in the city are lower than nationwide figures, so the municipality planned a vaccination drive for Thursday night called “Green Night,” in an effort to drive up the number of residents receiving the vaccine and turn the city into a “Green” zone where life can return to normal.
Eating cholent – an unctuous stew of beef, potatoes, and beans – on Thursday night has become something of a trend in ultra-Orthodox cities and neighborhoods, a phenomenon that the municipal council is seeking to exploit for its vaccination drive.
“We want to make the evening a real happening, so there is a lot of excitement, a lot of drama, it’s going to be a very friendly, very pleasant cultural event,” said a spokesman for the Bnei Brak Municipal Council.
The goal is to carry out at least 1,000 vaccinations during the course of Thursday evening, with those getting vaccinated receiving a portion of cholent together with challah and a bottle of Coke.
Notices were posted around Bnei Brak, and cars with loudspeakers crisscrossed the city announcing the vaccination drive.
The municipal council has also enlisted the help of at-risk youth in the city to help staff the food distribution points at vaccination centers.
The ultra-Orthodox desk of the Health Ministry’s public relations department has also been conducting a concerted campaign to boost vaccination rates in the sector, and has obtained public statements from numerous rabbis urging those in the community to get vaccinated, including yeshiva students.
The personal aide to the grand rabbi of the Vizhnitz hassidic community, Rabbi Yisroel Hager, issued a statement saying that Hager urged yeshiva students to get vaccinated to increase the general immunity of Bnei Brak and the broader community.
Amongst the ultra-Orthodox sector, 17.5% of the community has had the first dose of the vaccine and 9.4% have had the second dose.
This compares with 40% of the general population who have received the first dose, and 25% who were given the second dose.
The Health Ministry also carried out a vaccination drive specifically among yeshiva students on Thursday with the cooperation of Sourasky Medical Center, the Committee of Yeshivas, and the Lema’anchem medical advice organization.
Hundreds of students came to get vaccinated at flagship ultra-Orthodox yeshivas such as the Ponevezh Yeshiva and the Slobodka Yeshiva.