Haredi newspaper photoshopped masks onto rabbis

Hamodia, which is a widely read ultra-Orthodox newspaper, photoshopped masks onto several rabbis.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A Haredi man walking with a mask in the neighborhood of Meaa Shearim (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
A Haredi man walking with a mask in the neighborhood of Meaa Shearim
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
The newspaper Hamodia, which is associated with the United Torah Judaism Party (UTJ), photoshopped masks onto rabbis who participated in a closed meeting held in disregard to the coronavirus guidelines, Israeli media reported on Friday.
The picture was taken in the home of Rabbi Bezalel Simcha Menachem Benzion Rabinowitz, known as the Biala Rebbe, where he and other prominent rabbis discussed ways to encourage the ultra-Orthodox public to study Torah during Israel's third lockdown, in honor of the anniversary of Maimonides' death over 800 years ago.
The ultra-Orthodox journalist Moshe Weisberg of Hadrei Haredim, a news website geared to the ultra-Orthodox world, noted the difference of the pictures in Hamodia and other newspapers and posted the photos on his Twitter account.

Some in the ultra-Orthodox community have been criticized during lockdowns in Israel for not following the proper guidelines and for participating in large gatherings.
Hamodia has a policy to not  publish pictures showing the ultra-Orthodox populace breaking guidelines that have been set in place due to coronavirus. This put the newspaper in a unique predicament of how to publish the story without exposing prominent rabbis at the scene breaking guidelines.
As of now, the death reports within the ultra-Orthodox community are 3.6% higher than in the rest of Israeli sectors.
The newspaper has also been criticized over the years for removing pictures of women.


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