The violence of extremists and resistance of the mainstream to coronavirus regulations and enforcement that has taken place in Mea Shearim, Beit Shemesh, Beitar Illit, Bnei Brak and beyond during the pandemic has highlighted the lack of control the government actually exerts over the ultra-Orthodox sector.
But it is equally highlighting the severe lack of leadership in the community, be it rabbinic or political, as well as the schisms the community has suffered.Whereas in previous times, dominant figures such as Rabbi Elazar Menachem Man Shach, dean of the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, were respected by large swathes of the Ashkenazi, non-hassidic community and were able to assert their will on it, today’s rabbinic leadership is divided and greatly influenced by their advisers and assorted politicos.The split of the Ashkenazi, non-hassidic community and the emergence of the extremist Jerusalem Faction has also caused grave damage, creating a large subsection that does not listen to the mainstream rabbis and delights in poking the state in the eye.Radical positions often generate legitimacy, or at least a fear by the mainstream, of seeming less strict in adherence to Halacha, so they hesitate to criticize the extremists.This is especially evident among the political leadership, which despite bemoaning the role of the radicals in the recent violence and asserting that violations are confined to the extremists, resists enforcement of COVID-19 regulations and the stiffening of penalties against them.The crisis that has emerged over the last year between the country and large swathes of its haredi population will not be resolved during the era of COVID-19, and confrontations such as those seen in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem will continue as long as lockdowns continue.But the pandemic has brought this problem front and center, and any new government must examine this broken relationship in an extensive and comprehensive manner to start resolving what has become one of the weightiest problems the Jewish state faces.