Senior haredi personalities on Tuesday morning blamed the Israeli Health Ministry for its delays in lifting the coronavirus restrictions, at the expense of the haredi public.
"Please explain to me where the logic is in allowing a restaurant to open to 100 people, but allowing a synagogue to only open with 50? Do you know a restaurant which has more space than a standard synagogue? What is this nonsense?" one source asked.
Another claimed that when it comes to reopening public transportation, the city and intercity buses in haredi areas were the last to resume operations.
"What's the logic in not allowing public transportation from Ashdod to Jerusalem and back? From Tzfat, from Haifa, and from many haredi cities? So many haredi areas were not labeled as hotspots at all during the crisis, like Haifa, Ashdod, and Tzfat, but despite this the Health Ministry has chosen to be stringent with them," he said..
Regarding the reopening of event halls, scheduled for next month, another source asked, "Where is the logic? They know that the haredi community marries off children after the Shavuot holiday, and unlike most people does not push off weddings due to religious issues. These are dates that were set six months or a year ago - why torture brides and grooms?"
"Already today people are allowed to gather in groups of up to 50 in a closed area. Tomorrow it'll be permitted to open restaurants to up to 100 customers. So who cares if within the hall there is a wedding ring and a couple? You can't dance according to Health Ministry guidelines? On Jerusalem Day, they didn't dance according to guidelines? It somehow seems that they are claiming 'concern for health' at the expense of the haredim."