The response to the coronavirus crisis raised questions and indicated deep differences between the ultra-Orthodox population and the rest of the Israeli population. There are several reasons for those differences, but the non-ultra-Orthodox population finds it increasingly difficult to understand why parts of the ultra-Orthodox community choose to behave the way they do.

A panel discussion at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute with Ido Harari, Menahem Nabet, and Dr. Rivka Neriya-Ben Shahar will attempt to address this issue and answer questions such as: What causes thousands of people, who belong to a group one of whose fundamental values is the protection of life, to risk themselves and many others? What will happen to the civil space the day after the crisis? Will it even be possible to mend the growing rift?

The event will be broadcast live on the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute website, and on its Facebook and YouTube pages.

A similar event was broadcast live by the Institute in the past year: Life and Death, the State, and Martyrdom: Haredi Society and the State of Emergency, with Ido Harari, Tzipora Gutman, Rabbi Yisrael A. Grovais, and Prof. Maoz Kahana. That discussion focused on the government restrictions and the radicalized public discourse against the ultra-Orthodox population in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

Here you can find additional lectures that were held by the Institute on religion and secularization.

Publications about the ultra-Orthodox community published by the Institute: Israeli Haredim, Haredi Leadershipʼs Responsibility to Israeli Society at Large

Photo: Yossi Zamir, Shatil