Hasidic, Devout, and Mad as Hell About Covid-19
Emma Green of The Atlantic profiles Reuven, the Hasidic editor of the Yiddish-language magazine Der Veker, who laments his community’s response to the pandemic. Green writes, “Der Veker offers a litany of explanations for why Hasidim have mostly ignored public-health guidelines in recent months: a lack of statistical and scientific literacy, an inability to empathize with the suffering of non-Jews, a sense of being at war with the outside world.” Some Hasidim, including Reuven, remain disappointed with the response by Hasidic leaders. He told Green, “Even when people continued to die, they continued to claim that there is no need to do anything, because ‘everyone already had it.’”