The Relationship between Religious Beliefs and Attitudes towards Public Health Infection Prevention Measures among an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Population during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The ultra-Orthodox population in Israel was heavily impacted by COVID-19; it is important to understand the factors that contributed to this. There may be a friction between religious versus governmental guidelines that may reduce adherence to COVID mitigation guidelines, such as social distancing and masking. The purpose of this study is to explore this tension and the extent to which it existed in the surveyed sample. The study identified attitudes of ultra-Orthodox individuals concerning religious and public health measures to mitigate COVID-19 infection. A closed-ended questionnaire was completed by 405 ultra-Orthodox Jews. Most respondents believe that religious learning protects from harm (91%); 74% believe that periodically there are inconsistencies between religious guidelines and medical guidelines; 59% believe that preventive medicine may clash with "Divine protection". Some public health measures applied to contain the pandemic threaten religious lifestyle; this is a source of dissonance among ultra-religious populations, which may substantially decrease willingness to comply with public health measures.

The Haredi media, religious identity, and the COVID 19 crisis

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit Israel in March 2020 and the government imposed a number of lockdowns, Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) rabbis instructed their followers to continue attending synagogues and engage in Torah study. As a result, the relative number of COVID-19 infections and fatalities in the Haredi community was higher than that of the Israeli population as a whole. This article examines the role of the mass media during the crisis in Israel’s largest Haredi city of Bnei Beraq, via interviews with 405 of the city’s residents. It shows that despite rabbinic bans on exposure to the secular media and to the Internet, many Haredim were exposed to them and hence less dependent on the Haredi media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Israel Affairs is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)