That Is NOT Why The Babies Died

Some people are spreading bad and dangerous theology

Grieving parents should not be held personally accountable for how they react to their child’s death. However, if they make public statements, especially public statements that are reflective of a widespread sentiment and are used to strengthen that sentiment, then those statements need to be evaluated.

Last week there was a horrible tragedy. Two babies died, apparently as a result of being left in a room that had a heater set far too high and with inadequate ventilation. This in turn seems to have been the result of the daycare center being unlicensed; in a licensed center, there is a lower adult/baby ratio, staff are required to receive training, there are inspections to ensure that the facility is safe including that there is adequate ventilation, and children cannot be left unattended at any time, including while they are sleeping. Certain types of accidents can happen to anyone, but others can be avoided, or the chances of their happening minimized.

One of the mothers made a public statement to the press that she does not blame the caregiver at all. She declared that it was a Divine decree that her baby die at that time, that he had completed his mission in this world, and she is glad that God picked that particular caregiver to be there when his time was up.

I’m glad that the mother can find a way to psychologically come to terms with her personal unthinkable tragedy. But her statement is horrifying and is in no way consistent with traditional Judaism. When someone dies due to human action or human negligence, we do not simply declare that their time was up.

And even in the charedi community, nobody would react this way when there is clear guilt of someone who is not charedi. When the Arab bus driver ran over the teenager a few weeks ago, the charedi leadership were calling for accountability and justice against the driver and those who had created “an atmosphere of incitement against charedim” (even though it was actually their own community that was responsible). They didn’t say that Hashem decided his time was up and the Arab was merely God’s emissary.

Still, it’s understandable why this mother might have said it. First of all, as mentioned, it’s a way for her to come to terms with her tragedy. Second, I’m sure that the caregiver is a loving and wonderful person, and no doubt it’s hard for the mother to see the caregiver be arrested. It’s also worth bearing in mind that the mother’s entire community and its way of life was (deservedly) criticized as a result, so she may feel an instinctive need to defend it.

No such justification, however, exists for others who make this claim. I was even more horrified to see a prominent American-born educator, who is not part of the charedi community (although, like many Americans, he probably had charedi teachers), write as follows:

“We need to look inward. We need to pray harder, observe more, and be more careful with our Torah and mitzvos. We cannot simply blame the natural circumstances that brought this disaster. God can protect us from our mistakes, negligence, and crimes that cost lives and bring calamity.”

No, no, NO! That is not Judaism. And I’m not just referring to Maimonidean rationalism; it’s not any form of traditional Judaism. The Torah and Chazal and the Rishonim were all absolutely clear that one does not ever rely on supernatural intervention. The Torah itself says it very clearly: “When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, so that you do not bring bloodguilt on your house if anyone should fall from it” (Devarim 22:8). When deaths result from negligence, you don’t “pray harder, observe more, and be more careful with our Torah and mitzvos.” You hold those that were negligent accountable, and if this negligence reflects a societal problem, you work to make sure that people are not negligent.

I would like to add one more very important point. It’s not true, as some people have claimed, that charedi mothers care less about their children. They care about them just as much as every parent cares about their children. And we see that they care very much about certain types of risks to their children - for example, they generally care more about the very real harm caused by internet use than non-charedi parents do.

However, it is a fact that the phenomenon of cheap, unlicensed, overcrowded, dangerous daycare centers is particularly prevalent in charedi communities. This is partly the result of self-inflicted poverty that rules the more expensive daycare options. But it’s also due to a cultural disregard for the laws of nature (i.e. rejecting classical Jewish rationalism), and for science and “secular” -based professional regulations.

This is the same underlying cause for numerous other phenomena in the charedi community: the Meron catastrophe, the traffic accident rate among charedi children being double that among non-chareidi children, the widespread disregard for Covid regulations leading to a greater mortality rate, the widespread unsafe construction without engineering approval, the disinterest in “secular” education which leads to poverty, and the disregard for civil law.

It’s an ideology that is responsible for the deaths of several charedi children just over the past few weeks alone - these two babies, two teenagers killed during dangerous rioting, others killed in traffic accidents, and yet another unvaccinated toddler dying from the measles epidemic that is sweeping charedi communities. More such entirely preventable deaths will undoubtedly take place. It’s also the cause for the phenomenon seen in the video below:

And of course, this ideology is also responsible for the widespread professed belief that Torah and tefillah and mitzvos replace military defense, and that no concern needs to be given for economic planning. Unless something drastically changes (which only seems possible if the government changes), charedi ideology will ultimately bring about the collapse of the State of Israel. And it won’t “just” be a few innocent charedi children dying.