Zionist Baby-Killers?
The latest libel - this time spread by Jews
An utterly appalling tragedy happened in Jerusalem today. Two babies died and fifty-three other babies were sent to hospital as a result of an accident at a daycare center. The precise cause of the accident is not clear, but it involved toxic fumes from faulty or unsafe electrical equipment.
Within an hour of the horrific news spreading, charedi politicians had already taken advantage of this tragedy. They seized upon it to blame the Zionists. Their arguments run as follows:
This daycare center was not a proper licensed facility; it was an unlicensed and unsafe venture that crowded a huge number of babies into apartments. There were even babies put down on mattresses under a toilet. And whose fault is it that charedim are sending their babies to unlicensed, unsafe daycare? The Zionists, of course!
Why the Zionists? Because the High Court recently cut daycare subsidies for draft-dodging charedim, which leaves them unable to afford safe, licensed daycare for their babies while the husbands are in kollel and the wives are out at work. The Zionists, insisted the charedi MKs, have the blood of charedi children on their hands.
(One cannot but wonder what their response would have been if the tragedy had involved babies from non-charedi families. I suspect it would have been like with October 7th, which was diagnosed by R. Aharon Feldman and R. Moshe Meiselman as a message from God about the sinful ways of the Zionists, and/or as evidence of the dangers that face those who are not protected by Torah.)
Naturally, it wasn’t just the charedi MKs that seized upon the tragedy to advance a (false) political message. It was also the charedi enablers - the Likud politicians and the Bibi-supporters of Channel 14, who placed the blame on the High Court’s cancellation of daycare subsidies cut rather than on the charedim.
It is therefore necessary to address all the lies, slander, moral flaws, and dangers in the arguments being presented today by the charedi political leadership and their Bibi-devotee enablers:
ONE: This unlicensed daycare center did not exist to provide a solution for those who were financially harmed by the recent cuts to daycare subsidies. It’s been running for thirty years. And it’s just one of countless such unlicensed daycare centers (and endless other unlicensed ventures) in the charedi sector.
TWO: The reasons why there are so many unlicensed and unsafe operations in the charedi sector is that they don’t care to do things in a way that follows professional and/or legal protocols based on safety experts. We have seen this endlessly - with how they drive, with how they protest, with how they build buildings, with how they dealt with the pandemic, and most devastatingly with Meron. Rules, licenses and safety protocols are for goyim.
THREE: Why on earth should charedi families in which the husband refuses to work (and refuses to serve in the IDF) be entitled to daycare subsidies?! It’s not as though non-charedi families automatically get daycare subsidies! The entire point of government funding for daycare subsidies is to encourage people to contribute to the economy, not to encourage men to sit in kollel and be economically unproductive!
FOUR: The vast poverty in the charedi community is their fault, not the government’s fault! It’s the choice of the charedi community to go against Chazal and to refuse to educate and raise their children to be economically self-sufficient.
FIVE: The charedim are admitting that the daycare centers are a danger to their childrens’ lives, but insist that they will continue to learn in kollel and send the wives to work rather than earn enough to put their babies in proper facilities - or look after their babies themselves. So they are effectively saying that it’s more important to learn in kollel than to make sure that your babies are safe.
SIX: The response of blaming others for their problems rather than taking responsibility for the consequences of their life choices is disgraceful, and is all too typical of the charedi world. This is the fundamental problem of charedi society as a whole, which despite its huge growth takes no responsibility for its own well-being or for its societal obligations.
Aside from the catastrophes and tragedies that the charedi approach causes for charedim themselves, it’s an existential threat to the entire country. We can only hope that in the next election, enough people will vote for parties that will work to prevent this disaster.
Just when you’re absolutely 100% certain that the chareidi gedoylim and askonim have hit rock bottom, lower than which cannot be imagined, you have this double tragedy of שתים רעות, a _physical life and death tragedy_, of course, for innocent babies and toddlers and their parents, and a _spiritual life and death tragedy_ for an entire community misled by the depraved.
You could also have added:
SEVEN: Poverty is glorified in charedi society as mark of holiness. They have a point here - some very religious people take vows of poverty but also chastity and obedience. It is just the wrong religion. In Judaism you need to be wealthy to be a judge or member of the Sanhedrin (would be interesting to figure out who would qualify to be on it today from Bnei Brak and Mea Shearim) but there is no leadership position that requires one to be poor. We aim to avoid it precisely so we can lead healthy and dignified lives, observe halacha properly and don't need to cut corners.
EIGHT: There has been no society in history, including Jewish history, where mothers are expected to be the sole breadwinners and in charge of childcare. This is an unreasonable expectation made all the more unreasonable when there are large numbers of children. It is bound to lead to tragedy, poverty and a seriously dysfunctional family. It is yet another illustration that charedi norms are an entirely 20th century invention that no previous society has ever adopted