Professor Ravid speaking harshly against Haredi community does not make him an antisemite

This morning Professor Moti Ravid, Director of Maayanei Hayehua Hospital in Bnei Braq, made a very harsh statement against the Haredi community. Later in the morning he resigned, so maybe this was a parting shot made as he was about to resign, or maybe he resigned in the wake of the uproar over what he said - I don't know at this point. If he had not resigned, he should probably have been fired.

Ravid spoke about the recent Haredi community behavior of ignoring the rules of the lockdown and safeguarding against spread of the CoronaVirus. He said, "There has never before been an entire community that throws off the yoke in this manner and kills people... I don't understand what the connection is between religion and between what they are doing. For years they have been educated to take, to receive everything and not to give anything..."

Whether true or not, this was totally unnecessary. Especially as he has served the Haredi community for at least the past 15 years, as Director of this hospital that mostly serves the Haredi community, and has never before said anything like this. And there is nothing to be gained by saying this.

On the other hand, the response from Haredi politicians and askanim has been, understandably, strong. They are calling him, among other things, an antisemite. In 15 years serving as head of the hospital, plus whatever he did prior to that, he has been nothing but beloved to the Haredi community and suddenly he's an antisemite because he said something, harsh as it was, that they don't like? I don't buy it.

The Haredi community gives plenty. Besides for charity, so many health care organizations, mostly non profit organizations, are founded, operated, and staffed by Haredim (among others) and an extremely high percentage of them are volunteers. Being in the health care industry he should be well aware of that. And that is just in the health care industry - they give back in many other ways and in other areas of society as well. Do they take? Sure. Maybe they take more, maybe not. That is debatable, and even if he is right about that, they do give back in many ways. I have no problem with a legitimate debate and discussion about that style of life, and criticizing it does not make one an antisemite. But while they do take, as do so many other sectors of Israeli society, they also do give back, and his words were unnecessarily harsh.

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