Israel, Orthodox

Israeli Man Traveled, Knowing He Had Corona

Beitar Illit (photo credit: Yoninah)

In the pantheon of stories that make frum yidden look bad, a man who works as a mashgiach (kashrut supervisor), flew from Newark, New Jersey to Israel, knowing he was infected with COVID-19. He did it because he doesn’t have health insurance in the States.

As a result of his actions, the man lost his US work visa and may yet be liable for criminal charges in Israel. Since all new arrivals to Israel must currently be quarantined, the entire planeload of passengers anyway had to go into isolation, independent of this man’s actions. But if any of them develop coronavirus, as a result of sharing a plane with this man, it will really be a horrifically tragic embarrassment, as a representative of the religious community. Is that not the very definition of a chilul Hashem–a desecration of God’s name?