[custom_adv] As the COVID-19 pandemic has spread, Israel has been at the forefront of restrictive travel regulations and other preventive measures. Yet, as expected, coronavirus arrived in Israel, and it is still spreading. As Israelis, the IDF, Magen David Adom and the entire health system scramble to control the spread of the potentially fatal virus, some ultra-Orthodox groups have done the opposite. [custom_adv] Mirvis called Refson the “devoted, caring and principled head of the Leeds Jewish community,” which has a few hundred members. [custom_adv] Orthodox and Haredi communities and media outlets in the New York area have been sharing lists of names of individuals seriously ill from the virus and asking fellow Jews to recite Psalms and pray for their healing. [custom_adv] Nearly one in seven coronavirus carriers are from the predominantly ultra-Orthodox central city of Bnei Brak, which has emerged as a major hotspot in the outbreak, with some 900 cases, according to Health Ministry statistics published Thursday. [custom_adv] These 900 cases — out of the country’s total 6,211 — make it the city with the second highest number of cases after Jerusalem, with its 916 confirmed diagnoses out of a population roughly five times greater than that of Bnei Brak. [custom_adv] Much of the increase is seen as emanating from the ultra-Orthodox community. According to Channel 12 news, double-digit increases were also recorded in several other cities with large ultra-Orthodox populations. [custom_adv] Haredim generally have large families, live in dense urban areas and engage in a lifestyle that puts a premium on community engagement, all factors that could facilitate the virus’s spread. [custom_adv] Haredim generally have large families, live in dense urban areas and engage in a lifestyle that puts a premium on community engagement, all factors that could facilitate the virus’s spread. [custom_adv] Haredim generally have large families, live in dense urban areas and engage in a lifestyle that puts a premium on community engagement, all factors that could facilitate the virus’s spread. [custom_adv] Haredim generally have large families, live in dense urban areas and engage in a lifestyle that puts a premium on community engagement, all factors that could facilitate the virus’s spread. [custom_adv] Haredim generally have large families, live in dense urban areas and engage in a lifestyle that puts a premium on community engagement, all factors that could facilitate the virus’s spread.