Israeli rabbi who said electing ‘Yahadut HaTorah’ would protect from COVID-19 tests positive

Occupied Palestine (QNN)- One of the most prominent Zionist rabbis, the leader of the Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox community, Chaim Kanievsky, 92, has been diagnosed with coronavirus, Israeli media reported on Friday.
The 92-year-old Kanievsky broke his quarantine at the end of ‘Yom Kippur’ and received people at his home, despite being exposed to a diagnosed case.
In recent days, the virus spread across the rabbi’s home, with several of his family members contracting COVID-19, including two who are in constant daily contact with Kanievsky.
Kanievsky had previously stated that electing Yahadut HaTorah, a coalition of two right-wing ultra-Orthodox parties, would protect voters from COVID-19.
In the midst of the first wave of infections, when the Israeli government ordered the closure of the education system, Kanievsky ordered the continuation of studies in yeshivas and Talmud Torah (religious schools), noting that “cancellation of Torah” is more dangerous than the virus.
“It is more dangerous to close the [ultra-Orthodox schools], because our tradition says the Torah protects and saves us from calamities, and to close the schools of Torah learning children would do more harm,” Yitzhak Weiss, a representative of the Orthodox Council of Jerusalem, told The Jerusalem Post explaining Kanievsky’s ruling.
“This is how we have acted throughout the ages.”
He also claimed that yeshiva students do not need to be tested for COVID-19, so he ordered his students not to test for the virus, citing a “fear of massive damage to Torah study”.