Even before the cause of death was known, ultra-Orthodox politicians — joined by a herd of ultra-Orthodox journalists — rushed into a campaign of accusations. United Torah Judaism pointed to what it called “the cancellation of daycare subsidies that led to deadly overcrowding.” Shas leader Aryeh Deri warned that “when a very large population is pushed all at once into distress, people are forced to look for other solutions, and the consequences can be harsh and bitter.” Israel Eichler, a Knesset member from Agudat Yisrael and a designated deputy minister, was blunter: “Their decrees will kill our children.”
So who spilled the blood? Who pushed? And who decreed?
Like eternal children in an eternal daycare, ultra-Orthodox political operatives can be counted on for one thing: refusing to take responsibility, cynically shifting it elsewhere at the very moment when they should be examining themselves — or at least keeping quiet. But unlike children who bear no guilt, this evasion was paired with political spin and a swift dance on the blood of two innocent infants.
Ultra-Orthodox social media voices quickly named the culprit: the attorney general, they said, had “blood on her hands.” The narrative was what mattered. Who cared that hundreds of unlicensed, pirate daycares have been operating in ultra-Orthodox communities for decades? This daycare did not suddenly come into being because of the so-called daycare decree.
It is important not to rush to conclusions. Tragedies, sadly, also occur in facilities that are fully licensed and legally compliant. What does not happen everywhere is the dangerous spread of unlicensed daycares under the state’s long-standing, institutionalized indifference. The state does not meaningfully enter the daily lives of ultra-Orthodox toddlers, and disasters like this follow. For years, hundreds of daycares and thousands of children have existed in this space. In this case, the public caught a brief glimpse inside — of overcrowding, unfit facilities and something that looked less like autonomy and more like anarchy.
This is not unique to the ultra-Orthodox, but the ultra-Orthodox sphere often resembles an ungoverned Wild West. Not governed by the state. Not by communal leadership. And, regrettably, not always even by the most basic unit of responsibility, one that precedes the state, society and culture: parents. In ultra-Orthodox society, the more innocent and devout the parents, the stronger the social expectation that they will not ask questions. Send the child. Trust the system. Do not complain.
This becomes clear only after disasters — and even then, not fully. The 2021 Mount Meron disaster, in which 45 people were killed and more than 100 injured. The collapse of the bleachers in Givat Ze’ev the same year, which killed three and injured more than 200. And between them, countless examples: contempt for COVID-19 restrictions, resistance to tuberculosis vaccinations, disregard for building permits and the flourishing of unqualified charlatans in so-called therapeutic roles. And now, an unlicensed daycare where two infants lost their lives.
What do these places have in common? They are places where the state barely exists, where it shows no interest in the individual — not when he is a baby, and not when he reaches the age of military service.
What began as “autonomy” for ultra-Orthodox education under Israel’s original status quo arrangements has, over decades, turned into outright anarchy, shaped by the political convenience of successive governments. Thank David Ben-Gurion. Thank Menachem Begin. Thank Benjamin Netanyahu. It was and remains a comfortable deal for all sides, in which the state gives up and, in practice, harms the ultra-Orthodox public itself.
By now, nearly everyone understands how these porous sectoral arrangements have created problems the state does not know how to solve — including the Israel Defense Forces’ severe shortage of combat soldiers. But has anyone stopped to consider the scale of the damage to ultra-Orthodox children, for whom no one truly takes responsibility for education and, at times, for health and safety? The state certainly has not.
Still, none of this absolves parents of responsibility. A person cannot expect the state to love his child more than he loves his own son. Parents are responsible for their children’s safety and well-being, whether sending them to a mass pilgrimage at Mount Meron or to an ordinary day at daycare. These are matters of life and death.