Asked by a colleague in Religious Studies about the spike of infection rates of coronavirus among Haredi Jews in the fall and around the High Holiday season, and about Haredi response to and backlash re: attempts by government authority to enforce public safety guidelines, I could only come up with liberal hot takes.

The hot takes have mostly to with the following claims.

[1] Religion and the religion of Judaism are not an absolute social good in and of themselves and in isolation. [2] Religion and society are distinct by not separate. [3] The interest of broad public good, which is a state-political responsibility, should trump the interest of religion when they collide. [4] Extreme negativity about claims re: the value of religious norms, community, and law made in contemporary conservative Jewish philosophy and religious ethics. [5] Critical questions and negative conclusions about the enclave character of sectarian, paideic communities that form around devoted commitments to religious sancta. [6] Actually dangerous and also a source of social disorder is the unique and distinctive aura that makes religion a sui generis phenomenon.