Members of ultra-Orthodox Jewish community ‘given advice’ claiming large weddings are ‘legitimate’

This is the moment maskless guests party at a lockdown-breaching ultra-Orthodox Jewish wedding in London.

Video shows dozens of guests dancing together as they mark the occasion with the ‘illegal’ event, which reportedly took place in January.

Weddings are currently banned under Covid lockdown rules, with marriage ceremonies only allowed under ‘exceptional circumstances’ – such as as terminal illness.

Even these weddings are limited to a maximum of six people.

But the video, shared by the BBC, shows at least 30 people celebrating during a wedding, which is said to have taken place in the Stamford Hill area of north London.

The latest footage comes after a police raid on another wedding in January, this time with 150 guests, which also took place in the Stamford Hill area – home to a large strictly Orthodox Jewish community. 

Meanwhile, researchers at a top London university found the past infection rate of Covid in one unnamed ultra-Orthodox community in the capital was 64 per cent – up to five times higher than the capital average at the time.

The figure matches similar research in ultra-Orthodox communities in New York, which also saw higher than average infection figures last year.

And today a human rights barrister claimed members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community were being given ‘bespoke legal advice’ in a bid to get round Covid restrictions on weddings. 

Adam Wagner said couples were being offered advice suggesting ‘any number of people’ can attend celebrations if they have a ‘prayer element’. 

Mr Wagner, who is himself Jewish and has recently been reviewing Covid rules on social media, told the BBC the guidance ‘hit the wrong tone’. 

The event took place at a school in the north London area of Stamford Hill - which is part of a large strictly-Orthodox Jewish community. Pictured: Police carry out the raid

The claims come after a police raid on a 150-strong Jewish wedding celebration last month. The event took place at a school in the north London area of Stamford Hill – which is part of a large strictly Orthodox Jewish community. Pictured left and right: Police carry out the raid

Human rights barrister Adam Wagner said couples were being offered advice suggesting 'any number of people' can attend celebrations if they have a 'prayer element'.

Human rights barrister Adam Wagner said couples were being offered advice suggesting ‘any number of people’ can attend celebrations if they have a ‘prayer element’.

He said: ‘It was inaccurate, in quite some significant ways. It hit the wrong tone, it was really about getting around the rules, rather than keeping to the rules because of the dangers of the virus.’

However Mr Wagner says the advice given to ultra-Orthodox Jewish couples, who are characterised by a strict adherence to Jewish law, has been changing after incidents of large gathering were reported in the media.

What are the rules on having a wedding during lockdown? 

Under lockdown rules introduced on January 4, weddings are banned in England.

However, you can hold a wedding in ‘exceptional circumstances’.

The Government included the example of a seriously ill partner who is not expected to recover as one example.

Another example of an exceptional circumstance included those undergoing ‘debilitating treatment or life-changing surgery’.

However, even these weddings are limited to just six people.

The Government still advises people to stay local where possible, but says people can travel outside their area to attended permitted weddings.

People can also leave the country to attend a wedding, though they do face the normal travel restrictions for the country they are returning from. 

He added: ‘The latest advice I’ve seen in the last few days is much better and I think the media attention has told on the individuals who are responsible for it.’

One case which received particular attention was a police raid on a lockdown-breaking wedding of 150 people at a Jewish girls’ school last month.

The guests were found packed inside Yesodey Hatorah Girls’ Senior School in Stamford Hill, north London.

The centre was being used as a coronavirus testing centre, while the school’s principal, Rabbi Avrohom Pinter, had died 10 months earlier of Covid-19.   

Police said the organiser faced a £10,000 penalty. Five others faced £200 fines after officers busted the address following a tip-off.

The incident sparked wide-spread condemnation from leaders in the Jewish community, including Chief Rabbi Mirvis, who tweeted last month: ‘At a time when we are all making such great sacrifices, it amounts to a brazen abrogation of the responsibility to protect life and such illegal behaviour is abhorred by the overwhelming majority of the Jewish community.’

Marie van der Zyl, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said the breach ‘goes against Jewish teaching that preserving life is of the highest value’.

 ‘The reckless and dangerous behaviour of those behind this event does not represent the attitude of the vast majority of British Jews, including from within the Strictly Orthodox community, who are fully aware of the terrible toll of this pandemic.’ 

Rabbi Herschel Gluck OBE, who is president of Shomrim in Stamford Hill, chairman of the Arab-Jewish Forum and chairman and founder of the Muslim-Jewish Forum, told the BBC weddings should ‘not go on under these circumstances’. 

It comes after an investigation by the Jewish News last month claimed there had been more than 50 strictly Orthodox lockdown weddings in London since last year.

The paper reported that groups were using ‘lookouts’ to sound the alarm in case police were called.  

A source intimately involved in the Orthodox wedding scene told the Jewish News: ‘These illegal weddings have been going on for 10 months. We’re not talking about one or two. We are talking multiple weddings every day.

‘All have 150-200 guests. At one wedding the bride was Covid-positive.’   

Meanwhile a report earlier this year found two-thirds of London’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community had Covid last year – nine times the national average and around 0.3 per cent of those infected died, a study has shown.

Researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found the rate of past infection in London's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community was 64 per cent

Researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found the rate of past infection in London’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community was 64 per cent

Jewish men and women suffered the highest death rates in the first wave of the pandemic in Britain

Jewish men and women suffered the highest death rates in the first wave of the pandemic in Britain

Researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found the rate of past infection was at 64 per cent in the community of around 15,000 people.

This compares to rates of 11 per cent in London more generally and just seven per cent across the UK, according to estimates by the Office for National Statistics.

Entire basis of ultra-Orthodoxy is communal gatherings 

While the researchers insist the reasons behind such high rates of infection are unclear, others suggest crowded housing and socio-economic deprivation as possible causes.

Ultra-Orthodox families have significantly larger households than the UK average – with five to six individuals per house compared to a UK average of 2.3 – and tend to live in areas of increased population density. 

Communal events and gatherings were regularly attended in pre-pandemic times, though there have been a number of high-profile breaches in recent weeks, too.

Israel Frey, an ultra-Orthodox journalist who has been critical of the community’s response to the pandemic, told the Jerusalem Post he does not see ‘even a gram’ of introspection or change in direction in the leadership’s attitude to the crisis.

He added: ‘Ultra-Orthodoxy in 2021 is about the energy of communal gatherings and celebrations: everyone being together. 

‘That is what sustains ultra-Orthodoxy – its entire basis is communal gatherings.’

Last week also saw the death of two of the most senior and revered ultra-Orthodox rabbis in the world – Rabbi Meshulam David Soloveitchik, 99, and Rabbi Yitzhak Scheiner, 98 – both of whom had previously being diagnosed with the virus.

A number of other religious leaders have fallen victim to Covid in Israel and the US, with funerals attended by thousands despite restrictions on gatherings, the JP reports. 

Suspected infections in the community peaked in early March, just before the first lockdown, when rates then began to fall sharply, before rising again in the autumn once restrictions were lifted.

The researchers say the reasons for such high rates of infection are unclear, but crowded housing and deprivation are thought to be contributing factors.

Ultra-Orthodox families have significantly larger households than the UK average – with five to six individuals per house compared to a UK average of 2.3 – and tend to live in areas of increased population density.

Communal events and gatherings were regularly attended in pre-pandemic times, though there have been a number of high-profile breaches in recent weeks, too.

Israel Frey, an ultra-Orthodox journalist who has been critical of the community’s response to the pandemic, told the Jerusalem Post he does not see ‘even a gram’ of introspection or change in direction in the leadership’s attitude to the crisis.

He added: ‘Ultra-Orthodoxy in 2021 is about the energy of communal gatherings and celebrations: everyone being together.

‘That is what sustains ultra-Orthodoxy – its entire basis is communal gatherings.’

Michael Marks was one of the researchers.

He said he found the Covid rate to be up to five times higher than the London average at the time. 

But he said this was likely down to the increased chance of households in the ultra-Orthodox community having inter-generational living arrangements. 

He told the BBC: ‘In the UK the immediate average household size is just over two people, whereas in this community it’s more like seven or eight people.

‘Do I think people in this community have broken the rules, yes, because lots of people all over the UK have broken the rules.’

The issue has been one brought up in other countries as well. Densely populated ultra-Orthodox neighbourhoods in Brooklyn, Queens and key suburbs in New York emerged as leading viral hot spots, last year, according to NBC News.

Rabbi Herschel Gluck OBE, who is president of Shomrim in Stamford Hill, chairman of the Arab-Jewish Forum and chairman and founder of the Muslim-Jewish Forum, told the BBC weddings should 'not go on under these circumstances'

Rabbi Herschel Gluck OBE, who is president of Shomrim in Stamford Hill, chairman of the Arab-Jewish Forum and chairman and founder of the Muslim-Jewish Forum, told the BBC weddings should ‘not go on under these circumstances’

According to reports, the areas were reporting virus test results averaging 4.7 percent positive, compared to just over 1 percent in the rest of the city. 

And according to NBC, though many within the ultra-Orthodox community were said to be following the rules, and mixed generational households were factored, leaders in the communities had criticised the restrictions.  

On New York Jewish tabloid is said to have accused city Mayor Bill de Blasio of ‘wanting to destroy our schools and way of life’ because of the Covid rules, Agudath Israel of America, the main advocacy body representing ultra-Orthodox Jews, argued that while the ban on large services ‘discriminates against all religions,’ it ‘disproportionately impacts the religious services of Orthodox Jews.

When asked for a comment on the Stamford Hill wedding claims, the Met Police referred to its general advice on illegal large gatherings.

Speaking after the Government announced it would be giving police powers to hand-out £800 fines for those attending large parties, as well as the £10,000 maximum fines for organisers, Commander Alex Murray, the Met’s lead for Covid-19 enforcement, said: ‘If you are planning on attending an illegal gathering, party or raves you are not only taking a very serious health risk but also a much bigger financial risk.

‘I hope that these increased fines will discourage some of the events we’ve seen in recent weeks – events which are no doubt adding to the already huge pressure on our health services and potentially leading to avoidable deaths.’