Coronavirus fears cause world's largest faith groups to pause pilgrimages, rethink tradition
The Church of the Nativity, known as the birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem, West Bank. Photo by Britchi Mirela.
JERUSALEM — The global outbreak of the coronavirus is forcing many faith groups to rethink their traditions and pilgrimages to minimize risk of infections.
Just weeks ahead of the Holy Land’s heavy pilgrimage season for Easter, fears of the coronavirus spreading from infected tourists who visited Jesus’s birthplace among other sites have caused shut downs at several pilgrimage destinations in Israel, Egypt and the West Bank, dampening the plans of some of the world’s largest faith groups.
On Thursday, the Palestinian Authority (PA) Tourism Ministry closed Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, the 1,600-year-old basilica marking Jesus’s birthplace with a grotto, fearing the rock’s protective marble and metal surfaces that pilgrims commonly touch or kiss for a blessing could become a hotspot for the COVID-19 disease. In 2018, the site received 1.5 million visitors and that number swelled further in 2019, according to Bethlehem’s mayor.
Twenty-one pilgrims from Greece were diagnosed with the coronavirus upon returning to their country on Feb. 27, after stopping at holy sites in Israel, Egypt and the West Bank, including Bethlehem. The Angel Hotel in Beit Jala, west of Bethlehem where the pilgrims stayed, is now closed to foreign tourists for two weeks. Seven Arabs also tested positive for the virus in and around Bethlehem, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
After emerging in China’s Hubei province in December, the virus has now infected upwards of 95,000 people worldwide and killed approximately 3,300, most of them in China and Iran, though cases have been reported in 81 countries and territories.
Since many of the religious sites are revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims, the interruption to pilgrimages and business is impacting all three faith communities. Meanwhile, several faiths around the world are temporarily rethinking traditions to curb the spread of the disease and protect their worshippers.
Saudi Arabia has banned travel to Prophet Muhammad’s mosque in Medina, and foreigners cannot travel to Mecca, where an annual pilgrimage is expected to draw more than 60,000 people in July and August. Iran, where coronavirus has infected at least 3,000 and killed more than 100, halted Friday prayers in many cities to prevent public gatherings.
In Italy, where the outbreak had infected a confirmed 3,858 people and killed nearly 200 as of Mar. 5, the Vatican is considering suspending Pope Francis’s public addresses for the next two weeks, America Magazine reported.
Several Catholic and Episcopal dioceses in the U.S. are now either skipping a time in their service usually meant to greet each other with a kiss, hug or handshake, or encouraging people to stay seated and nod to acknowledge the sign of peace to each other.
At least one Hindu group has called for others to adopt their method of greeting with one’s palms together and a slight bow, avoiding physical contact. Saying “namaste” is a much safer and respectable greeting alternative during the coronavirus outbreak than handshakes, cheek or air kisses, hugs, high-fives or fist bumps, said Rajan Zed, the president of Universal Society of Hinduism.
In Malaysia, with 19 confirmed coronavirus cases, a key mosque in the administrative capital of Putrajaya and two other mosques briefly closed their doors to non-Muslim visitors but later reopened after Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad called the move irresponsible. After that, tens of thousands of Hindus gathered to celebrate an annual festival called Thaipusam in the central Malaysian state of Selangor, undeterred by the outbreak.
Crowds have also thinned at Bangkok’s popular Wat Pho, a centuries-old Buddhist temple complex known for its giant reclining Buddha. The temple is normally visited by thousands of tourists, many of them Chinese, during the peak travel season from December to February.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, commonly called the LDS church, is discouraging its members and missionaries abroad from travelling to Utah for its annual conference in April.
So far 17 Israelis have been diagnosed with the virus and 70,000 are self-quarantined, unsure of how to celebrate the three-day Jewish holiday Purim that begins Monday. The festival commemorates when the Jewish people were saved from genocide in the Persian empire in the fifth century, as recorded in the book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible.
Jews along the East Coast in the U.S., with 33 confirmed coronavirus cases in New York state as of Mar. 6, many connected to a modern Orthodox synagogue in New Rochelle, are cautiously closing synagogues and cancelling Purim celebrations, the Washington Post reported.
The Tomb of Joseph in Nablus, a city under the control of the Palestinian Authority, is also closed to prevent pilgrims from visiting during Purim.
“We have a responsibility to get the general public to pray and connect with their roots,” said Samaria Regional Court head Yossi Dagan in a statement. “But on such days, we must take increased precautions and obey the Health Ministry’s instructions for the health of our people.”
Israel’s Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, himself a member of the pietist Gerrer Hassidic group, has been careful to allay fears that the Western Wall in Jerusalem would be closed to worshippers due to the coronavirus.
“In this time of distress, there is nothing more appropriate than coming to pray at the Western Wall and asking the Creator of the Universe, the Healer of all men, to remove all illness from the inhabitants of this land and the entire world,” said Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites.
Israel’s chief rabbi David Lau urged Jews not to kiss or touch mezuzot, containers mounted on doors and walls with pieces of parchment inside inscribed with Hebrew verses for prayer. Traditionally, Jews touch and kiss mezuzot before entering a room.
“These days, we are witnessing the spread of a serious illness,” Lau said. “It is enough for a person to think about the things written in the mezuzah upon entering and leaving, and this will accompany him on his way.”
Lau explained that “there is no commandment and obligation to kiss a mezuzah,” because doing so is a Jewish tradition rather than a halachic law.
“There is a custom based on ancient sources that [Jews] would touch the mezuzah, and only later began to kiss it as well,” he said. “When they became aware of the fact that there was a danger there, as early as the 19th century one of the great rabbis published a ruling that one must be careful about this.”
Chief Rabbi of Moscow Pinchas Goldschmidt, the president of the Conference of European Rabbis, said that people who are ill, whether it is clearly due to the coronavirus or not, should stay home “even if they have to say Kaddish (the prayer for the dead).”
Goldschmidt further recommended that hand sanitizers be placed at synagogues.
“We cannot underestimate the importance of washing hands on all occasions prescribed by Halacha (Jewish law),” he said. “May God contain this epidemic, heal the sick, and guide the scientist to find a vaccine.”
Gil Zohar is a Jerusalem-based correspondent for Religion Unplugged. He also reports for the Jerusalem Post. Meagan Clark is the managing editor of Religion Unplugged. Caroline Wambui also contributed to this report.