The word is 'shameful'.

On Tuesday, thousands of people gathered in the Charedi area of Williamsburg, New York, for the funeral of the Tolas Yaakov Rebbe, Chaim Mertz, who died from coronavirus. This behaviour shamed all of those who took part.

The week before, here in Britain, a wedding took place in Golders Green with some 30 guests, dancing, eating and singing entirely oblivious to the rest of the world. This, too, was behaviour that shamed all of those who took part.

And then, on Monday, police in Stamford Hill were forced to issue a prohibition notice against the Stroznitz Beis Hamedrash steibl after repeated complaints that it had been operating as normal and despite repeated requests from the police for them to stop. This was also behaviour that shamed the participants.

There are other similar examples. 

Day after day, health and social care workers are risking their lives to care for people with coronavirus. Day after day, we are learning of the deaths of hundreds from Covid-19.

Those in our community who flout the lockdown and who ignore the need for social distancing should have those deaths on their  consciences because, while they might not be directly responsible, it is this behaviour that kills people. It is this behaviour that allows the virus to spread  and it is this behaviour that must stop.

In Judaism — Pikuach nefesh — the saving of a life is placed above almost all else. Those who behave like this do not merely treat a central tenet of Judaism with contempt, they treat the rest of the country likewise.

They are shameful — and the vast majority of Jews are ashamed of them.