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From:
Date: Thu, Sep 24, 2020, 3:14 PM
Subject: KOL KOREH!!
To: < @groups.io>
To all the Chosheve Rabonim Kol Echad B’Shmo Yevorach,
To all the Chosheve Roshei Yeshiva Kol Echad B’Shmo Yevorach,
To all the Chosheve Menahalim and Menahlos of Yeshivas, Bais Yaakovs, Day Schools and High Schools Kol Echad B’Shmo Yevorach,
To all parents,
and to everyone,
I really wish that I did not need to write this and let me start by saying that I did not pore over every word and syllable as is done with many Kol Korehs, as I am also busy in this “Yom Tov Season” and that anything I say here is coming from my very tzittering heart and I do not mean chas v’cholila anyone in particular, “but if the shoe fits wear it”.
This is not a Kol Koreh is the normal sense as I am the only one signing onto it, but if anyone else would like to pass it along and add their name, please do so.
MORAY V’RABOSAY – Where do I start?
What is going on here?
Do rabonim no longer care about their mispallelim’s health? Do Roshei Yeshiva no longer care about their talmidim’s health? Do menahalim and menahalos want to keep the schools open at the cost of the talmidim and talmidos health?? Do parents no longer care about their children’s health? Does anyone care about anyone else, hi-risk or not? and possibly most of all - Does anyone care about Chilul Hashem?
It is clear from all the professional’s recommendations that the way to stop the spread of this virus is with masks and distancing!! That means I must keep 6 feet away from anyone else AND I MUST WEAR A MASK!!!. This is whether I am schmoozing about the weather on the street, davening, learning, shopping or doing anything else. However, as one very choshuve person told me about 2-3 months ago “what this virus has done is made every rov a doctor, every doctor a rov, everyone knows everyone else’s age and everyone knows everyone else illnesses”. This doesn’t mean that there are “Mask Sections” and “Mask optional sections”. This doesn’t mean that one can be maikel on the 6 feet. This doesn’t mean that Its ok to hold illegal minyonim when minyonim are banned by law. Look to what point flaunting these regulations has brought us.
I am talking about people’s health. I have heard so many times that “the virus is not so virulent anymore”, “no one is dying or getting very sick”. To this I wish to make everyone aware of two things: 1) Infectious disease specialists have publicly said that the virus is identical to a few months ago, the difference is that the doctors know better now how to treat it and if Chas V’Cholila a hi-risk person catches it, the risk is the same for a bad outcome 2) And even if people are not getting so sick, is it ok to Bemayzid make them sick. Let me give you a moshol: Can I take a knife and cut your arm on purpose?? Maybe it will give you only a slight cut which will not bother you at all, maybe you will have a scab which will itch and bother you for a week, maybe you will need stitches, but maybe, just maybe, the knife had some bacteria on it which gets in your bloodstream and cause sepsis and then worse. Of course it is Osur to cut someone with a knife!!
All those who are condoning not adhering to guidelines in the strictest and correct way are no different than if I were to cut you on purpose with a knife !! How much time is spent on shiurim in Baba Kama and other Masechtos which have no shaychos to our lives. Did anyone ever see a Bechor fall into a Bor on Main Street? It is time to be machmir in Pikuach Nefesh!! How many of you take a placemat with all the shiurim on it on Pesach to make sure you are eating all the most machmir shiurim of Matzoh or Moror even though your parents or grandparents never did that and even though you are going to have a big stomach ache the next day?? How many of you are Makpid on Chumros that our parents or grandparents never heard of?? This is Pikuach Nefesh, no and ifs or ors about it.
It has become the “frum thing” to do to not wear a mask. The “frummer” (whatever that means) you are the less likely you are to wear a mask. Rabonim, Roshei Yeshivas and Yeshivaleit make fun of Gedolim who say not to be makpid on certain things this year(For example, piyyutim, 100 kolos etc.) cause thats the “frum thing” to do. Is this not ridiculous?
When our Vaad Horabonim sent out letters a few months ago not every Rov or Rosh Yeshiva was signed onto them, cause….. I don’t know why….. (Some of the rabonim signed were too “modern”(whatever that means)… Cause they don’t wanna be counted as part of the Vaad). I would like to point out that the more “modern” places have been prime examples of how to adhere to regulations. As far as I know every Yid has the same chiyuvim and these classifications need to be thrown out the window.
As far as parents are concerned, I walk along the street, and I see teenagers congregating along the street as normal, in groups, without masks. WHY? Do kids not listen to their parents anymore? Are kids stupid??? Is it because the schools are not strict so the kids think they don’t have to listen?
And I have not mentioned the tremendous Chilul Hashem – yes CHILUL HASHEM !! for the surge in cases. Every media outlet has a joy In reporting that the uptick is in ORTHODOX JEWISH neighborhoods. If you think for a second that a German mayor or an Italian governor would not delight in closing down shuls, yeshivas and even entire neighborhoods, you are sadly mistaken. Do we need cops on our streets bellowing announcements?
There is no question, that the “cat is out of the bag” and the next couple of weeks will see a further uptick in cases. But if we start TODAY, hopefully by after Sukkos, or shortly thereafter, we will turn the corner and once again be a model for what good and proper behavior look like – for our own collective health and for the goyim. Whichever one you care about more is fine. (I would also like to point out to everyone that all the Yeshivas and Bais Yaakovs in Baltimore have already decided that they will not open until a WEEK AFTER YOMTOV to prevent spread that may happen if people pick up the virus when families might come together over Sukkos.)
In order to fix this we need to:
Adhere 100% in the most Machmir way, to masks and 6 feet distancing inside and outside 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (except in our own homes of course)
If a yeshiva or Shul does not wish to adhere for whatever reason – don’t go!! not to daven – not to learn – daven with an outdoor minyan – there are plenty, and learn outside or at home! (you can learn even more cause you save the time getting to Yeshiva) Peer pressure will work!
It is this way that we can ensure, with Hashems help, the health of our neighborhood and a gut gezunt year.
Wherever you may be, whether at home or in a socially distanced and masked shul, please remember that all this started a year ago when our tefillos were not good enough!! So daven better than you ever have.
Lastly, If you have gotten this far, I’d like to thank you for listening to my rambling,
B’Birchas Gmar Chasima Tova to all,
Hakosev B’Yodayim Roados,
Moshe Deutsch
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