"שמר רוח לא יזרע, וראה בעבים לא יקצור”
Life is about taking risks. Most of us on occasion speed or drive in the snow to a relatives close chasunah. I’ve done it. It was a major storm and pretty harrowing but I wasn’t going to miss my sisters chasunah! Some of us will admit to driving an all nighter when we are sleep deprived if the need is urgent (some will do so even for a vacation trip) despite some risk to ourselves and others.For hundreds of years many Jews took the risk of putting them and their entire families on ships to take them to lands where there were better parnassa or learning and davening opportunities. And those overseas voyages were risky. Many ships capsized. Every time I go into Manhattan or drive on the Belt I feel like I’m taking a risk to myself and others.
Waiting to daven in shul until the first night of slichos when the last positive individual has tested negative does not seem to be a reasonable approach. But neither is davening in a minyan full of seniors in a location that is still seeing significant spread. This is not the flu and this is not a completely negligible risk.
There has to be some reasonable middle ground. Not everyone is going to agree where that middle ground is. To me the “who knows what we don’t know about this virus” approach seems to be too risk averse a standard for the general population. Could those infected get reinfected. Could antibodies not proffer immunity? Could some mysterious new manifestation affect 50,000 children? It’s possible. But that’s not indicated by current information.
Could I send my daughter to Israel only to have Iran attack with chemical weapons in an all out war? That’s not off the table.שמר רוח לא יזרע, וראה בעבים לא יקצור.
We ought to be taking reasonable precautions, and reasonable depends on many factors. Older, immunocompromised people in a location with active spread need to take far more precaution. Younger healthy individuals in an area where the virus is not currently active; much less. Could there be a new wave? Could there be scary unknowns? That’s life.
Prior to Purim there was plenty of indication that there was a serious risk out there. I, and many others on DDF raised the alarm as soon as the attorney was diagnosed. I’m not averse to risk and I stayed home from shul early on. That was a clearly in reasonable risk based on clear indicators that were there for all to see. Those who ignored the clear warning signs were foolhardy. That’s not where we’re holding now in most communities. As traumatized as many are about the heavy loss of life we have seen- and rightfully so-there has to be some degree of normal risk acceptance. No, it is not valid to say if one person (or 10 people) somewhere in the world will lose a family member then it is wrong to open up. That is not normal risk avoidance. It is simply not rational. We can disagree on how to define what exactly is. But it has got to be reasonable.
I agree with just about your entire post. Well said.
One thing that detracts from perfectly valid arguments is a poor analogy. Many here have been making them. Please don’t compare an active threat of a circulating novel deadly virus which has ALREADY claimed the lives of tens of thousands including many in the community with the remote possibility of a war breaking out. You can compare it to a war in EXISTENCE that has claimed lives and its a question whether it has abated enough to return.
The question currently is not about getting reinfected or a mysterious unknown disease. It is about people who have not been infected willfully risking themselves and others while a virus with no innate immunity is circulating with the potential for a full on deadly second wave, which has happened in many past pandemics and in all likelihood IS going to happen. It’s NOT like driving in the snow, through Manhattan, or on the Belt.
The biggest thing holding me back from lowering caution more is that the very same people who ignored and derided the risk early on are doubling down harder on the supposed lack of risk now.
@Yard sale, if you stopped attending Shul before Purim due to perceived risk but now feel the risk has passed, you are an anomaly. Ashrecha. Most on here who deny any risk factor today called it the flu and stuck to their guns as people dropped all around them.
Once again, I definitely think the current risk in my community right now is far lower than it was due to a combination of factors. I also strongly support lowering or removing many of the restrictions in place.
Very well said, this is exactly what I've been saying, you just explained it much better.
Not quite
