I am a choson a few short weeks away from my chasunah. Being engaged brings about many new feelings and emotions in all that experience it, but very few have experienced an engagement like mine, considering that, as mentioned, I will iy’H be getting married in just a short time, but still do not know where or exactly when my chasunah will be. What would have been utterly impossible and totally frightening for any choson or kallah to even imagine just a few short months ago, (who can even remember the world pre-corona?) is something that myself and many others now have to face as harsh reality.

I recently got up from Shiva for another of Corona’s victims and immediately sat down to write this short article in the hope that my family’s experience using Zoom for the Shiva will help others during this unfortunate time. May it never be necessary, but should someone have to sit Shiva, the lessons we learned from our experience may prove very helpful. As a member of a large family בלע”ה with many siblings located around the world, each of whom was sitting alone in their own home, it was imperative that we find a way to connect with mutual relatives and friends, and each other. None of us wanted to act as an overburdened switchboard operator struggling to process an overwhelming call load and it was unreasonable to expect our relatives to call every single family member separately.

This is not the America, I once knew. I used to be immensely proud to be an American. This country provided oxygenation to me and all its citizens, based on the fundamental principals of the first amendment. We were a nation that fought for civil rights and social justice and valued personal freedom and democracy. The key tenets of the constitution are still in place. Recently they have been violated by the Governor of New York, during the current coronavirus pandemic, thus failing to uphold the inalienable rights that Americans have trusted for decades – Civil Liberties and Human Rights. On March 18, 2020, Governor Cuomo issued an advisory regarding hospital visitations. All visitations were suspended, except where end of life decisions needed to be made.

This is in response to the person who is taking on the chevas daas of the 57 Rabbis in the Five Towns/Far Rockaway community Rabbis who have banned even the safe minyanim.  Their reasoning is that people will copy the safe outdoor minyanim but will not adhere to the safety standards and it will cause the deaths of even more people and lead to even more chillul Hashem. By the way, it is not just the 5T/FR Rabbis. It is Passaic, Rav Meir Stern. It is Chicago, Rav Shmuel Fuerst. It is Rav Asher Weiss. It is Rav Yitzchok Berkowitz and so many others. Also, virtually every frum doctor in America thinks it will lead to more deaths. The concept of Tekias Shofar on Shabbos can be instructive too. When Rosh Hashana falls on Shabbos – we should blow shofar by Torah law.

L’Kovod Chashuve Five Towns & Far Rockaway Rabbanim, I, like most of the community received the letter that was put out on Friday (and published on YWN). It is indeed undeniable that the Coronavirus has taken a tremendous toll on the world at large and specifically Klal Yisrael. We have lost our rabbiem, grandparents, fathers, mothers, uncles and aunts. We are in a tremendous Eis Tzarah. While we have utmost Achrayos to uphold the Mitzvah in the Torah of “V’nishmartem m’eod lnafshosachem”, that does not mean we do not have to think in the way that the Torah teaches us to. It does not mean that we cannot be creative in trying to find ways to perform mitzvos under duress. The letter banning minyanim under any circumstance is draconian and too encompassing.

Eicha – How has it happened that the season of renewal and optimism has become a period of indescribable pain and devastation? Eicha – How is it that a yeshiva recently filled with men learning and davening has become transormed into a hospital setting filled with respirators? Eicha – How is that with shuls on nearly every street corner, not a minyan can be found around the globe? Eicha – How is it that loving and devoted children cannot be there to tend to the basic life needs of their parents who are struggling to survive? Eicha – How is that wholesome, happy families with endless dreams for the future have become shattered from one day to the next? Eicha – How is it, that at a time most appropriate for gracious hospitality, we are forced to keep our doors shut?

Dear Acheinu Kol Beis Yisrael Hanisunim Batzara Ubashivya, The extraordinary display of compassion and chessed born of the current crisis, R”L, has be an exceptional kiddush sheim Shamayim. So many chessed organizations and yichidim have not only stepped up to the plate, but have gone to bat to hit homeruns for the various causes. Their, proactively, being there for the yesomim, almanos, choilim, homebound, and so many others, showed that we truly strive to fulfill the mitzvah of vihalachta bidrachav. We can truly beseech HASH-M and declare mi kiamcha Yisrael. I feel an obligation to relay a disturbing incident that occurred last night. I had the opportunity to speak with a nurse in one of the local hospitals.

I am awe struck by the medical professionals efforts and thank them daily and greatly. This letter is directed to the all other community members as the medical professionals work tirelessly. We need to sharpen our focus and act more to make it through the remaining weeks. I want to start off by addressing the concern regarding funerals. As a practicing LMSW, I was on the phone with a single mother whose daughter is immunocompromised. This mother, a traditional Jew stated fearfully to me that she saw many religious men gathered for a funeral in Brooklyn. I assured her that this choice to gather was the horrific opposite of Jewish values and that we are working as a community to take action to protect her daughter and others.

Dear Fellow Relatives of Corona Patients, I am reaching out to you not as a medical professional but as the daughter of a beloved father who is now on a ventilator in the ICU. My father had a temperature for a little over a week. His coughing wasn’t bad – but it did get stronger […]
The post MAILBAG: Open Letter to Relatives of Corona Patients appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

Dear Hatzolah Wives, Over the past 3 weeks our lives have turned from the usual to the unexpected. As wives of Hatzoloh members we have the unfortunate ability to see the dire situation from an entirely different angle. As the entire world is closing themselves into their homes away from any human contact our husbands […]
The post MAILBAG: Hatzolah Wives – The Real Heroes appeared first on The Yeshiva World.