(By: Sandy Eller) The past few weeks have been heartbreaking, with an unfathomable number of lives tragically cut short by the coronavirus pandemic. Over 1,000 aveilim are currently sitting shiva in the greater New York and New Jersey area, their grief further magnified as they mourn their loved ones alone, comfort and solace coming only over the phone because of social distancing requirements that preclude face to face visits. The number of people sitting shiva this week is unprecedented and Misaskim’s office staff has been stepping up to the plate, working around the clock to input the names and phone numbers of mourners on its website so that people can perform the mitzva of nichum aveilim from afar.

Early Sunday morning, the Knesset approved eased restrictions announced by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Motzei Shabbos with some changes after spending hours arguing over the details in a telephone meeting beginning on Motzei Shabbos at 1:30 a.m. A total of 19 participants will be allowed at outdoor minyanim instead of the 10 that Netanyahu mentioned as long as the mispallelim wear face masks and maintain social distancing regulations. According to news reports, Transportation Minister Bezalel Smotrich pushed to increase the number of participants allowed in a minyan in consideration of small yishuvim which don’t have enough participants to form more than one minyan.

In a surprising move, the Lakewood Poskim have retracted their earlier psak about “porch minyanim”. Yaakov M. of the YWN Podcast’s discussed the following issues with Dr. Daniel Roth: Why did the Rabbanim reverse their psak? What is the perspective of medical experts? Could porch minyanim lead to eivah? If yidden comply with gov’t guidelines, could that still lead to dangerous eviah? And much more. Listen and subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast app, including iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and Podbean. (YWN World Headquarters – YWN)

To all members of our Lakewood kehillah, 25 Nissan 5780 / April 19, 2020: COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, has led to disruption of life and to terrible illness and death in our community. The most vulnerable group of patients are those over 60, but some young adults have been severely affected as well. There have been close to 50 deaths from our community and we still have tens of patients on ventilators in the intensive care units at area hospitals. As much as we want to come out of these restrictions of social distancing, we have to be aware that the virus is still spreading and causing new infections. If we let down our guard we may, chas ve’shalom, see an increase in new cases and deaths.

The Israeli Ministry of Religious Affairs met on Sunday and discussed how Lag B’Omer hadlakos will be conducted this year during the coronavirus era. The ministry instituted a protocol for hadlakos to take place on Lag B’Bomer according to Health Ministry regulations. Only the preliminary details were decided on at the meeting. Closer to Lag B’Omer, clear instructions will be issued to the public regarding the details of the hadlakos. “It’s important for us to continue the tradition of hundreds of years of hadlakos being carried out at the tzion of the Rashbi in Meron,” said Minister of Religious Services Yitzchak Vaknin.” “The hadlakos will be carried out in four areas – Boyan, Gandi, Mearas Hillel and Toldos Aharon.

Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Noach Dear, z’l, passed away of the coronavirus on Sunday morning at the age of 67. Dear served as a member of the New York City Council from 1983-2001 and advocated for the issues of the mostly frum community he represented, including Midwood and much of Boro Park and Bensonhurst. He advanced many laws that assisted the frum communities in Brooklyn. In 2015, Dear was elected as the Brooklyn Supreme Court after serving as a judge for 20 years in the civil court system. Dear’s name was splashed on newspaper headlines in 2017 when he was subject to an anti-Semitic incident on the streets of Brooklyn. As YWN reported at the time, a man began screaming anti-Semitic expletives at him as he was walking near Maimonides Hospital early in the morning.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told New Yorkers Saturday that they can snap smartphone photos of social distancing violations and text them to authorities and “enforcement will come” as the coronavirus shutdown remains in place across the Big Apple. “Now it is easier than ever,” he said in a video posted to his official Twitter account. “When you see a crowd, when you see a line that’s not distanced, when you see a supermarket that’s too crowded — anything — you can report it right away so we can get help there to fix the problem.” The mayor opened Saturday’s video by praising city residents for largely adhering to the guidelines and for being “extraordinary at social distancing,” noting that people are normally used to bustling crowds throughout the five boroughs.

Even as virologists zero in on the virus that causes COVID-19, a very basic question remains unanswered: do those who recover from the disease have immunity? There is no clear answer to this question, experts say, even if many have assumed that contracting the potentially deadly disease confers immunity, at least for a while. “Being immunized means that you have developed an immune response against a virus such that you can repulse it,” explained Eric Vivier, a professor of immunology in the public hospital system in Marseilles. “Our immune systems remember, which normally prevents you from being infected by the same virus later on.” For some viral diseases such a measles, overcoming the sickness confers immunity for life.

New York’s daily toll of coronavirus deaths hit its lowest point in more than two weeks, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned Saturday that the state isn’t ready to ease up on shutdowns of schools, businesses and gatherings. As the closings take a growing toll on residents’ lives and livelihoods, New York City ramped up a massive food-delivery program. Here are the latest coronavirus developments in New York: DECLINING DEATH TOLL The daily increase in coronavirus deaths in New York state has dropped under 550 for the first time in over two weeks as hospitalizations continue to decline, Cuomo said Saturday. But the crisis is far from over: Hospitals are still reporting nearly 2,000 new COVID-19 patients per day, and nursing homes remain a “feeding frenzy for this virus,” he said.

New York, by far the nation’s leader in coronavirus nursing home deaths, released details Friday on outbreaks in individual facilities after weeks of refusing, revealing one home in Brooklyn where 55 people died and four others with at least 40 deaths. “Every death is heartbreaking,” said Dr. Roy Goldberg, medical director at Kings Harbor Multicare Center, a 720-bed home in the Bronx which reported 45 fatalities. “These have been surreal times.” The state’s accounting of deaths at 68 nursing homes was based on a survey and is substantially incomplete. It accounted for less than half of the 2,477 nursing home deaths that have been reported in the state.