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. It is also inconsistent with the lack of decrees against similar or worse situations that could spread this terrible disease. I’ll mention one: There is no denying that in this community there are hundreds, if not thousands of people, that have cleaning help coming to their house daily. It is overwhelmingly probable that cleaning ladies will transmit the disease. Did I see a letter about cleaning ladies coming to houses? Nope. In fact, a close friend of mine recently told me that when he asked his Rav about this the Rav replied “I’ll have to look into it. I’m not sure there is anything to do about that.” Really? You seemed to be able to do something about minyanim! Instead of making blanked statements, why don’t we create solutions? After I davened in my home this Shabbos, I looked outside my window to see plenty of people on my block Shmuzing with the neighbors. Was anyone breaking the rules? Nope. They were responsible. Each of the three or four groups were socially distanced, some of them even wearing masks, and complying with all the rules. I mused to myself that the Ribono Shel Olam was probably very sad when he saw that people can’t Daven outside, yet they can Shmuz outside! Pikuach Nefesh does in fact override every Mitzvah in the Torah, but many Rabbanim outside of this community feel that if the minyanim are properly socially distanced, it is not deemed Pikuach Nefesh. Do the Rabbanim of this community not trust the people? You seem to trust them when it comes to going to restaurants and supermarkets. You trust them in every other facet of life. And you should. Why can the people not be trusted now? Every block will have one appointed member to be in charge, there will be no exceptions, any person who does not adhere to STRICT social distancing, will not be allowed to join the Minyan. There will be 3 set minyanim per day, no more. We can have police patrolling to make sure that everyone is adhering. (B”H this community is very well-connected governmentally). In fact, in Lakewood, the police do patrol the neighborhood to watch over the Minyanim. It can be done. We can do it. And while the Ratzon Hashem is to be very Makpid on Shmiras HaNefesh, we can be very careful while still davening with a minyan. I wonder if the Ratzon Hashem is to have no minyanim period. A prominent modern-orthodox Rabbi wrote on April 19, […]
The post MAILBAG: Why Don’t 5 Towns Rabbonim Ban Cleaning Ladies? appeared first on The Yeshiva World.