@daas-yochid Unfortunately the immense decline in Torah and teffilah Rachmana Litzlan was the second worst thing to come out of this pandemic. Fortunately, we have discovered a mostly safe way to continue learning and davening b’tzibbur. And that’s to do it with certain guidelines in place. Maybe you don’t need a Vort, L’chaim, Chasuna, and Sheva Brachos with hundreds of people in each. Have multiple minyanim so people can be more spaced out. Hand sanitizers on every table. And mandatory masks. If the masks don’t work for you, that’s fine. You can walk outside and take it off for a few minutes if you want. And it’s worked. COVID spread has been almost non-existent within shuls that take those precautions.
Look I understand that people hate the masks. Heck, I hate them, they are annoying and bothersome. So I get why people will balk at a mask mandate. But that doesn’t make it right. It’s important to overcome the discomfort and difficulties to help keep this pandemic to a minimum. So it’s extremely important to stress to those who don’t want to wear masks how they need to try and overcome this personal difficulty and that this is one thing we can do that can help save many lives. Shoin, half of frumkeit is being told you have to do something even if it’s difficult for you! Rabbonim have no problem telling people to keep better kashrus, dress with more tzniyus when it’s hot in the summer, or to keep away from other pritzus, and those are things people find very difficult to do. So why are masks different?
You say less and less people are coming to shul because they don’t want to wear masks. I’ve seen the opposite, less and less people are coming to shul because the other people don’t want to wear masks. People are afraid of catching COVID and when they see how casual many frum places are with the whole deadly virus thing, they stop going.
Which is why I don’t get your casual opposition to it. And when I say “you”, I refer to yourself personally and all the other Rabbonim, community leaders, and others that are just OK with it. Look at the frum community in Chicago, or Los Angeles, or Baltimore. Or even most goyishe communities in the world. Nearly every supermarket, shul and school, with few exceptions, has a mask mandate. And you know what? The shuls aren’t empty, the people aren’t having panic attacks, and everyone has no problem hearing their friends when shmuzing during davening. Are the people in those communities such sheep that they will do something that they hate and find pointless just because the government said they have to? Or maybe they are all supermen, specimens of amazing feats of strength to have shuls full of people wearing masks for an entire Yom Kippur?
Wearing a mask isn’t nearly as big of a deal as you make it out to be and that’s a simple fact.
The one other thing you keep coming back to is what Rabbonim have been saying. (Personally, the Rabbonim I am familiar with and speak with have all been adamant that masks should be required in shuls.) I’ve been hesitant to talk about this because it’s something that seriously disappoints me. The truth is that Rabbonim are not infallible. Most of them get their news filtered through trusted gabboim who are as much subject to fake news and bias as any am ha’aratz. There are some Rabbonim, (Rav Dovid Cohen SHLITA comes to mind) who make an enormous effort to investigate a secular issue themselves before giving advice or a psak based on it. If one of them say something science minded, I will perk up and listen. Then unfortunately there are other Rabbonim who I greatly respect in terms of their Torah learning but have learnt to ignore what they have to say regarding other things. A prominent Rav once put a man I know in cheirim after only speaking with the party who felt wronged (he later retracted and apologized). There’s a well known Rav who published a kuntrus stating that astronomers are wrong and the sun goes around the Earth. Another infamous incident involved a Rav who promoted the dangerous conspiracy theory that measles are harmless and the vaccine is dangerous. There’s a quiet incident where a gadol assured a piece of technology that was designed and vetted by well known posek, and the issur showed clear ignorance to how the technology worked. Do I even have to mention the various actions of some frum people who believe that every answer to every question is found in the transcripts of their late Rav’s speeches? So would you please excuse me if I don’t have a fanatical devotion to what some people think of as Da’as Torah.