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PS Crystallization – and this is of course straight out of Hoshen Mishpat: judges are not supposed to listen to one litigant without the other.
RebE, agree on R Shimon darshening “es”, my favorite example of intellectual integrity.
Famous Psychologists Kahneman/Tversky talk about crystallization: if you get 2 contradicting pieces of information, the person tends to accept the one that came earlier. That may explain why people have hard time changing their opinions about politics or COVID as they get attached to their first impression.
I did not go to all these interesting references, but I want to confirm the math part:
26.4%, down to 20.1% would be a 23.9%.One question is what is uncertainty of the estimates.
You would also need to accept that there might not be a simple answer here: there are multiple variations to be tested: doses, early/late interventions, combinations, and it will take time to go through all of them at high confidence.
The question is how to act under uncertainty. The answer is to balance risk and reward.
I saw some articles that advocates several cocktails with multiple specific components, including hCQ, zinc, etc as long as they are relatively safe. Trying to uses and evaluate a cocktail together, instead of separate elements.
>> it is odd to select specifically Indian food for seudas Purim.
It does happen but does not end well. Muslims do set up seudot in India, then Hindus run in shouting “WHERE IS THE BEEF”. Seuda first, shehitah after
@RebE: I don’t see where she was rhe rebbi.
just as I looked up pesukim where Esther is mentioned before Mordechai, Bach amended “Rava and Abaye” to Rabba in Pesachim daf yomi, because teacher is listed first … confirmed min hashamayim? We use a similar order analysis to show that Mordechai fell out of favor due to his political activities.
here they are:4:14 Mordechai teaches Esther
4:15 Then Esther sent back this answer to Mordecai [that includes instructions for all Jews and her mesilas nefesh decision. How does she have hutzpah not to ask her Rebbe?! because she the Rebbe now, she is not even asking Mordechai for recognition]
לֵךְ֩ כְּנ֨וֹס אֶת־כָּל־הַיְּהוּדִ֜ים הַֽנִּמְצְאִ֣ים בְּשׁוּשָׁ֗ן וְצ֣וּמוּ עָ֠לַי וְאַל־תֹּאכְל֨וּ וְאַל־תִּשְׁתּ֜וּ שְׁלֹ֤שֶׁת יָמִים֙ לַ֣יְלָה וָי֔וֹם גַּם־אֲנִ֥י וְנַעֲרֹתַ֖י אָצ֣וּם כֵּ֑ן וּבְכֵ֞ן אָב֤וֹא אֶל־הַמֶּ֙לֶךְ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר לֹֽא־כַדָּ֔ת וְכַאֲשֶׁ֥ר אָבַ֖דְתִּי אָבָֽדְתִּי׃
“Go, assemble all the Jews who live in Shushan, and fast in my behalf; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens will observe the same fast. Then I shall go to the king, though it is contrary to the law; and if I am to perish, I shall perish!”and he listen to instructions
וַֽיַּעֲבֹ֖ר מָרְדֳּכָ֑י וַיַּ֕עַשׂ כְּכֹ֛ל אֲשֶׁר־צִוְּתָ֥ה עָלָ֖יו אֶסְתֵּֽר׃ (ס)
So Mordecai went about [the city] and did just as Esther had commanded himLater, Mordechai becomes even more hashuv, but he is listed second almost always:
8:7 וַיֹּ֨אמֶר הַמֶּ֤לֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרֹשׁ֙ לְאֶסְתֵּ֣ר הַמַּלְכָּ֔ה וּֽלְמָרְדֳּכַ֖י הַיְּהוּדִ֑י
9:29 וַ֠תִּכְתֹּב אֶסְתֵּ֨ר הַמַּלְכָּ֧ה בַת־אֲבִיחַ֛יִל וּמָרְדֳּכַ֥י הַיְּהוּדִ֖י
reversed though in 9:31, which can be explained as Mordechai’s letter going out first
לְקַיֵּ֡ם אֵת־יְמֵי֩ הַפֻּרִ֨ים הָאֵ֜לֶּה בִּזְמַנֵּיהֶ֗ם כַּאֲשֶׁר֩ קִיַּ֨ם עֲלֵיהֶ֜ם מָרְדֳּכַ֤י הַיְּהוּדִי֙ וְאֶסְתֵּ֣ר הַמַּלְכָּ֔ה>> not farmilar with a measurement called reglaim,
actually 4 amot is about 6 reglaim or 2 meters …. basically privacy is as far as you can spit
@DJT (and other politicians & doctors) Feb 2020: The coronavirus is very much under control in the USA.
This is about when my wife put masks on all of us when flying despite people looking at us.
Now I know whom to listen to.
RebE: Later I wrote a detailed teshuva justifying my decision.
Curious, how did you avoid being biased by your original decision when looking up sources!?
Unless, you had all sources in your mind when you made the original decision@nischt: you can just eliminate a part of davening because of tircha
minyan already skipped pesukei d’zimra. There are numerous recent teshuvot for COVID about it. One teshuva offers a klal: you can skip some parts, but it should not be so short that it just feels like it just touches the main points: shma -> shmone esre -> aleinu.
you may be right whether this is “tircha”, I see that you and RebE started a scholarly debate. You can call it tzaar baalei chaim. People were freezing. Some people may go over their limit of cold without realizing it. Especially, American city youngsters.
rebE – there was no issue of getting up. Nobody was sitting for a long time (first sign that they were cold). Maybe I had a choice of saying all kadishim faster than you can say Mississippi, but it seems I feel the same way you do: when there is a strong reason to skip, just do it firmly.
L’Maase, I once observed a Rav, who is proud of slow davening, going super-fast and skipping one kaddish (in Sephardi nusach). Then, doing some tehilim slowly. I asked – he said the 10th told him he was about to leave for work.
Bobby Fischer was a brilliant chess player and probably was mental to begin with.
He then became world champion while standing up to a collective action of Soviet chess federation. This whole adverse process could crack stronger souls. Later on, Victor Korchnoi ran away from USSR and also played against the whole country – and lost, in the process claiming that his opponent was getting forbidden drinks and that a Soviet doctor was hypnotizing him. In the hindsight, now that we know about polonium teas, it is hard to say whether this was real or paranoid…You can survive mental ordeals though. Samuel Reshevsky, who lived in Monsey, did not played on Shabbat, and, at least in later years, played in a beret, and behaved in general. Also did not always like Fischer.
Amalek, like SAR-COV-2, attacks those who are weak, old, and walk in a disorganized crowd.
The strong, young, and healthy need to step in the fight to protect, starting with their own yetzer hara.
If the young do not help, they will be overwhelmed also (some immediately, some after becoming old)
>> learned from my students
RebE, I totally agree with the general notion (one reason to ask quertions and to hear questions), but confused how this relates.
Are you saying that M is still the Rebbe, but he learned from E, rather than E becoming the Rebbe? Interesting interpretation , but it does not seem to fit better. It is not just one advice that E gives to M, she starts consistently acting as a Rebbe. It is a one moment switch at the time of mesirus nefesh. Interesting – deciding on it, not even acting yet.
>> is that our personal experience doesn’t reflect the horrendous plagues in the past.
Agree. There are 2 parts here:
1) pandemic is happening in the hospitals and nursing homes. you do not always see it. I heard a Rav on Zoom for several weeks (WITH a negative test but with a cough I never heard before), this made enough of an impression. That is why you need to use your math skills to evaluate reports of number of people dying and sick to understand something that is not in front of your eyes. There are lots of people who work with infectious diseases or radiation who are capable of keeping precautions without seeing a threat. Or you can talk to hatzolah people for their impressions.
2) numbers are indeed lower than under Bubonic plague. It is to a credit of humanity that we are taking measures to save lives of many of older and sicker people, and not behaving like Amalek.
Maybe this a double test Hashem sent us – first for our intellectual abilities and second for rahmanus. Maybe a final test before Maschiach comes?
PS a story to support the argument for both me and common to ask our Rabbis:
a friend of mine long time ago lived in a kipa sruga neighborhood and was bothered that his slightly pre-bar-mitzva son would play soccer and not go with him for mincha to the shul one block away. So, my friend took a bus with his son and me to a posek in Mattesdorf, hoping for the posek to give chizuk to the boy. The posek asked the boy how long does it take to say mincha on his own, and then asked whether the boy can interrupt soccer game and say mincha on the side of the field. The boy agreed and the father was shocked. Moved to a more yeshivish neighborhood eventually.common > especially in regards to halacha such as not saying a kaddish
common, let’s be positive (thanks again, Mrs. Syag) ! we are absolutely on the same page.
I did not have azus to disregard halakha of tircha in such extreme situation, when seeing my fellow Jews showing such mesiras nefesh, trying to keep their hands and feet warm, while still holding a siddur. Not one left early. Not one tried to move out of shade into the sun at the expense of neighbor’s place. Some of them, relative after- or in-college youngsters, who probably never experienced such challenge before. If you would have seen such nachas with your own eyes, you would have rachmonus on them too, as rachamanut is said to be a sign of Jewish nations as taught by “Moshe Rabbanu and Yshua ben Nun”.
Still, waiting if you have asked your Rav (when explained both the kaddish and the freezing part) and whether he thinks differently. I would be interested to hear his arguments.
Charlie & Franklin: We must all hang together
that was pre-covid and pre-Trump.
>> your friend is a friend but the Rebbi is a guy?
the one from the story was definitely a guy, not a gal, and not a Talmid Chacham (based admittedly on a strict criteria). I can’t fully vouch for the story but it illustrates a lot what I see.
To be clear, I am in no way denigrating those wonderful teachers who work l’shem shamaim.
What I often see is that many people, both mena and women, are educated in a way that teaching is their only viable profession. Then, some of them are not really into that but they have no other job, and now they are teaching the kids. And this is happening for a couple of generations already, so this attitude becomes the norm. Again, I have greatest kavod for real teachers and always look for them.
YWN reports that Israelis came up with some substance that can be inhaled. 10% of the mispalelim who did not inhale were positive, 2% of those who inhaled, and 0% of those who did not come. Is this positive enough?! 10% is staggering, ithis is what Romans called “decimation”. At least one per minyan.
Mordechai and Esther – who is the Rebbe and who is the student?
First, Mordechai is the Rebbe. Telling Esther what to do. Then, Esther commits to go to Ahashverosh. This is mesiras nefesh. That makes Esther into the Rebbe. She starts telling Mordechai what he and Jewish people should do after that.
A lesson for students on how to become Rebbes.
RebE mitzva of mishloach manos
thanks for the reference. I think one can clearly deliver MM safely and halakhically correct. I can pack it 2 days in advance with gloves and put a note to that effect. This is more of a public policy issue: – how would a community behave.
I am thinking that better not to participate. Last Purim, when issues were not yet well understood, I had to duck from several huggers. Delivering MM is supposed to make people friendlier. If I’ll be bumping into semi-dressed drunk people and walk around them, it will not contribute to ahavas yisroel.
PS disregard the previous shaila, of course the whole family can hang together
ok, height is chameshim amos, but what about bein adam l’havero? shisha reglaim as by CDC, or is it hukas goyim?
Talk radio has a propaganda aspect influencing masses, that I am not fond of, and an educational aspect that is good. You hear not just pronouncements, but arguments and discussions.
I listen more to NPR than to AM radio to get familiar with their reasoning. Does not mean that I agree with them, but I am sure that when I take a position I know what the counter-arguments are. Some here have a curious view that they refuse to listen to the other side – and then pronounce their judgment based on quotes they picked up somewhere. You can not be sure that you are not being biased. You see that a number of reasonable people found something in Talk Radio, so you should investigate and make a reasonable judgment.
PS It appears some liberal-minded Israelis have more integrity than Americans. A story that one Israeli academic told me: “I chose” not to be observant … Then, my older son, growing up, started mocking Datiim. I told him – if you want to talk like that, you need to at least know what you are talking about. So, he went a took a class. Became shomer Shabbat. Does not eat in my house anymore. Then, my 2nd son – same story repeated… (One of them is involved in right-wing Israeli politics). <end of story>. I give this guy a lot of credit – especially that he said the same thing to the 2nd son after what happened with the first.
Leyzer,
if your kids can’t just fight with each other without external help, you are doing something wrong!Find online questions about Purim and print it with one kid so that he can ask others and then give them prizes. Make some questions simple, and others open-ended, so that a couple of kids could disagree and make it into a discussion. See YWNCR as an example!
Ask everyone to prepare a story and 3 questions after that. Everyone votes on best story. Again, prizes.
meir G. Bravo, let’s make sure no child is left behind! Expose everybody. If it is ok for your kids and students, how dare they
common > we then will set up a gallows in our back yard and hang up some people and then party again
You should ask a shailah about it. Gallows need to be seen from reshut harabim according to my tradition.
It would be good if those who feel that there is a problem here, went and asked their Rav. Maybe we can learn something here? I do understand your emotions – Yiddishkeit contains lots of ritual acts; we are habitually under assault; so we need to protect ourselves.
Still, logically, there should be more shailos about lhavero than l’makom. Most mitzvos l’makom are not changing quickly over time and do not change over a person (except strict shiurim that our zeides did not use). Mitzvos l’havero depend on the person you interact with. So, you may be asking whether you are allowed, for example, to post on YWN disagreeing with someone – many times. It may well maybe that you can reply to AAQ in a way you would not to Wolf or GH …
As an exampl, I just listened to a class on Purim: long discussion whether one is yotze when a present is not accepted and a cursory note: of course, things are different this year, people will not congregate and drink in my house. I asked a couple of doctors and they say, giving matanot is not generally a problem. By me, a novel issue would require a little more investigation: would people actually meet and some talk? would they cough while packing? would they start giving it to each other in a crowd after megilla reading? But, no, it is more scholarly to go through all achoronim on an issue that will not affect most of us.
FOCUS on what is important.
Avram, thanks for the Moscow diamond story.
Note the differences between my examples and yours: my were about learning from what a Rav did and often with an explanation. This is straight halakhic reasoning. Of course, it may be possible to argue that the story is not true, or that there are other opinions, or other circumstances. Yours is a story that something happened. ext, you’ll tell me that bat kol confirmed your position?!The story is interesting, I can’t resist asking kashios: how did Bolshevik coup in Petersburg happen in Moscow, and why did some Bolsheviks went after Jews on that day instead of going after the Provisional government as they were supposed to? Maybe someone paid some diamonds to get out after Bolshevik revolution and needed a story to explain how he escaped.
My other argument is that we always choose what is important to ask. I recently quoted a responsa from last April: right now, no questions about dinei mamonot, only nefashot. The counter-argument seems to be – hey, yes, we know we should ask more about Hoshen Mishpat, please do, but first , there is another O’Ch shaila we need to finish. I saw a simple rule in a sefer: parent/spouse should be 80 positive. So, make 4 positive comments, then you can allow yourself one negative.
Try the same with shailos for at least 50-50: do not ask about l’makom before you asked about l’havero. Any takers?
RebE, thanks for helping with the sources.
An interesting note: I was not hired. If there was a chiyuv, I should have asked him. A good point.Those who say tircha is not a big deal, maybe forgot the beginning of the thread: this is an outdoor minyan on a cold windy day. Piskei d’Zimra and kadishem before were already skipped. Nobody is sitting, kal vehomer talking. (Those who feel that masks are a threat should feel even stronger).
But I think the main contention here is not a specific halakha as nobody brought a source for opposite, or called up their Rav and asked them. The issue raised is whether we are allowed to deal with issues ourselves or need to ask any time there is a change from daily routine. This is, in truth, a good question highlighting our lives today – pretty routine and predictable (pre-Covid) and ability to constantly communicate. So, as there is helicopter parenting, there is helicopter paskening. If you are in the presence of someone who knows Torah better, you should not pasken. But what if the Rav is just a text away? in truth, phones already made Rav Feinstein available after he was able to get out of USSR, but it may be more a cultural phenomenon now as everyone texts.
You do realize that Jews were able to live kosher lives before texting, though? And life was also not always as routine. And people were used to change their own oil and make their own wool. Your question is then – are we allowed to continue act on our own when we can text the Rav or the parent? This related to Tzimtsum that Hashem, and wise parents practice.
More positive thoughts, it is really a good topic, thanks Mrs Syag
it will be easy to vaccinate some of the communities at the weddings, 1000 people at a time.
Hashem is making it really easy to become a tzaddik. It used to require being honest in business, greet every person first, learn Torah kuloh, waking up for vasikin – now, you put on a mask (properly) and you are already ahead of the olam! L
‘havdil same thing at the Ivy league – applications are up, as people think they can get in without SATlet’s just at look at Peshat: when Moshe was carrying the Tablets – which one was he holding in the right hand, and which one was heavier?
>> Nogea bdavar is not an insult, it’s a status.
it’s a status I did not have, because I was not following my own preferences.
It might be seen as an insult to presume that I would have acted while nogeah b’davar, but given that we are just the screen names here, it is not an insult, just your mistake in logical thinking.
What you guys are adding here, I need to make sure I am not Nogeah b’davar. There is a way to achieve that, courtesy of Alter from Slabodka. He did not want to waste his learning time and go honor a certain visitor. To make sure he is not just lazy, he walked to the house where the visitor stayed, then turned and went back home. So, I should have walked around the block on the way home.
Avram, I was totally not nogea b’davar: I was not in a hurry and not cold. I did not need rationalizing. I would prefer to say all kaddishes. I saw other people being cold. I agree that if I were to have personal inclination to skip, I should have asked the Rav in the minyan. The problem was – the Rav might have been cold, so he was nogea b’davar :). He would have been forced to tell me to say all of them in order to resist his own yetzer harah! In truth, if I were nogeah b’davar, I would not have skipped.
As to Hashem’s will, maybe He wants us to take care of other people despite our desire to say an extra kaddish – rather than ask shailos about it.
In the spirit of joint learning for all of you guys and gals who are commenting, please notice that you seem to put in the worst assumptions about any missing pieces in my story: I had my own interest, I don’t know whether my Rav will correct me or not. Notice what you are doing here: you first dislike the idea that I did not ask a shailoh, then you go and find all proofs, instead of making reasonable assumptions.
When Israel invited Gorbachev in 1992, Rush quipped – This is as Jews inviting Pharaoh after Exodus
GH: as more and more of the previously independent practices are bought out
Now you are complaining. “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor” after he sells his office.
Mrs. Syag, trying my best!
More shiurim available online
Daf Yomi is better attended
Can eat during shiur
Can ask questions during shiur on mute without bothering anyone.
And google the answers yourself.
Kids are better behaving sue to lack of peer influence
Kids see me working and learning.
Kids now know that even mathematicians do not use pre-calculus. Can’t fool them anymore.
Can attend work meetings without travel.
Can attend multiple meetings simultaneously.I am dismayed that medical office assistants are projected to grow 19% next 2 years (with average job growth being 4%). I thought we just proved that millions of us are capable of making our own vaccine appointments over publix websites!
High costs of healthcare hides such inefficiencies as “only 10% of overall costs”, which may be as much as other countries spend on healthcare in general. Hopefully, recently introduced hospital price transparency combined with population zoomification will put pressure here, unless the “big guy” will reverse the “old guy” reforms
Glasses might be protective too. So (less seriously) is eating garlic.
One early statistic observation was a French observation that smokers are better than surviving Covid. This research did not age well. Presumably, observation can be explained as following: younger, generally healthier in general, smokers get hospitalized, and are more likely to survive.
Even latest Israeli research in Lancet – 99% reduction in difficult cases, 85% reduction after first dose. This is among health-care workers, not elderly.
COVID revealed who your real friends are and unmasked those who do not care about others and pretended to be smart and learned.
This is decreasing demand for shaliach manot and freeing funds for matanot la evyonim.
COVID eradicated flu and probably other less successful viruses.
DY >> You are too quick to assume you don’t have one.
this is, of course, a valid concern for all of us. I personally was involved in a couple of competitive intellectual pursuits over years, so I know what I don’t know reasonably well. As an illustration of me knowing my limitations, I realize that I can’t convince common sechel that I am not doing my halachik root canals – nor do I need to.
More generally, routine memorization of material will not give you an ability to know what you don’t know. One would hope that Talmud learning should give you some feeling what you can and what you can’t figure out. Maybe ask your own Questions and answers, and then go thru commentaries to see if you made a mistake…
Another story (with the same Rav): he gave a parsha dvar Torah on shabbat first to non-observant students, and then to observant. When he entered the second room, he would stand for a minute without saying a word. I knew that he typically discussed same issue that bothered him in multiple talks during the week. So, I asked him why he was pausing. Was it a trick to force listeners to quiet down? He admitted that the topic was the same, but he explained that he needs to re-work how he talks about it: students from Jewish schools were trained to listen, but he wanted them to first understand the problem and (sic!) start asking questions. So, he had to push them further.
>> look at how fast he declared The Red State of Texas a Disaster area
Not trying to get in the middle of this bull fight, but Gov of Texas thanked Mr Biden “for partial approval” of his disaster request.
There is a first impression that Biden’s administration is very focused on creating perceptions. Repeated claims of “no vaccines”/”no plans” are unseemly. The federal effort seems to be directed solely to re-distribute does to the desired populations and “no plans” is simply used to justify the take over. First, this will generate ill will and takes focus away from trying to deal with the main problem. If there are any genuinely new ideas how to deal with the pandemic better, I may have missed it.
@Daas, He’s saying that people don’t ask enough shailos in Choshen Mishpat.
To go deeper, our focus is not infinite. You will have priorities in what you are thinking/ doing/ learning/ davening about. This may be subconscious. As you just slipped above – “even Orach Chaim”. “Even”? Because it was earlier in your yeshiva curriculum? The way I see it, there is no “kal vehomer” here. Issues relating bein adam lehavero are harder by definition as
(a) there is generally no one answer as issue depends on people involved
(b) as every issue l’havero also have an aspect l’makom, you need to do it right once
(c) mistakes l’havero have to be forgiven by that person, and might be harder than being forgiven by Hashem !It may be that we, as a community, re-focused on mitzvot l’makom as a natural reaction to Reform, communists, etc to build a protective wall. This is like proverbial burns after jumping into the fire to save someone. Jumping was the right thing to do, but the burns are real and need to be addressed.
@Daas, ok, glad that we are on the same page. I may have sharpened this issue too much to get my point across. I do ask Orech Chaim shailos when I have them.
@Common – also a fair point. I do ask experts on all of the above. Total probably comes to 5 max per year. This is reasonable. Disclosure: I did try on major appliances with a mixed success, but I learned a lot!
Is asking shailos always good? Can shailos be ever bad?
I saw a last year response from r Willig re:yeshiva contracts changing due to Covid – we are now dealing with dinei nefashot, dinei mamonot can wait, just keep money whether they are for now.
Once my Rav was giving a class on business ethics in halakha. He mentioned, inter alia, that Polish responsa had a lot to say about it, but then, I think from 17th century (possibly coinciding with economic decline of Poland as grain became less needed in the West) –
most of responsa became about kashrut of pots and pans and no more business ethics Q&As.So, we had a short conversation:
Me: So it is _your_ fault?
Rav: No, it is _your_ fault.Hope you can unpack this.
DY >> Ironic considering your screen name
thanks for a good question!
I was just thinking today that I got a misleading name! AAQ does not stand for “always ask shailos”, it stands for “always ask kushios”.. .As R Steinsaltz ZT’L used to say – Eskimos have hundred synonyms for snow, Arabs – for sand, and Jews – for “question”.
So, AAQ stands for trying to analyze the issue deeply and with integrity, reducing noise and bias of preconceived opinions. You are trying to make into an opposite – only some “gedolim” are allowed to think, the rest should tremble (haredi?) to decide any simple issues. In this case, I am trying to show that your trembling somehow disappears for issues that affect well-being of people around you.
So, if you were the person hesitant to switch the light on, you would accept Rav’s rebuke, but you would not accept mine? Would you call the Rav to clarify?
same essay address a similar point: “An authority who allows himself to be consulted [when a life is in danger] is reprehensible, and he who consults him (rather than speedily acting to save the life in danger) is a murderer” (Tur, Orah Hayyim 328). Maimonides, that master of conciseness, deviated from his regular manner and treated this issue with great elaborateness… [Rav Soloveitchik, in the original, inserts the previous citation of
Rambam.]
[AAQ: R Yosef Soloveichik was part of that story also – he was that sick kid]GH: (Moderna?) now being tested for younger age groups
I think they are. I am not sure how this test is being designed. I can see them testing for short-term safety. But how do you test for effectiveness given low disease rates? Either you need a huge group or maybe they are testing for some intermediate metrics, such as viral load?
Anyway, Israelis started vaccinating kids w/ medical issues without waiting for placebo-based testing. It looks more and more that real-life testing (with caution) is more effective way to get to the solution than FDA “golden standards”. It may have been OK at the beginning -Warp speed ensured that manufacturing was being set up during themonths of Phase 3, so there was no real delay. But now, there might be time to go with less-controlled tests. For those concerned, analyzing data from uncontrolled settings is still science. It has higher chance of error – but it compensates for ability to test more variations (dosage, for example) and more test cases.
He was using it as an example that the mitzvah of caring for human life overrides everything else.
He also quotes R Chaim Soloveichik who directed a person to add fire on shabbat for the doctor to better see a sick child when the doctor was reluctant to ask for it. The person hesitated, and R Chaim said that the person is both am haaretz and an apikoires …he leads to this thesis: One who makes light of the mandate of pikuach nefesh is not only making light of one isolated halacha. Rather, he is guilty of distorting and perverting the entire Torah. His flippancy depicts the laws of the Torah not, r”l, as “merciful, kind and just,” but as vengeful and vicious. It goes without saying that such a distortion constitutes a chillul Hashem….mischaracterizing our compliance with social distancing as a mere capitulation to the standards of outside entities had significant practical ramifications. The standards of all outside entities do not value life as absolutely as does the Torah. Tosafos (Yoma 85a) comment, “‘You shall live through them and not die due to them’ [means] that we must under no circumstances allow for the death of a Jewish person.