ZAKA chairman Yehuda Meshi-Zahav spoke about the effects of the coronavirus crisis on the Chareidi sector in Israel in a recent interview with Arutz Sheva.
“I spend quite a bit of time in the hospitals; in fact, I was recently in Hadassah hospital and most of the people I saw on the wards there were Chareidim,” Meshi-Zahav said to Arutz Sheva. “I met with families of those who succumbed to the disease, and heard terrible stories of how people were walking around fine one day and then, two days later, they were hospitalized and passed away.”
“This reminds me of the Titanic,” Meshi-Zahav said. “On the one hand, people are dying and on the other hand, there are people just continuing with their daily lives without paying any attention to the problem. We’re forgetting that three people are dying on average per day in Bnei Brak [over the last week].”
“It’s very confusing, because what started out as a health issue turned into a sectoral and political issue. Everyone is comparing the [left-wing] protests at Balfour to the beach and to the yeshivas… When we see police entering yeshivas and shutting Gemaras of students who were supposed to be in isolation, the community doesn’t gain a favorable impression. But people are paying the price for this attitude. Everyone who works in the Hatzalah organizations and deals with the families themselves discovers more and more people whose lives have been destroyed after a close family member passed away.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
People are dying because they are NOT getting proper care.
Learning Torah has not killed ANYONE!!!!
The solution- follow the gedolim. Do as they suggest. You can’t go wrong with that.
My input, if someone has a life-threatening condition and needs an immediate surgery, but instead of going to the hospital, he continues to learn, you would also say that learning Torah has not killed anyone?
my input
When the chofetz Chaim was told by his doctor not to learn for AN ENTIRE YEAR he adhered to the rule.
פקוח נפש דוחה כל התורה כולה, ומחללין שבת על ספק ספק ספיקא – על אחת כמו”כ כשיש הרבה מקרים בכל יום
Anyway, noone said you can’t learn, have you not seen the pictures of Bochurim learning with face masks / outdoors / on the phone / in isolation etc.etc.
Ideal? No.
Torah Mitoch Hadechak? Yes!
לפום צערא אגרא
But it is not a heter to be גורם a גורם that might end a Yid’s life prematurely.
There are so many internet shiurim available that you would need multiple lifetimes as long as Moshe Rabbeinu to learn them all. THAT is how to learn Torah during a pandemic.
Or learn with your immediate family. My wife and I learn the parsha with commentaries every Shabbat.