Posted on 07/02/20
| News Source: Vosizneias.com
BNEI BRAK (VINnews) — An emergency meeting convened by the rabbis and Roshei Yeshivo of Bnei Brak established strict new regulations regarding how to combat Coronavirus within the city, which is still suffering both from the effects of the virus and from the negative publicity it received during the first wave of the virus three months ago.
Rabbi Shimon Ba’adani, a member of Shas’s Council of Torah Sages, spoke about the severity of the situation: “A parent came to me and told me that in his son’s yeshiva they allow them to sit in the shiur without a mask. I told him unequivocally: You must take your son out of the yeshiva. They are belittling the danger and there is no excuse for this. I heard that a G-d fearing Jew was Sandek without a mask. Who can allow such a thing? Who can be lenient on live and death issues, it is a Torah obligation!”.
Rabbi Baruch Diskin, the Rosh Yeshiva of Orchos Torah said that “we have come here to raise an outcry. People need to know that whoever goes without a mask bears responsibility for the entire Torah world. We are reaching a situation where Heaven forfend we will need to close all Torah institutions and shuls. Doesn’t the public understand that we are going there? If one Jew is careless, he should know that he has responsibility for the entire Torah world, who can bear such a burden? There is no room for a believing Jew to say “I’ll be ok”. We should realize that if Heaven forfend we will need a lockdown, we won’t be able to oppose it because it will be a life-threatening situation.”
The rabbis of the town, Rabbi Chaim Yitzchak Eizik Landa and Rabbi Shevach Rosenblatt also spoke about the individual’s responsibility to others regarding wearing a mask and stated that “one who is lenient on this is directly responsible for placing others in isolation with all the attendant damage to body and soul stemming from the isolation, it is all due to that person’s carelessness.”
General (Res.) Roni Nome who helped the city during the first wave presented the participants with new data about the rate of infection, demonstrating that there is a sharp rise in infection in crowded places including Torah institutions, shuls and event halls. (In one instance, 53 bachurim from the Beis Matisyahu yeshiva tested positive for the virus. The yeshiva was closed until further notice.)
The director of the local emergency center, Arik Adler, warned that “if action is not taken to curb the outbreak the rate of infection could rise much higher.”
The rabbis then ruled that: