Many children play with magnifying glasses, burning paper and cardboard using the sunlight. Many children do not realize the potential danger of this “fun”.
But today, one child received second degree burns thanks to a magnifying glass.
The incident reportedly happened on Wednesday morning in a Yeshiva in Passaic, NJ, when one child aimed the glass at his friends shirt. The boys clothes instantly caught on fire. The victim, a 10-year-old boy, was transported by Passaic Hatzalah to a hospital where he was being treated for second degree burns – thankfully only to a small area of his body.
Please use this incident as a warning to speak to your children about the dangers of playing with magnifying glasses, and explain to them that this is not any less then playing with matches.
(Chaim Shapiro – YWN)
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12 Responses
VERY SCARY!!
As a side note, the tzitzis appear to be polyester. Most people do not realize that there are two types of “cotton” tzitzis available in the stores. And they look the same. One type is 100% cotton. The other type is poly-cotton. Although there are poskim who permit them both, Reb Moshe Feinstein, and the leading litveshe Poskim hold that the tzitiz may not be made out of a synthetic material.
He should have a refuah shelaima. What is his name for tehillim?
Anonymouschochom- you need help.
#1 – Is that what you’re worried about? Yes, tzitzis must be kosher but every family follows their own mesorah according to what’s permitted by their Rav. Meanwhile, a child could have been very seriously hurt. I also feel for the child who did it & for the classmates who saw this accident. Try less of the preaching & more of the compassion.
You are joking, right? A ten year old boy gets second degree burns after a fellow classmate uses a magnifying glass to burn him and you think this is the appropriate time to discuss the specifics of materials used for Tzitzis?! HaShem Yerachem.
1. Good point. You could tell in the pix that the undershirt BURNT while the arba kanfos beged MELTED!
Nu, so isn’t this a raya brurah that synthetics are assur. Pure cotton never would have caught fire in such a way. Lemaysah he should have been wearing cotton if not wool….ah just kidding who thinks this way. The pure boy was doing a mitzvah and u try to chastise his fabrics!? Shame! Don’t chastise his fabrics!
brooklynhocker,computerbubby, and AreyouforREAL-
I am very sensitive and feel terrible about what happened.
But why aren’t you sensitive to the daily bracha l’vatallah and Hashem’s name being mentioned in vein by so many innocent people every single day.
The neighborhood where this happened is probably a litvishe neighborhood who live by the word of our Poskim, especially Reb Moshe zt”l.
In the past, everyone knew there was an issue with mesh-tzitsis. However, in recent years, these tzitzis are being marketed in our neighborhoods and they look like cotton. Customers do not realize there is any issue at all with them. It is probably safe to say that thousands of people are wearing these tzitzis without realizing. Besides not fulfilling the mitzvah, there is a serious issue with a bracha l’vatalah.
I am not one to say why this happened, but it is not so we can just say “OY VEY!” We could and should learn at least this obvious lesson.
It is a good point.
From a fabric finishing site:
“All fabrics will burn with some being more combustible than others. Untreated fabrics such as cotton, linen and silk burn more easily than wool, which is more difficult to ignite and burns with a low flame velocity.”
“Most synthetic fabric, such as nylon, acrylic or polyester resist ignition. However, once ignited, the fabrics will melt. This sticky, hot, melted substance will cause localized and very severe burns. When natural and synthetic fibers are blended, the hazard may increase due to the combination of a high rate of burning and melting usually will result in serious burns. In some cases, the hazard may be greater than that of either fabric individually.”
And now to combine the two themes here – the dangers of fire and the permissability of such tzitzis:
There is a law (either NY or Federal) requiring children’s pajamas to be flame resistant to some degree. They are either treated, or cannot be from certain materials, I am not sure about the details of the law.
It makes sense that when you buy a beged for your child that is supposed to ‘protect him’ on a ruchnius level, you should try to avoid a material that endangers him on a physical level! Stick to 100% cotton, or pressure the manufacturers to treat them to make them flame resistant.
BTW – I am not familiar with R’ Moshe’s psak, but it seems to me that synthetics might be potur from Tzitzis, in which case you are missing the mitzvah, but why would they be ‘forbidden’ to wear?
Yitzyk, they would not be forbidden to wear, but making a bracha on them would be considered a bracha l’vatalah.
There is a time and place to discuss this issue – this is not that place.