The parents of a boy in Telzstone whose bar mitzvah is scheduled for right after Tisha B’Av were debating whether to keep their son home for two weeks before the event to ensure he could attend his own Bar Mitzvah.

Since the rise of coronavirus cases in Israel began at the beginning of the month, every day Israelis are informed that they have to quarantine for two weeks due to the diagnosis of someone in their school, class, yeshivah, minyan, etc. or they themselves develop symptoms of the virus. If that would happen to the bar mitzvah boy, his bar mitzvah would have to be canceled or rescheduled and his mother felt that they should avoid that risk by keeping him home. However, the father felt that the risk doesn’t justify keeping their son from davening in a minyan with his new tefillin and learning Torah.

“My wife and I were debating whether we should refrain from sending him to cheder and shul despite the fact that he only now began to put on tefillin for two weeks before the bar mitzvah,” the father of the bar mitzvah boy, Rav Peretz, explained. “Or ‘Shomer Pesayim Hashem’ (Hashem protects the ignorant) and since we’re wearing masks and using alcogel, we shouldn’t worry about keeping him home from cheder or from davening in a minyan.”

Rav Peretz decided to send the shaila to the Rosh Yeshivas Slabodka, HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch. He wrote a letter explaining the dilemma and sent it to the Rosh Yeshivah by fax. One night, late at night, the telephone rang and it was HaRav Hirsch himself on the line.

“I saw the letter you sent me,” Harav Hirsch said to Rav Peretz. “And I think your wife is right and two weeks before the bar mitzvah he shouldn’t go to Talmud Torah or daven in a minyan.”

Surprised by the answer, Rav Peretz responded: “But HaRav, we should keep him from the Talmud Torah for two weeks and from my experience, it will be difficult to teach him at home and enforce an appropriate schedule?”

“If you’re thinking about your son’s ruchniyus,” Harav Hillel responded, “you should know that if chalilah something happens to him and the bar mitzvah has to be canceled or rescheduled, his agamas nefesh will have a much higher toll on his ruchniyus. You shouldn’t send him to cheder or shul under any circumstances.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)