Always_Ask_Questions

Ok, so we have a small collection of detailed teshuvot – R Weiss, R Schachter, R Meir Twersky and also assorted quotes and public announcements of others.

We also have several posters who graciously represent those who disagree with these teshuvot.
Could they explain what their sources are? Maybe they can take time to ask their authorities to comment on these teshuvot? Maybe we can start Masehet Corona here.

re: The trump supporters are enraged that the democrats will use court packing to get the SC back.

I do find disturbing that Mr. Biden responds that he is not going to say what his position is. And Ms. Harris even said to Pence that she is going to answer the question and then continued to not answer.

In a healthier debate, they should have been asked the question multiple times after that so that voters have either an answer or it will become well known that they refuse to answer.

@akuperma – I can’t be a judge between you and your Mayor, but I see that people in other cities, including where Jews are a significant voting block and those where we are not: same groups of people disregard rules in public. Thus, your explanation may be your personal rationalization but insufficient to explain your behavior. In my town, even people who barely have any clothes on, have masks on religiously.

Maybe R Avraham Twersky’s observation is appropriate – he says that it is harder to treat intelligent alcoholics, especially doctors. They can always find a justification for their actions.

Any of you came from an accountant on Mayflower? If not, we should appreciate that we all were allowed into a country that stays a democracy for 200+ years with just a minor civil war in between, and gave us more rights and opportunities than other places where we came from. I don’t think it is fair to blame “sneaky Esav” for luring us into assimilation with freedom and acceptance – we need to figure out that challenge ourselves.

So, if this country stumbles it’s way through crazy politicians and theatrical selection of justices, let it be. Don’t argue with success. If you can contribute to make the country better – gezunte heig (after thinking it over first), but don’t get despaired. We, as a nation, have more historical insights than anyone else in this country, so stop being outraged at the sight of a politician doing something inappropriate.

@Syag, of course you need to take lots of factors into account. daily trends are easy – just take a 7-day average of the time series. If you want to read faster signal, you would need to match day-of-the-week ore careful. Not asking about protests is a good question, I agree with you. I am not sure whether it affects the question – what is an early prediction of magefa in the community. Misrepresentation is an even bigger question. I think nursing homes are the biggest examples. I followed several examples and overall statistics – where overall mortality measured later on uncovered that a number of nursing homes were hiding numbers. I am not sure we disagree much here.

What I have a problem with – an example of the person in this thread who suggests to sick people not to get tested. To spite the Mayor, I presume. So, possibly increasing chances that someone sick will not get treated on time or will infect someone else. Unfortunately, there is a taste of this in one of the public letters I saw recently that says – “to facilitate an accurate assessment of the infection spread in our communities and to prevent further surge, it is important for people in high infection areas to get tested now for COVID-19.” I think this is a deniable call to present a better picture of the community (while presumably wasting tests and public resources). As daf yomi explains – we can (and should?) judge people by kiso, koso, vekaaso.

@RebEliezer – interesting comparison. I recall it is also if patient says that he needs to eat, we listen to him too. In modern terms, doctor knows statistics for general population; the patient himself knows himself best. I do not recall an option to consult a tzadik. .. So, you can either listen to CDC or be more careful.

R Meir Twersky addresses an additional question in his teshuva – when there is a new unfamiliar disease, it is not enough to listen to one doctor as information is not certain. Also, do not listen to politicians, as they have their own political reasons that are not the same as our standard on saving lives.

@Reb Eliezer There is a ruling (psak) that someone who contributed to his illness should not be davened for

I think this psak should be publicized and posted everywhere … the article quotes an oral ruling. Is there a written version?

This psak may shock some people into submission. But maybe not those who already are not able to imagine things beyond their immediate perception. Can someone ask for a psak – can such pere adam be not called to the Torah, any other immediate consequences?

Re: Tehilim for Trump.

First, it may be late to question the tehilim, they apparently worked. So you probably wouldn’t want to retract tehilim after Hashem accepted them.

2nd, President Trump did use multiple measures: frequent rapid tests for himself and others around him; social distancing for everyone else. Secret service is great at enforcing social distancing. How does the psak apply in such a case? For example, to shlimazels who wear mask on one of the two face orifices or take the mask off to talk to others.

3rd. We might have different criteria for heads of state. Jews prayed for health of various kings and emperors, many of whom were involved in pretty unhealthy activities

@hakatan, today’s Daf Yomi Eruvin – if you see something against Torah, esp Hillul Hashem –
you need to act and not to defer until a more senior person issues a psak. [contrasting with the usual case that you do not issue psak in front your Rav]

HaKatan – government did not release the virus on Jews, at least it is not US government. Thus, it is not a gezerah shmad. We do not blame TV forecasters when it rains in the Sukkah.

Whatever your mayor and governor say, the outbreak is objectively happening. You want less outbreak – make your community be more careful; do teshuva for any other aveiros related or unrelated to the pandemic.

There is a teshuva from R Mayer Twersky in May stating (predicting?) that all politicians will have their own motives, and we should make our judgment based on Torah values independent of what politicians are saying. You seem to be so carried away blaming a politician that you are ready to hurt yourself to prove your point.

I see in a protest letter – “how dare they close shuls ner a holiday”? Maybe Hashem is sending these politicians to davka protect you near the holiday, so that you can learn in a healthy state the whole year ahead.

coffee, just contact whomever you consider a gadol, or ask your local Rav to consult whomever he consults. And then please report the answer here as this is the public matter. If you don’t receive the answer, you can post that also.

Syag,
thanks for fixing my post. Let me return the favor, then.

You seem to be claiming that religious Jews should behave same as other communities, but, due to smaller apartments, they will understandably be affected more by the pandemic, and that’s OK. We can keep our equal rights sustained, sorry, grandpa. We’ll say the kaddish with no masks, don’t worry.

I agree with everyone here – yes for davening, yes for hishtadlus, and yes for being open-minded…
on one hand, davening is better than burning tires and starting protests….
On the other, to protect Yserbius from being accused of insensitivity, we can look at the idea of “sheretz b’yado” – can we daven while doing averos (not just passively not doing hishtadlus …)?

Presuming that a plague is a punishment and lesson for us – we should at least try to discern the lesson and learn from them. Some of the “lessons learned” I heard are usually simply an extension of the speaker’s agenda, adding Covid for better taste.

OrechDin – you mention poskim in Israel who require masks. So, if a Rav of a shul follows that psak and someone shows up without a mask or in a half-mask – what happens? Do they get an aliya? Or do we now have separate shuls with and without masks?

Maybe we could use a 2×2 mehitza with traditional men/women separation in one dimension and mask/non-mask dimension in another. I saw this happening spontaneously sans the mehitza.

School IT person should have an admin account and students should have a local account. Admin account should NOT have “613” for the password.

Administrator should be able to disable wifi. See link 1. I think bluetooth access may depend on a computer model and is often switched on using an external button. See link 2 that describes how to switch it on. Use in reverse.

If you have already disabled Wifi, you might not be able to see the links or even read this, of course…

links removed, sorry