Rav Avraham Schlesinger, an Israeli senior kashrus supervisor, recently said in a shiur that a Chinese factory owner whose factory he supervises wrote to him that the coronavirus, which is believed to have originated with bats, shows how eating kosher saves Jews from illnesses, Kikar Shabbos reported.

“We see that the Jewish concept of eating kosher saves you from illnesses because the entire epidemic apparently began due to the consumption of bats,” the factory owner wrote. “We also see how powerless human beings are as is accepted in the Jewish faith.”

Rav Schlesinger added: “The factory owner requested that I convey to Am Yisrael: ‘Pray for us. You are close to G-d.'”

Rav Schlesinger, the head kashrus supervisor of Badatz Chanichei HaYeshivos, also said in his shiur that mashgichei kashrus are continuing to travel to China via other countries, adding that that the Av Beis Din of the kehilla, Hagaon Rav Mordechai Gross, paskened that from a halachic viewpoint mashgichim are permitted to travel to Chinese cities far away from the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan.

“There a big kashrus project in China,” said Rav Schlesinger. “It’s a project that’s carried out over many months of the year and requires a large staff of mashgichim. A new round of work is scheduled to start now which will continue until the end of Iyar and requires a large staff of mashgichim there at all times – including Pesach.”

“Many shailos came up regarding the project. Harav Gross was asked, among other shailos, whether it’s permissible to allow a mashgiach who is willing to do so to travel to China, mainly due to his dire financial situation. The halachich safek is if all of China is considered a “makom mageifah” or only the Wuhan city area.”

“At first we thought that it will be a matter of days and we began to broadcast the project live to Eretz Yisrael as we hoped that within a short amount of time, the mashgichim will arrive and check over what was done. But the days are passing and there’s also no workers so the whole existence of the project was in doubt. Due to this, Harav Gross paskened that a mashgiach who wants to travel to China to a city far away from the epidemic is permitted to do so.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)