Hagaon Harav Chaim Kanievsky was asked to respond to the phenomenon of the coronavirus which has been causing widespread panic in the world.
“In the days of shovavim which are mesugal for us to fight against Amelek as it’s mentioned in our parshiyos – l’havdil from all the tumah of Mitzryaim and the culture of the nations – ‘Every illness that I afflicted Mitzrayim with I will not afflict you because I am Hashem your Healer’ should be fulfilled in us,” Harav Chaim said.
“There’s no punishment that comes to the world except for Yisrael,” Hagaon Harav Gershon Edelstein said. “We have to remember that everything is through the hashgacha of Shamayim – there is nothing to fear. We should strengthen ourselves through emunah that everything is from Hashem Yisbarach and we should increase Torah learning which protects and saves us from dire troubles.”
A nine-year-old girl is Israel who is suspected of having contracted the coronavirus was hospitalized on Monday in the Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petach Tikvah. The girl, who was living in China with her parents and was in Vietnam for five days before returning to Israel on Sunday, was suffering from a high fever and other symptoms that meet the criteria for suspected coronavirus.
A Schneider spokesperson said that the hospital is prepared to respond to the incident and has practiced responding to such incidents in the past.
Also on Monday, the Health Ministry announced that it is illegal for companies to force employees who have returned from China in the past few weeks to come to their workplaces.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
poskim 1) mostly only quote halakhic sources, not midrashim, 2) exhibit intimate familiarity with the metziut and 3) are of appropriate age,
Good news is that there are few, if any, mindless posts telling yidden not to worry about public health guidelines and that if they observe tzinius and light shabbos lecht early, they will have immunity. If you read the article carefully and listen to guidelines from R’ Litzman and other Israeli public health authority, they are acting aggressively to restrict travel by those possibly infected and pressuring drug companies to accelerate research on a vaccine.
DrYidd
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