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| Stanislover Rebbe, R' Uri Ashkenazi (Wikipedia) |
Which makes the cavalier attitude expressed by some beyond
perplexing. I realize that most of us are taking this seriously and following
the guidelines and precautions experts in the field are recommending. And while
that seems to have leveled off the spike somewhat in New York, it has yet to do the same in other
large cities. Like Chicago. A lot of people I know have the virus. Some of whom
I am very close with (although not physically at this time).
And yet this does not seem to register with some people. From
Hamodia:
The Chassidic world, and the London community, mourns the sudden petirah of Harav Uri Ashkenazi, zt”l, the Stanislaver Rebbe of London, who was niftar on Thursday morning in London at the age of 76…
He was hospitalized in a serious state Wednesday after testing positive for coronavirus, and was niftar on Thursday.
According to sources in or from the UK, Rabbi Ashkenazi had treated
this disease cavalierly and ignored the advice of the government and health
professionals in the field. He even attended a wedding when he was asked not to, apparently. Now - in very short order, he’s gone. And who knows how many people his irresponsible behavior affected. Rachmana Litzlan!
But he isn’t the only one. This was posted yesterday in Life in Israel:
Every day in the news, including today, there are reports of the police discovering schools still in session and breaking them up, or shuls still meeting for services and locking them up. This is true in both Israel and in the USA (and maybe other places as well, though I pay less attention to them). Yes, other gatherings as well by other types of people - same issue, whether some form of protest or prayer vigil or just lackadaisical whimsy behavior (beach goers and general entertainment).
I just do not get it.
(I don’t get it either.)
And then there is this from Rabbi Yakov Horowitz:
This morning, I saw a few fellows dressed like me walking to a (“house”) minyan/prayer quorum, a day after 13 people died of Coronavirus in one New York City hospital alone, a day after NYC officials announced that over 20,000 of its residents have Coronavirus, 3,750 hospitalized, 840 in ICU units, and 280 dead.
I could not help but wonder what God they are purportedly praying to, and what religion they are practicing.
I have the same question. We are the Chosen people. Chosen
by God to be His treasured people. Which requires us to live by a higher
standard than the rest of the world. And judged by God accordingly. That means
following Halacha to the best of our ability.
And yet when it comes to one of the most important Halachos
in all of the Torah, it is ignored. Not just by laypeople. But in some cases by people that
are supposed to be our spiritual leaders.
They have NOT been behaving in accordance with God’s will. They have
instead been defying God, Who tells us to guard our health. And not
only have they endangered their own health they have endangered the health of
others – some of whom may get seriously ill and in some cases die because of it!
God does not want us to congregate right now under any
circumstances! He does not want us to die. He wants us to listen to Him! And
those who ignore the clear health warnings – ARE NOT LISTENING!
What is it that makes them ignore these warnings? Is it that they don’t think medical science knows what it’s
talking about? Is it that they think this is all just one big exaggeration? Are
they even paying attention to what is going on in the world… in their own communities?!
I do not understand. What will it take for some of these
people to wake up – before it’s too late?!
This both scares me and angers me. I just don’t know which feeling is
worse - the fear or the anger!
Please – Everybody just stay home and stay healthy. May we
all soon be over the scourge plaguing the earth right now! God help us all!
Good Shabbos