It's Time for Our Rabbis to Speak
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GET THE LATEST AT FORWARD.COM YOUR SHABBAT EDITION • MARCH 13, 2020 A printable best-of-the-week curated by Forward editors. Sign up at forward.com/shabbat. koto_feja/iStock Life Should We Shut Down The Shuls? It’s Time For Our Rabbis To Speak Up. By Shlomo Zuckier Who is wise? One who sees what is yet to unfold. reactions are seen in some way as inadequate, (Tamid 32a) whether due to political biases, different weighting of priorities or otherwise? Pandemics have an exponential growth rate, which means that early indications don’t seem too bad, and Then it’s up to other leaders, religious, institutional and then everything spirals out of control, all at once. thought leaders, to try to convince people of the Given this reality, you need insightful, forward-thinking correct measures they must take. We’ve seen a great people to infer what the future might look like, drawing number of universities move to online instruction upon scientific models and parallel scenarios, and rather than in-person. More and more, we’re seeing make decisions on that basis. information-based recommendations for people to minimize their public activities, with the goal of A lot is at stake in catching the pandemic early and slowing the spread of the disease so it doesn’t responding properly, in order to slow the spread of the overwhelm our health care system. Judaism gives disease. If you only start responding when the danger great weight to the value of human life. The Torah’s is obvious, it might already be too late. principle of “And one shall live by [these laws] and not Given this reality, it is time for poskim, rabbinic decisor die by them” asserts that Judaism is a religion of life, of Jewish law with broad shoulders, to intervene on and when one’s life is at risk, or even might potentially behalf of the public health of our communities. be at risk, one should violate Jewish law (for any commandment other than murder, idolatry, and In some countries, like in Israel, we’re seeing strong sexually immoral behavior). This is equally true for the government reactions. But what if the government’s lives of elderly and sick, even those who might be seen Should We Shut Down The Shuls? It’s Time For Our Rabbis To Speak Up. 1 GET THE LATEST AT FORWARD.COM as having a “lower quality of life” or fewer years First, health and policy decision-makers, in deciding remaining on their actuarial charts. whether to impose far-reaching shutdowns, need to weigh factors such as the impact on the economy, on The story is told that one year, in the face of a cholera the one hand, and the value of the lives of the elderly, epidemic, the great Rabbi Yisrael Salanter announced to on the other. (Unfortunately, some also weigh reelection his congregation that people should break their fast on prospects or other political considerations.) Yom Kippur, and may have even made a public Kiddush himself Yom Kippur morning. Halakhic decisors have an overlapping but distinct set of factors to weigh for making their determinations: If Shul Rabbi Hayyim Soloveitchik, the famed Talmudist, ruled attendance is curtailed unnecessarily, especially as that the minor fasts (all fasts other than Yom Kippur and people are going to work or doing all their other Tisha Ba’av) no longer apply given health risks – he business as usual, there may be an impact on people’s explained that he wasn’t being lenient about those fast religious observance, both short and long term. And, days, but rather was stringent about protecting human many posit, a time of crisis is precisely the time when it’s life. These great authorities saw fit to publicize their most important to pray. position because, for many communities, halakhic authorities are the ones with the wisdom, responsibility, On the other hand, there is the paramount value of and authority to make decisions that will be followed. protecting human life. Additionally, decisors also might weigh the same factors differently than the government, At this point, the World Health Organization has maybe giving more weight to the lives of the elderly declared the coronavirus a pandemic. Although the than a number-cruncher. numbers are still low in the United States, the rates of cases is going up in exponential fashion, and soon will Furthermore, the scenario that presents itself is different pose a real challenge to public health. Descriptions of for the Orthodox Jewish community – observant Jews what is happening in parts of Italy are harrowing, as is tend to congregate much more – between prayer the prospect that we will be in a similar situation in a services, Shabbat meals, not to mention Purim and manner of weeks. Passover. There is often a lot of interaction between young, healthy people and the elderly within Orthodox Which is why it’s essential that rabbinic decisors step in, family structures, and the risks to the vulnerable older before it’s too late. population are therefore all the greater. This is not an easy case where a sick person needs to Finally, even if the government or CDC does weigh in, skip a fast day or violate Shabbat to survive – we are many Orthodox Jews might be more likely to listen to talking about a more complicated set of concerns, poskim than a politician. The reality is such that many protecting vulnerable people who won’t be sick yet, but halakhic communities look to their rabbis to determine will be if prudent actions are not taken. That might how seriously to treat this situation, to determine include limiting the size of minyan quorums, prohibiting whether this is a hoax or a serious public health crisis. people of a certain age or health bracket from attending synagogue, encouraging people to avoid crowds – not True Torah leaders apply their broad-based judgement, just as a matter of prudence, but as a matter of Jewish taking into account multiple factors and weighing the law. proper ruling. They must see into the future, and commit themselves to make the right decision, even if they take In an extreme scenario, it might mean canceling Shul a risk or put themselves on the line, with the goal of altogether as long as the virus is spreading so widely, a doing the right thing and saving lives. measure [just taken] collectively by the Rabbinical Council of Bergen County, representing numerous Orthodox synagogues. Rabbi Shlomo Zuckier is a doctoral candidate at Yale Now, one might wonder – why not simply rely on the University and a member of Yeshiva University’s Kollel government? Wait for the CDC to give its guidance and Elyon. The former OU-JLIC Rabbi at Yale, he is the editor follow it? There are a few reasons why that may be of the forthcoming Contemporary Uses and Forms of insufficient. Hasidut. Should We Shut Down The Shuls? It’s Time For Our Rabbis To Speak Up. 2 GET THE LATEST AT FORWARD.COM Opinion rise, vandalism continues to spread and from Pittsburgh to Poway to Jersey City to Monsey, to Halle, and violent antisemitic incidents have become all-too There’s No Consensus common. On What Constitutes One way to mitigate this hate is to effectively identify it for what it is. “Antisemitism Uncovered” was Antisemitism. So We At designed to do just that. It takes on seven of the most prominent antisemitic tropes that plague our society: The ADL Created One. power, dual loyalty, greed, deicide, the blood libel, Holocaust denialism, and anti-Zionism or By Jonathan A. Greenblatt delegitimization of Israel. It’s undeniable: Antisemitism is on the rise. We know The guide provides numerous current and historical the numbers; we have the data. It’s been weaponized examples of how each one of these myths has been for partisan gain, it’s been normalized in politics, and it weaponized to demonize the Jewish people. It is the has gone viral. product of years of experience of our internal ADL Talk of conspiracy theories, foreign intervention, dual experts. It has been peer-reviewed by some of the loyalty, and delegitimization of Israel continue to gain leading experts in the field of historical and ground in the public conversation, moving from alt contemporary antisemitism to ensure that its right discussion groups and backroom political definitions are clear, concise and accurate. meetings into the mainstream. From the insidious notion that Jews collectively When a city councilman claims that the Jews are murdered Jesus some 2,000 years ago, to the idea that controlling the weather; when a member of Congress billionaire businessman and philanthropist Mike suggests that other Jewish members have dual Bloomberg is a “puppet master” for Democratic loyalties; when students are ostracized on college presidential candidate Joe Biden, to the comparison campuses for supporting the Jewish state, we see the made by a television pundit that supporters of Sen. re-emergence of tropes that have historically been Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign are akin to used to isolate, intimidate and scapegoat Jews across “brownshirts” from Hitler’s Nazi party, antisemitism the expanse of history. abides by no logical parameters, defies neat political lines and stubbornly persists from ancient times to the For more than 100 years, the Anti-Defamation League present day. has been at the forefront of calling out these stereotypes whenever they appear, regardless of their The results can be deadly. We saw the hateful myth of source. But it has become increasingly clear that the Jewish “power” radicalize Pittsburgh synagogue lack of shared definitions and standards around the shooter Robert Bowers, who believed it was the Jews world’s oldest hatred has sowed confusion.