[Avodah] [TorahWeb] A Great Nation by Rabbi Mordechai Willig

[Prof. L. Levine]

>From  http://www.torahweb.org/torah/2020/parsha/rwil_lechlecha.html
[The TorahWeb Devar Torah for Lekh-Likha 5781, "A Great Nation" by R
Mordechai Willig. -mb]

> The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the Orthodox Jewish community
> disproportionately. All of the blessings of "I will make you a great
> nation" have been affected. The sheer number of fatalities, r"l, has
> quantitatively reduced our great nation. Of course, each loss is a
> terrible tragedy for the deceased and the close family and friends. But
> the cumulative losses in the Orthodox community have been devastating.

> Our reputation as a wise and understanding nation has been
> tarnished. Despite staggering numbers of mortality and morbidity,
> and notwithstanding repeated warnings and predictions that have come
> true, appropriate precautions are often ignored. Nearly all physicians,
> including numerous Orthodox doctors, agree that masks and social distance
> reduce risk of transmission. In many if not most circumstances, lack
> of precaution adds danger. It is not only unscientific, it is against
> the halachic requirement to avoid danger whenever possible. The dozens
> of recent Covid-19 funerals across the spectrum of Orthodoxy, in the US
> and Eretz Yisrael, should lead to universal compliance. The failure to
> wear masks and to distance is a perplexing case of cognitive dissonance,
> unbefitting a wise and understanding nation.

See the above URL for the rest of the article.

Those in the Orthodox community who do not follow the guidelines of
the authorities have indeed led to a diminution of how the world views
observant Jews.

YL