The holy Kotel is closed, no minyans anywhere, like in Chanukah times

Here are some of the new restrictions as of Wednesday morning at 8 AM

1. No gathering will be allowed in public spaces, including for prayers or weddings. Individuals who pray should do so alone.

2. At the Western Wall a single minyan (or prayer quorum) of 10 people will be allowed during three daily services, while keeping a distance of 10 meters from each other.

Funerals will be held in open spaces only, attended by up to 20 people.

Brit milah (circumcision) ceremonies will be held with up to 10 people.

Nearly Everyone agrees that the Coronavirus is dangerous. New voices have come out that feel the danger is overblown. The voices have started to come out that it is time to end this misguided social experiment of closing everything down, quarantining the healthy as well as the sick and killing the world’s economies costing untold trillions of dollars of damages.

Unfortunately, the current experiment that is being conducted on us by supposedly democratic governments throughout the world has been designed by unelected public health officials; the same officials who failed in their duty to protect us from the virus.

Therefore, we are allowing the unit responsible for government failure to give advice on how to “solve” a problem that is in large part their fault. These officials also seem to have a single goal in mind: reducing the number of individuals who contract the Virus.

Such a single-minded approach is not consistent with an appropriate cost/benefit analysis of the consequences of their proposed actions.

This dangerous interplay between the media and policymakers has been termed an “availability cascade” by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman.

He explains: “An availability cascade is a self-sustaining chain of events which may start from media reports of a relatively minor event and lead up to public panic and large-scale government action. On some occasions, a media story about a risk catches the attention of a segment of the public, which becomes aroused and worried. This emotional reaction becomes a story in itself, prompting additional coverage in the media, which in turn produces greater concern and involvement.“The cycle is sometimes sped along deliberately by ‘availability entrepreneurs,’ individuals or organizations who work to ensure a continuous flow of worrying news. The danger is increasingly exaggerated as the media compete for attention-grabbing headlines. “Scientists and others who try to dampen the increasing fear and revulsion attract little attention, most of it hostile:

Anyone who claims that the danger is overstated is suspected of association with a ‘heinous cover-up.’“The issue becomes politically important because it is on everyone’s mind, and the response of the political system is guided by the intensity of public sentiment. The availability cascade has now reset priorities. Other risks, and other ways that public resources could be applied for the public good, all have faded into the background.”

Kahneman’s description appears to be a perfect fit in describing the surrealistic events that we are experiencing today.

While reducing the number of individuals who contract a virus (which happens to be non-deadly for at least 99% of those who contract it) is a laudable goal, the consequences of government’s proposed “cure” for society may be much worse than the consequences of the disease they are trying to prevent.

THE “STRATEGY” of social distancing has been implemented through widespread shutdowns. But what is the actual cost of saving a life under the current strategy? Does this justify shutting down the economy and creating chaos and misery in many human dimensions?

Public health officials, working with an unscrupulous media, have feverishly constructed a false and misleading narrative that conveniently fits their apocalyptic view of a “crisis.”
This has compelled politicians, even those who would normally reject draconian measures to stifle economic activity, to engage in the most rapid form of self-inflicted wealth destruction and restriction of economic liberty we have ever witnessed in a free society. These unprecedented and unlawful actions to effectively quarantine healthy people constitute a fundamental assault on our personal and economic freedom.

As it applies to the Jewish people, the virus seems to have spread faster among the Orthodox world that actually goes to synagogue several times a day and is proximate to each other.
Obviously if you don’t go to synagogue you are no different than the rest of the non-Jewish population. The first restriction that was recommended was a breakdown of thousands of years of tradition. Don’t kiss the Torah or mezuzahs,

No one said a word about this new idea, as it seemed to make sense if the virus was on objects and stayed there. The fact that we have been kissing the Torah for a long time wasn’t mentioned.

No one said a word about the fact that in Orthodox synagogues almost universally there are “collectors” that come around each morning and visit every member of the congregation asking for charity. To make matters worse, these collectors use modern technology (cars and buses) to get to every synagogue in the area and spread their germs to EVERY MEMBER of every synagogue since they see them all EVERY Day. No one has come out and mentioned this fact that seems to make synagogues more vulnerable than any other place.

So the synagogues were closed one, two, three with no discussions. Now most small synagogues membership consists of elderly Jews. Just the facts, Mam, most of the minyan do consist of elderly people. Young people don’t like to get out of bed to go to the most important morning minyan where we read the Torah and put on Tefillin. So synagogues that have never been closed in hundreds of years, closed up one after the other, because as Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman says above, the Rabbis didn’t want to be accused of not acting fast enough.

The Haradi Rabbis were not quick enough to act and the entire media came down on them, as Kahneman said and had no choice except to change their positions from black to white and close everything.

No one knows what is going on. But common sense has left us. Why should an outdoor minion, where people stand six feet apart, be any more dangerous than being outside? The collectors still come, because no one had the sense to send them away, but I stayed a long way from them. When I came home on the bus from the Minyon, the bus conductor came up to me to check that I had paid my fare. He wasn’t wearing a mask and came right into my face and he has been in conduct with every person on every bus as well, just like a collector. But no one is closing the buses.

The health minister just closed all outdoor minyans today just like the synagogues and no one can now say halakhic Kaddish.

As I said in my post yesterday the Talmud says (Sotah page 28 and 29) the world exists because of us saying the Kaddish.

Let’s hope for the best without anyone saying it.

Love Yehuda Lave

Here is an appropriate story for a lot of transferred Guilt that is going on:

A Freudian Field Day

Mrs. Goldfarb takes her little boy to the beach, and as soon as she settles under an umbrella, the routine begins:

“Alan, come over here. Don’t go into the water, you’ll drown!”

“Alan, don’t play in the sand. It’ll get in your eyes.”

“Alan, come out of the sun. You’ll get sunstroke!”

“Oy vey, such a nervous child.”