By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5TJT.com
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Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese diplomat that saved some 6000 Jewish lives by issuing visas during the Nazi holocaust.
We have our own, home-grown Sugihara who grew up in Lawrence, New York and a graduate of Yeshiva of Far Rockaway, who may have just saved a substantial number of lives as well.
Unfortunately, many in our community did not really understand the severity of the COVID-19 virus, with people going about their lives attending weddings, ignoring all social distancing recommendations, attending shuls en masse, and not discontinuing weddings.
As anyone can appreciate, this lack of awareness could have led to massive loss of life rachmana litzlan. To address this serious problem, White House official Avi Berkowitz held a forty minute conference call between White House leaders and New York Jewish leaders, including Rabbonim, Admorim and Askanim, on Tuesday. The call stressed the seriousness of the new coronavirus and the crucial need to adhere to the guidelines expressed by President Donald Trump.
Avi Berkowitz, serves as Assistant to the President and Special Representative for International Negotiations and also Advisor to Trump’s Senior Advisor Jared Kushner. He led the conference call. The representatives from the Jewish community included people from Boro Park, Crown Heights and Williamsburg.
On the call, Avi Berkowitz explained that while the virus may not be deadly dangerous to most younger people, it is extremely dangerous to older people to whom this virus will inevitably spread to. He explained that on account of Pikuach Nefesh, mikvaos for men and all shuls should be closed. People should be davening at home without a minyan.
Remarkably, the three communities highlighted above instituted sea changes in how they went about things. Things are vastly different than they were just two days ago. Avi Berkowitz should be commended for his remarkable insight and sophisticated thinking in how to best address this issue in our community.
Recently, Rav Uren Reich shlita, a leading Rosh Yeshiva in Lakewood, NJ, and son-in-law of Rav Shneur Kotler zt”l, explained that by ensuring that the virus not spread we have all become like Hatzolah members who have the extraordinary zchus to merit the saving of life. Reb Avi Berkowitz has earned that z’chus for creating this sea-change
The Five Towns/Far Rockaway community is an extraordinary community filled with a strong sense of community, intense Torah learning, remarkable chessed, love of Eretz Yisroel, and beautiful shuls. We should all be grateful and appreciative of the actions of one of our local sons. Ashrei mi sheyalado!
the author can be reached at [email protected]
What a remarkable z’chus!
Thank you VIN and Five Towns Jewish Times for bringing this to light!
This is a good time to let everyone know that if medical advice or instruction is given, assume it applies to you. We shouldn’t need special attention from members of our own community in order to accept what the rest of the world has already accepted. Many in the frum community don’t “believe” in experts until they have their own “insider source” repeating what is already common knowledge to everyone else. We need to get over ourselves… We’re all just flesh and blood like everyone else.
Avi is certainly wonderful and a great boon to our community!
to compare Berkowitz to Sugihara is nuts, one went to jail and lost his job for doing what he did, the other is getting paid for it, not taking away anything from Berkowitz but please let keep thing in prospective
It’s good what he did but there are still yidden who can’t live without a minyan. I found a minyan here in Brooklyn. We had about forty people and it was geshmak. I did not tell my wife otherwise she would kill me faster than the caronavirus. It was important to me as there is paining today Thursday. For some reason they did not say tachnun. All in all it made by day.
the fdny regulations allow 50 ppl if the shul is large – so thats what we did this morning there was security and once there were 50 they locked the door . there is a question if the simcha hall in the basement can do its own 50
ps they did close the coffee station
as a adam godol said you may get corona but you wont get it from going to shul maybe from the bank, or grocery /ofcourse 2 ppl per table spread out
What a shame it is to the chareidim that they didnt close their schools and shuls before that call! Did they think that they were immune?
Heshy, the reason they didn’t say Tachnun is because the Aveira you were doing, putting your life, your wife’s life, and all the others that you might have contact with, you did B’Meizid. We were instructed to close all Shul’s by medical professionals, by EMT’s, by ER nurses and technicians, and by government officials all the way up to the whitehouse, yet you choose to ignore them. Tachnun doesn’t help in such a situation.
Ephraim the Rule in NYS is 50 ppl max with social distance, the minyan was in full compliance and besides what does this have do with this article?
Nice trying to make lemonade out of lemons but calling Avi Berkowitz a hero is just a way to avoid the real truth – that the people he had to call on behalf of the White House to get them to shut their minyanim and mosdos are idiots who have caused irreparable harm to the reputation of Yiden in this country and elsewhere.
A friend of mine works in Williamsburg and davens Mincha there. He arrived for the daily 1:50 minyan and it was closed and locked down. Some people are getting the word.
“are idiots” No they are not Idiots, they are ayver on sfichas dam. If you eat chazer and dance with shikses you are not an idiot you are a KOFER . You are an idiot if you dance with a chazer and eat…s
All you commentators are beating around the bush. What caused the Caronavirus. According to Rabbi Meir Mazuz a leading rosh yeshiva in Israel it was the gay parades in Jerusalem. We should not let the government neither here nor in Israel close up our Shuls. Let them first stop same gender marriage and them will talk. Turning countries into sodom is not going to be solved with closing shuls. All you so called orthodox modernist are not going to be able to fight Heaven as long as you allow and vote for democRATs who turn our cities into sodom.