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| Bnei Ruven |
This is not the only place it happened nor is it the first time I experienced something like this. What is upsetting though is that it is happening with more frequency. Sometimes from people I respect and admire. I guess that some people are just tired of wearing masks and are starting to get lax about it. And even among those that still do - I see a few of them pulling it down below their nose in Shul during Davening.
I know masks are not comfortable. But it will be a lot less comfortable for someone that gets the virus from a carrier who transmitted it without realizing he had it – having had no symptoms.
Why do they do it? I don't really know. In some cases it might be because they don’t really believe it. Or they think that it is all overblown by politicians with an agenda, They may falsely conclude that since the religious neighborhoods have had so few cases over the last couple of months that there is little to worry about. That health officials are over-reacting. They might even say that they have been ignoring these precautions outside of Shul for weeks without getting infected – or infecting anyone else. And that they don’t know of a single person infected in months!
It’s nice to have that kind of confidence. I will even grant that they probably will be spared. Most people are. In Illinois, only 4 percent of the people tested – test positive. That means that 96% of those tested are disease free. Those numbers might be representative of the entire population. So that the overall chances of getting sick are relatively small.
Small - that is - except for the 4 percent that actually get it. They are 100% sick. Many will experience minor symptoms, But some of them may end up in hospitals; some on ventilators; and some may die. And of the more serious cases that survive, many of them will have permanent damage.
Which brings me back to those who do not seem to be taking this seriously. There is little doubt in my mind that their true character of selfishness has surfaced. As kind and giving as they might otherwise be, at the end of the day, they are doing what they want. What about those of us that believe that the dangers are still very real? I guess they don’t care what we think. Because they know better.
How then do they explain what happened to Orthodox Jews in other locations? From JTA:
Over the past week, the reports have come fast and furious.
One overnight sports camp for boys in Pennsylvania had an outbreak of COVID-19, sending eight boys back to their home communities on Long Island and several more to Baltimore, where others had contracted the virus after attending weddings or coming into contact with those who did.
Bungalow colonies in the Catskill Mountains saw an outbreak among families, many of whom were summering there away from their homes in Brooklyn.
And New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday that 16 new cases were found in the Brooklyn Hasidic neighborhood of Borough Park, with some traced back to a large wedding there.
I don’t know what it is about some Orthodox Jews that makes them so sure of themselves - even when the evidence is to the contrary. In some cases they are so arrogant that they will skirt or even break the law in the belief that it is wrong or stupid – if they think they can get away with it. As was the case in Israel this week: From the Jewish Press:
Israeli authorities at Ben Gurion Airport stopped two male Hasidic yeshiva students from entering the country on Sunday, according to a report published by the Kikar HaShabbat news outlet.
Instead, barely an hour after the two young men had landed at the airport, they were both placed on another flight and sent on their way back to London, their city of origin.
The reason for the rejection had to do with their lack of appropriate documents certifying their health and freedom from the novel coronavirus, according to a relative of one of the young men who spoke with Kikar HaShabbat.
The two students had obtained their airline tickets through a well-known London businessperson who had promised they would receive the required approvals by Sunday. Assuming the red tape was completed, the students boarded the flight even though they had not received their documents.
Lest anyone think that this is just another attack by an anti religious Israel bureaucracy consider that 17,000 student have arrived this month for their year of study in Israeli Yeshivos and seminaries.
The coronavirus pandemic has brought out the worst in us it seems. Although this cavalier attitude about the pandemic exists among all Orthodox Jews, it seems that those with the most extreme attitude are the most religious – or religious looking among us. This surely does not speak well of us when it happens. And let us not get hung up on the fact that there are so many more non Jews that are reacting this way – or much worse. This isn’t about them. It is about us!
Not that we are all that way, God forbid. I still believe that the vast majority of Orthodox Jews across all Hashkafic lines are fine and decent people. People that follow the rules meticulously even if they don’t like them or agree with them. But still... in some cases selfishness and arrogance has come to the surface in people from whom I would have least expected it. And that can cause physical damage to themselves and to others. Not to mention what it does to our reputation as a wise and caring people.
This is not the first time I am talking about this. Nor will it likely be the last. But it is so frustrating to see this happening practically before my eyes. And published for all to see in the Jewish and non Jewish media.
When will we ever learn?