"Fighting #FakeFrumNews"

 10 Kislev 5781

Sharing from Rabbi Yehudah Richter...

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When Fear Takes Control and How to Take it Back

...When the pandemic started, I thought we were all in this together. The government was doing their best to save lives and was figuring it out as they went along. Some people still trust the draconian mandates and believe that the government has only our best interest in mind. I am no longer one of those people.

While the CDC/WHO have already admitted that masks do not prevent the spread of illness, the Israeli government continues to doggedly hand out tickets to citizens who try to get a bit of fresh air. They have even started going undercover in rental cars so they can sneak up on more people. They’ve already handed out over half a million tickets! Why would they stop this mandate? It’s a windfall. (Let’s do the math. Each ticket was at least 500nis. Multiply that by 500,000, and you get 2.5 Billion Shekel, and counting.)

But there are other big problems. Let’s take a look at the timeline of the past half a year. It paints a remarkably ominous picture.

The pandemic apparently spreads to (your location) and the government takes action:

• Schools are closed.
• Yeshivos are closed.
• Shuls are closed – no davening with a minyan.
• No Kriyas hatora.
• Men’s mikvaos are closed.
• Shockingly, in certain places some women are banned from entering mikvaos. (If their husbands committed the vile crime of davening with a minyan
• No visiting the elderly, so forget about visiting your own parents or grandparents or grandchildren – no hugging Bubby or Zeidy. (Only a rodef would be reckless enough to go near his Zeidy.)
• One of the worst aveiros you can commit is the mitzvah of Bikur Cholim (a sick person is himself a rodef who deserves to languish alone in misery just for the crime of falling ill).
• No weddings, bar mitzvahs or family gatherings – you can see your relatives on Zoom.
• Even levayas- don’t attend unless you are the absolute next of kin.
• Nichum aveilim? Make a phone call.
• Hachnasas orchim? Today it’s a punishable crime.
• What was previously a heinous sin became a public service as “Good Samaritans” were encouraged to maser (snitch) on their fellow brothers for not following government restrictions. Reporting crimes such as breaking quarantine, attending shul, learning in yeshiva…
• On Tisha B’av and Yom Kippur, we were instructed that rather than washing our hands only when they are soiled (as the halacha states), “To prevent the spread of germs, it is muttar to wash the entire hand.”
• Later on, when shuls were allowed to reopen, people were required to wear masks while davening and reading from the Torah. The permissibility of this practice is questionable at best.
• Even children were forced to wear masks “Cruelty in the guise of kindness.”
• To prevent the spread of disease, “experts” even advised putting a mask onto the shofar.
• In a previous lifetime, people went to shul even if they weren’t feeling well- especially during the Yomim Noraim. Now, only an “evil” person would enter a shul if they had an ache or a sniffle.
• We were further instructed not to sing at shul. Singing spreads germs. Better yet don’t even daven anything out loud- to prevent “aerosolizing” your germs.
• Don’t kiss any mezuzos, and of course don’t kiss the Torah, chas vishalom.
• We were told not to dance on Simchas Torah, but to “sway” in place, at least 2 meters from our neighbor. Better yet, if you really want to fulfill the mitzvah of vinishmartem stay home!

At first I thought the outdoor “Pop-up” shuls were nice and convenient, but eventually their beauty started to tarnish. There are halachos about how a shul is supposed to be constructed. An indoor shul is ideal, and yet outdoor shuls have been favored to prevent the spread of contagion. Is it necessary to bend the Torah to fit it into the public health doctrine? Are we really justified in doing so?

We were told to get tested for Covid 19 as frequently as possible. That if we do so, things will go back to normal. We’ll be able to open shuls and schools again. Instead, governments have been using our compliance against us. More testing will invariably lead to an increase in cases in any community, which will then give the government the justification to force us to shut down over and over again. All these oppressive restrictions were enacted with almost total cooperation of religious society world-wide.

Why did we go along with it? (Continue here.)

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Also from the website:  FACT CHECKING: HaRav Leibel Katz Did NOT Die of COVID-19