Sunday, April 26, 2020

Notes from the Underground -- Monday morning edition

1) Apologies for starting off your day with an opinion note instead of Torah -- skip to part 2 if you like -- but I want to get this off my mind.

"We must not look for pro forma loopholes or so-called solutions which --at best-- may mitigate, but certainly will not eliminate, the dangers of this disease. The Torah absolutely condemns and forbids acting in a way which - under any circumstances - may allow for the death of a Jew."  (source for the quote, emphasis added by me)

If this is the standard our Rabbis are now adopting, then forget leaving your house ever again.   You drive a car -- you may get into an accident.  You walk the streets -- you may get attacked, run over, etc.  It is simply impossible to eliminate danger from life, whether it be from this disease or any other illness, threat, or source of danger.

Especially in the current situation, there is simply no way to prevent the death of a Jew "under any circumstances."   See here -- one of what I fear will be many suicides to come See here -- "Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who researches health policy at Stanford University, said...The coronavirus can kill...but a global depression will, as well."  See here -- "The looming global recession... could cause hundreds of thousands of child deaths..."  I could go on and on with many similar citations and examples.  This is a trolley problem -- there will be deaths no matter what course of action is taken.  The ONLY strategy that makes any sense is to try to MITIGATE the worst of the consequences.  By not realizing that that is the goal -- not the elimination of death due to the disease -- we risk wasting time, money, and resources and doing more harm than good. Again, just my opinion.  With all due respect, I am really at a loss to understand the thinking here. 2) On to something a little more inspiring since we are still stuck in our bunkers: 
V'nasati nega tzaraas b'beis eretz achuzaschem...  Rashi explains that the Amoraim hid treasure in their homes, so the nega was actually l'tovah, as it brought about the discovery of those riches when the house walls were knocked down.  The Aish Kosdesh asks: so why must the house become tamei for 7 days?  Why not just say that when the nega is found, you have to immediately tear down the house?
 
He answers that the Torah wants to teach us that even if the "bayis" -- the beis knesses, the beis medrash -- has to remain closed for a period of time, in the end it will be l'tovah; you will walk away with a treasure.  







10 comments:

  1. -- "1) ...'certainly will not eliminate'"

    > even a single incident, miyuta d'miyuta, thunders definitive warning; but we mustn't give up hope, given 'Qantas never crashed'.

    > the "source for the quote" hesitates to write, as he is 'sorely lacking in Torah, yirah, and ma'asim tovim'. kal v'chomer, if one of us here is surely lacking six (eight? OMG nine?) virtues beyond those three, and nonetheless "comment"s as if perfectly entitled, all the more might this esteemed gentleman remark...


    -- "2) ...Why not just say that when the nega is found"

    > why wait to find the nega? tear everything down now!

    > aren't these laws of nega >l'dorosam when did the sin of "the Amoraim" become complete (Bereishis 15:16)? when the amassed/hidden gold in their possession equaled in value the gold Israel took from Egypt*, 15:14-- the Amorites thought that any nation A, equal in material terms to any other nation B, could not be harmed (displaced) by B, whatever the latter's [additional] merits...

    *minus Mishkan donations

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    3. correction, "2)"

      > aren't the laws of nega >l'dorosam when did the sin of "the Amoraim" become complete... ...

      {sorry for the scar tissue in this comment section left by all the failed corrections}

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    4. ...>l'dorosam<? if so, how can the excrescence be "l'tovah" but for first destructions [that of preexisting houses]? learn from here what all subsequent generations owe the generation of conquest: the inconvenience of all later destruction is nullified/justified by the boon to this first, recipient generation...

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  4. The op ed in the WSJ on Shabbos had another prof at Stanford, John Ioannidis, quoted as making that point, that economic chaos is a greater threat to life than Covid 19. “(if the mortality rate of Covid 19 is, out of the entire population, 1%, then) locking down the world with potentially tremendous social and financial consequences may be totally irrational. It’s like an elephant being attacked by a house cat. Frustrated and trying to avoid the cat, the elephant accidentally jumps off a cliff and dies.”

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    1. Thanks for the mareh makom.
      The NY Post had a great article by another Stamford professor: https://nypost.com/2020/04/26/science-says-its-time-to-start-easing-the-coronavirus-lockdowns/?utm_source=email_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons

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    2. When Rahm Emanuel was Obama's chief of staff, he got a call on Rosh hashannah, and asked his rabbi (Mod orth) if he could answer. The issue they were dealing with was the recession. His rabbi said yes: the recession is pikuach nefesh. If the US is weakened, if the economy is ruined, it will result in many deaths. Reb Ahron Soloveichik disagreed with the logic. But I think this is more serious.

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