Can all this happen? Is it happening? Torah warns us of the danger of unbridled egos and power lust. Rabbis, according to Judaism, are not given respect automatically, it has to be earned. There are many examples in Jewish history of all kinds of Rabbis over the ages who either because of foolishness or their own evil impulses caused huge destruction to the Jews they were supposed to be serving. We cannot be naive and blind followers of Rabbis as that is not the Torah way. Rabbis are not closer to G-d or higher than regular people. In fact, we are taught that Rabbis have a special responsibility to do the right thing or they can bring whole communities down. The Lubavitcher Rebbe spoke about the teaching of 'Me Heichan dan tuni?" which means 'From where do you derive this legal decision?" This is a question we not only have a right to ask Rabbis, but we are compelled to because we Jews must understand the reasoning, logic and sources of their decisions. Judaism is not a cult.
In the beginning of the CV19 crisis I had a conversation with a Rabbi I had a close and respectful relationship with for over two decades. I questioned his assertion that every extreme measure, including shutting down the entire world economy, was worth it to save even one life. My viewpoint was that this was patently absurd. As expected the Rabbi quoted a few Torah sources to back up this absurd assertion, especially the law that states that the saving of a life takes precedence over everything else ( known as Pekuach nefesh). I explained my view was that his usage of that law was not as clear cut as he made it out to be under these unusual circumstances, that he was using this law without taking into account the context of our situation.
The example I gave to illustrate was a hospital. A hospital has limited resources. The decisions made are based on the best allocation of those resources. Should they expend them on a single patient with a small chance of recovery, and perhaps use those resources all up on someone who they know will die soon? Then there may be no resources left to save other patients who need those resources to live, and many more will die than just the one terminal one. Or should they use those same resources on patients who they know they can save, and have more left over to save many more lives? I explained this is how society works. Society is constantly doing a cost benefit analysis knowing that it is inevitable that some people will die, as that cannot be avoided. Therefore, society must ask, what is the best possible allocation of our resources for the best possible outcome ? Another example is, we know if we keep the speed limit at ten kilometers an hour on the highway there will be virtually zero deaths. But we do not do that. Instead we keep the speed limit at one hundred kilometers an hour knowing this will definitely cause deaths. Why does society do this? Simply because we accept that in order for a society to function at its best level for the greater good we must accept there will be some negative and even tragic outcomes that cannot be avoided. Society cannot actually function any other way. Without making a cost benefit analysis and allowing for an acceptable level of risk, society would be in total anarchy and chaos. This seems to be quite evident.
The response this Rabbi gave me was that this is the same thinking as the Nazis. I was stunned. Not only was this response a disgusting insult, but it made no sense. This is a highly intelligent person, how could he make such a specious, illogical, and blatantly wrong comparison? It was then that I realised his response was fear based. The panic and fear gripped him to the point where his thinking abilities were completely suppressed. This Rabbi is a very good well meaning person. He is actually very compassionate and suffered some personal loss from CV19. His desire is that no one else should have any more pain and loss or death. His motives are altruistic However, the panic and fear overrode his critical thinking abilities making him incapable of seeing the bigger picture.
Therefore, when this Rabbi came out with extreme Draconian restrictive measures that went even further than the government, and were not based on the known scientific evidence, I was not surprised. Furthermore, this became mass hysteria that it is shared by a group of Rabbis and community leaders, walking in lockstep conformity to each other. This mass hysteria is then shared further with the community at large, many of whom are also very fearful and misinformed by the government/media propaganda.
Dennis Prager, famous American commentator, author and radio host, taught me some very important lessons. One of these is that having knowledge does not mean someone has wisdom, that they are two very different things. An expert can have many degrees, have extensive knowledge in their field, but still be foolish and unwise. When a person is gripped by strong emotions such as fear and panic, they can lose their ability to be wise.
Morever, more and more people worldwide are beginning to realise the point I was trying to make that Rabbi see several months ago, and that is that the economic lockdowns, the Draconian community restrictions, actually did more damage than the CV19 virus did. It is now becoming crystal clear that the economic crash the lockdowns caused are resulting in many more deaths than the virus due to many factors. These are unintended consequences like deaths from the dramatic frightening rises in suicides, violent crimes, domestic abuse, drug and alcohol abuse etc, all things that are rising because of people being economically devastated. Wise people who were against these draconian restrictions and lockdowns were able to foresee all these unintended consequences.
The same unintended consequences threaten to destroy our own Jewish communities as well. Well meaning but spooked community leaders and Rabbis are instituting unnecessary and Draconian restrictions that not only make no logical or scientific sense in terms of the public health, but are also absolutely poisonous and noxious to our spiritual, mental, and financial well being. And my fear is that the damage that ensues can never be repaired, G-d forbid.
It is imperative upon each and every one of us to take it upon ourselves to get a grip on our fear and use our minds. We must spend time and effort to verify what the Rabbis and community leaders are telling us. We cannot passively accept their directives at face value. We live in a world replete with information at our fingertips. We must do our own research. We must be responsible adults and equip ourselves with the knowledge to be able to understand and ask the right questions, before it is too late and we soon find ourselves living in a community that is unrecognizable to our Jewish sensibilities and one we loathe to pass onto the the next generation.
