On Thursday, the Crown Heights Beis Din released a letter to the neighborhood, to “encourage all about the necessary precautions according to Torah law to abide by the doctors’ instructions to do all within our power in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus.”
As reported on COLlive.com, the health experts of Gedaliah Society advised the following for Crown Heights:
• Please be extremely cautious with respect to social distancing, mask use, and handwashing. This is for everyone in the community, whether or not you’ve been sick already and whether or not you’re in a high risk category.
• Please avoid crowded indoor settings. This applies to shuls as well, which according to NYS guidelines should currently be operating at reduced (25%) capacity. In addition, mask use is of particular importance in the indoor setting such as shuls and the like. Large shuls where there is significant crowding, visitors from elsewhere, and lack of mask-wearing are a very worrisome phenomenon and should be avoided.
• Kiddushim/farbrengens in shul causes an additional concern, given the inevitable crowding, lack of mask use, and potential for shared secretions. These should be avoided at this time. The after-davening kiddush where everyone is finally relaxing and has their guard down is not the place to be for anyone who is safety-minded.
• Those from other communities – please, avoid visiting Crown Heights for the time being. This is even more critical when involving those from the “hotspot” states such as Florida and California, where cases are unfortunately surging. NY State requires a 14-day quarantine for all those from those regions. Similarly, those currently living in Crown Heights are advised to not visit those hotspot states for the time being, and they must quarantine on their return if they do so.
• If anyone has any new COVID symptoms (fever, sore throat, cough, loss of smell, muscle aches, etc), regardless of whether you may have had COVID already before, please arrange to get tested for the virus.
so nice to see a dugma chaya. your mask protect me and my mask protects you. If only the rest of CH would follow the right example.
If you can get reinfected with covid even though you have antibodies, how will a vaccine help? soon we’ll have to live with the reality that we will all just be getting covid forever
On ask a rabbi it said a paper mask is a problem with shabbos. Please issue a psak about paper and cloth masks in regard to shabbos
non issue since ch has a kosher eruv.
Crown heights doors not have a kosher erev approved by the rabbonim. Stop saying untrue things
Even if the eiruv is kosher, Chabad prefers not to use one.