By Miriam Andrusier for COLlive.com
When people came to the Rebbe to ask questions related to health and medicine, the Rebbe almost always advised people to seek the advice and guidance of a professional within the field.
At this point in time, the professionals (scientists, doctors) are telling us that masks are a lifesaving measure especially when worn properly.
Over the last few weeks in Crown Heights, many people have stopped wearing masks when shopping in local stores. By doing so, each and every one of us is putting the elderly and anyone at high risk in danger.
Even if the elderly wear masks to protect themselves, they are not nearly as protected as they could be if others wear masks as well. Why take the risk and potentially risk someone else’s life? It’s that simple.
At the beginning of the pandemic, we mobilized as a community to minimize the spread of the virus. Even with all of the measures that were put into place, we lost over 50 precious community members.
We are currently at a point at which many of us have already been ill, some have tested positive for the virus and its antibodies and many feel that they are no longer susceptible and at risk.
Here’s the thing: It is not about you – it’s about protecting others.
Sometimes in life, it’s easier to do things for others than for ourselves. So I implore you all to do the right thing at this juncture. One small act by each and every one of us could save lives: WEAR A MASK (covering your mouth and nose!) especially when you’re in an indoor public space.
I’d like to thank COLLIVE for being pro-mask and making a major attempt to educate the community. I totally understand it’s miserably hot outside and wearing a mask is really not fun or easy to do in the heat, but luckily most stores have air conditioning and should be at a comfortable temperature for mask wearing, especially for the short time that you’re in the store. Wearing one outside as well would be best, but something is better than nothing at all.
Yes…a mask in this weather is really uncomfortable. But if you feel that it’s not so comfortable, boy – you really aren’t going to like the ventilator!
I wear it to protect YOU.
You lost us at the first line….stop using the rebbe to advance your point of view…stop with this “professionals say” the so called “experts” have been wrong at almost every turn costing lives and livelyhoods in so many ways it would be too long to write.. How about we let ourselves decide what’s good for us and what works for each of us if someone is “at risk” they should take whatever necessary precautions need to be taken..but stop with this endless Mass’s hysteria, every day there is a new “expert” but when you actually ask them a pointed question… Read more »
Make your own decision when you have way less knowledge than the people who are trying their best to figure out what’s going on with this unknown virus? Please.
We can’t let you make your own decisions when there are more knowledgeable people telling you what works. Why is that so hard for you to understand?
If you want to suffer that dosent allow you to cause suffering to others.
Problem is, “let us make our own decisions and let us suffer whatever consequences there are” doesn’t only affect you. Your actions affect others. So what you are in effect saying is , let me do what I want , and I’m not thinking about how it affects others. Your mask is not as much for your safety as it is for others.
But your choice doesn’t stop with you – it goes on to others and can harm the elderly, the immunosuppressed as well.
Yes, of course you are right, you are welcome to make your own decisions and you are welcome to suffer the consequences.However, why should I have to suffer the consequences of your actions? I am 68 years old, am immunocompromised after cancer, plus I have sarcoidosis, an autoimmune disorder. Because of your own actions, I am afraid to live in CH and go where I have to go. I am the one who gets sick if you don’t wear a mask, not you.Ever hear of ahavas yisroel?
The comments get dumber and dumber! It’s hard to imagine that you could inadvertently be killing people. It’s hard to imagine that something as simple as not wearing a mask contribute to killing people. But that’s the case, as wearing a mask massively reduces the spread of droplets which people ingest and from which people get sick. This has been demonstrated by study after study (or are you as hostile to scientific studies as you are to experts?) At this point, if you are writing off public health guidance, you are beyond help. But please don’t accuse the people treating… Read more »
Iran lost thousands of lives to COVID many of those lives were woman, most woman in Iran have been wearing face coverings their whole life and they still died from COVID. So don’t say this has been demonstrated by study after study etc… It’s all nonsense, the radical left politicians want you to think so because they want to control you.
Most women wear HEAD coverings (hijab), NOT face coverings (burqas)
this is a chabad site so why is it wrong to bring in the rebbe here. Also the rsearch on mask has not change recently. Wearing helps to protect the person you are near so why not unless you only care about yourself
Lost my father, a staunch Chossid of the Rebbe’s, to this virus. Thanks in part to people like you who did not take cautionary measures to protect others. I’m sure the Rebbe would promote survival over lunacy.
May we all tone down the anger and have more rachamim.
Why you wouldn’t listen to doctors ?Gd forbid if somebody who is sick on Yom Kippur will ask the doctor? That’s the Halacha even if you think you know better than him
If he will tell you to eat you Must eat
If you choose not to trust doctors and science, that’s your choice. Just don’t come asking for help when your life is on the line. After all, you say ‘they don’t know what they’re talking about’. This is the precise hypocrisy of antivaxxers. They don’t trust science or doctors for vaccines, yet they go to the hospital when they are sick! Try to differentiate between politicians (who have political motives), and doctors (who are scientists – looking to HELP people). While there may be a lot of unknowns, the chance that you wearing a mask MAY save even one person,… Read more »
So….. when the vaccine will come out ONCE AGAIN you’ll be getting aggravated “why don’t you get a vaccine, you’ll prevent another pandemic?!” (Almost like it’s our fault that the virus was here to begin with) so who REALLY wants us to get a vaccine YOU OR US?!
If and when a vaccine comes out that is proven to be safe and efficient, yes, I would expect everyone to get the vaccine, the same way I expect everyone to get the MMR vaccine…
People in CH do not listen to authority when it comes to anything unfortunately.
Thanks for posting this. I don’t understand how so many people aren’t taking this seriously after it affected the community so badly.
Are you a real person !!! We talking a bout pikuach nefesh Look what happened in Israel !! Because people felt they can go to places with out a mask ,and close to each other . More people became not well Don’t forget ; Schools didn’t reopen yet people are in the country Yeshivos didn’t reopen yet ! This shchuna went threw a lot ! Where is your Ahavas Israel !!!!! Just because you want to be more comfortable you will risk other people . Oldest or people that b”h didn’t get it !! Please please this difficult time this… Read more »
For sharing important words about keeping our most vulnerable safe!
Our same Rebbe told childless couple that they will have children AFTER MANY DOCTORS SAID THEY WON’T!Doctors are NOT G-D!make sure YOU wear a mask and I make sure i have belief that Hashem will protect me as not all of Rabbi akivas students passed from the plague!
Mask is part of belief-it’s what the doctors are telling us and they are the messengers of HaShem in this situation. How much more clear can it get?
Not all the time are the doctors correct as i gave a CLEAR example when the doctors were WRONG! The example of the Rebbe and childless couples. Believe in Hashem and our Rebbe which a lot of people including YOU don’t have till today! In the past history there were plagues and people did make it, WITHOUT masks its called FAITH!
I actually have a great belief in G-d and I praise him constantly throughout my day. I’m not sure how you can claim otherwise when we’ve never met.
We have to have belief but we also have to have respect and take advantage of this beautiful world He created.
So when you’re sick you don’t take medication because you have belief you’ll eventually get better? Or when you drive you don’t stop at red lights because you have belief you won’t hit anyone?
The Rebbe made clear again and again to listen to doctors – to dismiss what they say shows a wonton cruelty towards your fellow Yidden – and a total lack of emunah in Hashem. The aibershter says, and the Rebbe would often tell us, that the Torah gives doctors the ability to heal. Your decision to not listen to doctors shows your emunah in the Torah, and the words of our holy Rebbe, are deeply lacking.
Our Rebbe ALSO said doctors make mistakes. Our Rebbe ALSO said to check mezuza, tefillin and improve in spiritual things as Rabbi akiva students passed from the plague and YET NOT ALL OF THEM DIED. Why? Because the rest did not lack on ahavas yisrael ONLY the onces who died did so life is not based on physical but on spiritual. You live FIRST FROM YOUR SOULand then your body!with no soul you have no body!
You can have all the faith you want in the G0d you pray to; the G0d I pray to tells us to treasure our health and life, and the health and life of others. The G-d I pray to tells me to adhere to the principles set out by the community rabbis regarding -yes! – even matters of health!
And the G0d that I pray to, I pray will continue to protect the stupid people so that they don’t die, or kill, from th eir own stupidity!
The same G-d says watch your language and don’t call his children stupid!which btw all rabbis will agree on. so….are you following G-d and the rabbis principles after all?
Of course Doctors are not G-D. But it’s written in the Torah ונשמרתם מאוד לנפשותכם ! Of course we need a full bitachon in hashem . And we b”h have bitachon in hashem . But since it’s written in the Torah
״ ונשמרתם מאוד לנפשותכם ״ we have to do thing בדרך הטבע . To watch our self and be carefull on others ! Pure אהבת ישראל !! The Doctors from thier experience know a little bit more then you . So please every body ask you to listen and follow the rules!!
YOU ARE RIGHT THAT YOU CAN DECIDE FOR YOURSELF WHAT IS GOOD FOR YOU AND WHAT WORKS FOR YOU. HOWEVER, AS SHE WRITES “EVEN IF THE ELDERLY WEAR MASKS THEY ARE NOT NEARLY AS PROTECTED AS THEY COULD BE IF OTHERS WEARS MASKS AS WELL”. SO DON’T PLAY G-D AND DECIDE FOR ME IF I DESERVE TO LIVE OR DIE BECAUSE OF YOUR SELFISH DECISION.
We’re all done with this idiotic rhetoric about masks and everything else surrounding Corona. Masks are detrimental to your health and breathing, causes anxiety too. Done with the fear mongering. We lost our trust in the doctors in our community and the lack of positive leadership.
You are like the kid in the boat who says it’s alright to drill a hole under his own seat; he paid for his seat, and he has a right todo wh at he wants.
There is no evidence that a mask helps. Especially if not worn correctly which most ppl are at fault of. A pediatrician told me if you touch things then touch your mask to readjust, you’re contaminating the mask and then all the germs are in a concentrated area near your mouth. Better to not wear one at all. Main thing is to sanitise your hands often.
Yesterday I was running without a mask passed someone else without a mask. He sneezed and then immediately after I sneezed. If both of us had masks I believe the situation would’ve been different.
You are wrong. If masks had been worn on Purim, the mouth covering sort, many of our community members who succumbed might be alive. Especially at intimate family events.
There is overwhelming evidence that mask wearing helps.
And, in this next phase, with immunity waning while activity resumes indoors, wearing a good mask will be even more important.
I have asthma and its hard for me to wear a mask but i do so. It is a fallacy that only elderly and sick people will suffer from the virus. Many young people have died from it. There is a woman of 107 and another of 114 who survived. Elderly have more protection from having previous infections young didnt have. Immunity seems to last only a few months and the virus can be gotten again according to studies in the UK and elsewhere. The mask protects and we are not allowed to endanger ourselves and others. Look on the… Read more »
Your ignorance is on full display. Walk into any lab, speak to a scientist, and keep your ignorant opinions less on display, lest you be seen for the fool you are!
Because so many of you are idiots who think they know better than properly trained professionals. You’re the reason why this virus is spreading like wildfire. Please put on a mask.
דברי חכמים בנחת נשמעין
The infection is not the disease, the disease starts in at risk people about 5 days after first symptoms. If in the first 5 days they take hydroxychloroquine, Zink and Azithromysin then they have a 98.7 % survival rate. Add Vitamin D and it will be another layer of protection.
The health of spirit is no less than the health of body and seings peoples faces exercises empathy
1) That drug regime, and every imaginable variation in combination and timing, have been tested, and retested, and it does not work.
‘
2) The number 98.7% is impossible. To report that number your study would have to involve more than 200,000 people. There is no such study for any version of that drug regime.
This might work once someone already has the exposure. But- not everyone can take this medicine, if they have other health problems, and not everyone may have the chance to catch it early and take this combination of drugs. The smartest thing is to avoid getting exposed to the virus in the first place, or exposing others
that’s the rate of survivability with or without the meds
That’s the rate of those in high risk group. You’re rate is for overall population.
If not for yourself, do it for your mother, your father, your brother, your sister, your grandmother, your grandfather, your wife, your son, your daughter, your aunt, your uncle. Are these the people you want to suffer YOUR consequences? Are you okay with losing anyone mentioned here?
If I already got sick and am no longer sick, why would I wear a mask? I’m not sick or contagious at all. So I can’t spread covid. What would be the point of a mask?
And we don’t yet know all of the effects. People who have been sick, and developed some immunity, ended up with the disease again.
We’re still learning about it, that’s why we have to be so super cautious.
1) There are many documented cases of people being infectious for a month or more.
2) Research is finding that immunity can fade in 3-6 months.
3) A recent report showed that you produce virus for a few days after you are re-exposed, even if you were sick and recovered in the previous month.
Why wear a mask if you’ve been sick? Because this virus is new with many unknowns. For a while, it was thought that having had COVID provided you with immunity. Now, a few months later, in CH and in studies published from other places, cases have shown there is a reality of re-infection. Put it this way- as someone who is caring for older parents who would like to be able to feel safe enough to walk outside for some fresh air and sun, and get some needed exercise instead of being locked up for months on end, it would… Read more »
There are cases of people who had covid19 twice. Just because you’ve had it, doesn’t mean you have lifelong immunity.
And even if you BH don’t feel sick, there is still a possibility that you are asymptomatic or presymptomatic, you feel healthy but you might be contages.
That’s why we all need to wear masks and practice social distancing.
Experts and doctors are actually split on their opinion about masks. The CDC itself only “recommends” that you wear a mask (when not social distancing) and says that “anyone who has trouble breathing” (which includes “People who are engaged in high intensity activities, like running”) should not wear a mask . Some mask are actually dangerous (hypercapnia) to keep on (especially the N95 that everyone was going crazy about) Most people that are wearing a mask are waring it wrong…. Anyone that’s at high risk should not be going out of their house… P.S all those who are waring gloves… Read more »
That we lost so many in CH because of the hospital treatment. Ventilators instead of hydroxychloroquine, hunger, and more. Covid has a 99.9% recovery rate. They lied and pumped up the numbers (by putting elders in nursing homes is just one example) They said they were filled with patients but 1. didn’t take advantage of the $21 million hospital built just to treat Covid. 2. Laid off many nurses. 3. Didn’t allow volunteers. Don’t be so naive. Who’s telling you to wear masks? Those same people encouraging and allowing the protests. Open your eyes. Masks are not for your good.… Read more »
Finally. Someone is speaking truth instead of bickering about nonsense.
The people telling you to wear masks are MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS. Most medical professionals are NOT politically motivated here. Just because there is political motive for politicians, it doesn’t make all proponents of masks biased. If masks don’t work, then how are all the covid doctors who come in close contact with covid positive patients not infected?!?!?! (And no, covid unit doctors wear a suit that typically does NOT cover the entire body… so the virus can definitely get into their bodies if not for maskes..)
The Medical Professionals do not agree with wearing a mask. It’s just that there is an incentive by some news organizations to push mask wearing. There is a reason they did not suggest wearing masks in the first place. Studies of wearing masks for people with the flu and cold showed no effectiveness in preventing the spread of the virus. The point of the mask is so people don’t spread it to others if they are asymptomatic. It’s believed the masks limit the area that the virus is transmissible. I think medical professionals are looking at the logic of it,… Read more »
Would you want Beis Din of Crown Heights to say that it’s not at all necessary and there is no concern?
have been lied to so much from all authorities, no one knows whats right or wrong. the only thing we know that the dem party are using this for their political gain . where was fauci during the rioting, lootong and murdering of our great country? the mayor only cares about the terrorists group #blm. Oregon state you must wear mask if your white, not black. i was at the bank today in Brooklyn, i had to wear a mask but not the black guy, why?? and when i asked i was told , “your not allow to ask that”… Read more »
Bank made my husband wear mask but not the Black guy right before him.
1) Fauci is head of infectious disease at CDC. What does he have to do with riots?
2) Many of the protests were peaceful.
ARE YOU STILL NOT FEELING WELL?? MOST OF THE SO CALLED PROTESTS ARE RIOTS . LOOTING AND MURDERING
. WHAT WERE YOU WATCHING???
It’s technically true that most of the protests were peaceful. There are maybe 50~100 instances of the protests turning criminal. Remember, if it bleeds it leads. I do think it was wrong that more unarmed black people died to the riots than to the police. Or that the last BLM protests resulted in a large increase in murders among black men. Kind of missing the point.
There were thousands and thousands of protestors packed together, some with masks, some without. Those protests had the potential to infect thousands. Fauci should have said, “We are in a crisis, we are trying to stop the spread of COVID-19, and therefore, protests are not allowed at this time.” Lettings a thousand people protest in close vicinity to each other while demanding people conform to social distancing elsewhere is hypocritical — unless, of course, Fauci is a “secret racist” who wants all those protesting to get corona. In response to the original comment (MASKS?): I totally agree. Singling out one… Read more »
He has no authority to issue decrees.
That’s not true . As an adult you should be responsible to touch your mouth, nose face …
My sister is a teacher in school in israel from the morning till 5:00 wears a mask for a month
B”h . It protected her !! It’s not so comfortable but it’s definitely protects. If touch the mask you will throw it to the garbage!!
the cdc lost their capablity by flip floping first telling us not to wear a mask, and then telling us to wear a mask.
yes they were trying to save the mask for the medical professionals. but he proved he was ready to bend the truth, so who said right now he is not bending the truth.
and he could have said do not use mask but we should use a piece of clothing will be good as a mask.
Where Fauci has been most consistent is in underestimating the epidemic.
But he was spot on when he said opening early would be even more devastating.
Recently he was slow to acknowledge aerosol spread of the virus.
And currently, he seems to gloss over that it is not clear that any vaccine is likely to be effective enough or last long enough to end the epidemic.
Those who say wear masks are those who make soo much pollution the cars and planes kill people the air isn’t good making breathing illnesses for both people and nature. Stop putting your Scientist theories and Rebbe together please !?!?! Chemotherapy kills people of you want to be healthy and watch the elderly stop smoking avoid sugar gluten and eat herbs vegetable little fruit and make walking instead your car your feet. Little angels stop putting the Rebbe to doctors your entitled to your opinion but masks kill people you breath in your air causing big danger for body. You… Read more »
It might be precisely BECAUSE our community was so severely hit by Covid that folks are now lax. People think that because the incessant sirens aren’t blaring 24/7 that they are safe. Meanwhile the rest of the world hardly heard sirens and are all masked. Coupled w the fact that people assume herd immunity, there is this attitude that there is no threat from Covid. But antibodies are proving fickle. They are fading. And it precisely now, in advance of a potential uptick in Corona, that masks should be worn and caution heeded. Such measures will prevent the sirens from… Read more »
I have asthma I am not required to have to wear a mask!
You should have a good mask, and wear it, or stay home, for your protection.
The loose masks you see on the street (sometimes) are not good enough for you. You need one that pulls against your face when you inhale.
Are you assuming you can’t wear a mask because of asthma or have you checked with your doctor? There are acceaptable masks for asthmatics. If your doctor (hopefully a pulmonologist) has told you that should not wear one ask what alternative is there is if you must go out for llegitimate reasons. (Outdoor exercise and shoppig are not legiimate resons to go out if you are in danger, only medical visits which can not be handled remotely.) Wishing you gezunte health.
Unfortunately us bearded folk can’t wear a mask properly, minimizing much of the benefits of wearing a mask, but it may help a little. I mainly wear a mask because of ahavas yisroel, if I can do something to help others (G-ds kids) feel a little more secure (be it reality or not) I surely will. Anyway I support wearing masks because 1)the reason I just wrote 2) ladies and kids don’t have beards 3) it’s the law/societies law 4) it may stop a little bit of spread even 5%(or1%?) Would be worth it 5) more people wearing will help… Read more »
Please give an answer on which types of mask are allowed on shabbos to avoid carrying
See the Alte Rebbe on gloves. The concern is someone might take them off and carry them. One aitze given there, is to connect them to each other or the coat.
So, think of something that accomplishes the same result with the mask, so that you wont take it off and carry it.
There are credible doctors who question the immunological wisdom of going around in a mask all the time, whether for the individual doing so of for the society, and we live in era where any voice, no matter how expert, going against the commonly accepted wisdom is mocked and suppressed. Expertise, rightly or wrongly, loses credibility, in this sort of environment, and environment in which expert dissent is mocked and suppressed. It’s sad, but I’m not going to pretend to trust the common opinion just because I wish I could. I will wear a mask in public all the time… Read more »
You will not find a credible physician who tells you to go about in public without a mask.
If you think you found one, let’s see if he/she will put in writing.
You most definitely will. Just do your research.
Bigger problems may lie ahead – and that is the 5G RADIATION issue
we can expect wall to wall – and the forced VACCINATIONS – that unsuspecting and naieve people will be welcoming. (These will not
“merely” be like MMR vaccines)
The 5G conspiracy theory is nonsense. There is no connection between the two things whatsoever.
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3927810
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Face masks are a significant factor in reducing the spread of Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), with the odds of transmitting the disease dropping by up to 99 percent if both infected and non-infected persons wear masks, according to Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) specialist advisory panel convener Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳
These comments against masks are appalling. It seems that whatever life saving benefit and importance that has been explained falls on deaf ears of the anti-maskers. I’m just trying to visualize what the person who doesnt want to be told to wear a mask and “decide on her/his own”. I visualize a person that doesn’t really care about Shulchan Aruch, a person who does what he or she wants, whatever is convenient and comfortable for them in all aspects of life. A “I dont care and I’ll decide attitude” is antithetical to Yiddishkeit, and in this case is not a… Read more »
The experts who say to wear a mask are the same experts who didn’t allow people to take Hydroxychloroquine when it has about a 90% chance of helping people with covid. Do your research. Listen to the people who want you to do research and not the ones who want you to listen blindly!! Ask yourself why they weren’t allowing people to take a drug that clearly helps. Ask yourself why the people who are pushing masks so hard, are letting prisoners out of jail because they are worried about their health. If masks work – let the prisoners where… Read more »
and look what happened then.
The virus spread because the initially exposed individuals did not realize they were in danger and were in contact with others at the beginning of the epidemic. Once people realized what as happening the epidemic was mushrooming. In many communities where restrictionss on masking and social distancing have been relaxed there is a rise in Covid. In our community a restaurant owner who had just reopened for indoor dinning had to close down after less than a week because an employee had developed symptoms. This was a great emotional and financial toll on him. He had to lay off all… Read more »
They became ill around Purim. That’s before we started wearing masks
i am over 70 years old and have type 2 diabetes i wear a mask all the time outside and in stores i dont want to wear a mask but i am responsible for my health and the health of others i Zwas shocked to go into CH stores where few or no people were wearing masks. If you have any avahot israel you should put on a mask at least in stores. Many new cases are affecting young people no so very one should be careful
I’m a teen and I’m reading all these comments and I see a HUGE lack of ahavas Yisroel. for all I know my teacher who taught me about ahavas Yisroel could be the one commenting to a fellow yid in a disgusting manner. I’m not here to comment about wearing masks, my parents will decide if I do. I’m here to comment on the horrible lack of ahavas Yisroel in your comments.
Thank you!
Lets go back to the beginning for a second: NOVEL coronavirus. It’s novel, it’s NEW. We have had coronavirus in the past but COVID-19 is NEW and the methods used in the past won’t necessarily work this time around. It’s our job to follow the healthcare professionals who are more invested and knowledgeable in this area than many of us. Yes, they may say something and then later say something else but that’s because it’s NOVEL. Life is full of mistakes but we learn from those mistakes and move forward. At the end of the day, no one really knows… Read more »
Please bring up your point respectfully. There is no need to be condescending to one another. Using degrading termenolgy does not make you more intellectual, or make your point more valid.
We had enough problems this year. Let’s all just be kind and respectful.
We want Moshiach now!!
So grateful to Miriam Andrusier for saying what needed to be said! She will obviously make a great physician as she has demonstrated that she cares for human life!
With only a few dissenters, most readers seem to recognize the truth and importance of this article. So I am looking forward to seeing more responsible behavior on the streets of CHs. ORDER THOSE MASKS!
Your beliefs are not relevant to this discussion. What is relevant is the majority voice in the medical community. This is what halachah mandates. If you have yiras shamaim you will follow the halachah.
You may also not ‘believe’ in gravity. Nonetheless, things fall to the ground. Magical beliefs are not religious beliefs.
Thank you Miriam, for sharing this important message.