57 Five Towns/Far Rockaway Rabbis Against ALL Minyanim Anywhere

Rosh Chodesh I’yar 5780, 15 B’Omer / April 24, 2020

Lichvod the Wonderful Members of our Far Rockaway and Five Towns Community שיחיו,

We sincerely hope that this letter finds you all managing well under the current difficult circumstances, and we daven continuously that HaKB”H send all Acheinu B’nei Yisroel the refuos, nechamos, and yeshuos for which we all so truly yearn.

There has recently been much discussion regarding the loosening of social distancing restrictions. We would like to specifically address herein the numerous calls and requests that have been presented to all our community Rabbanim regarding outdoor Minyanim.

Many individuals have been asking Rabbanim to demonstrate leadership by issuing clear guidelines for the establishment of safe outdoor Minyanim. We all understand that Tefilla Bi’Tzibbur is a crucial imperative for Klal Yisroel, especially in a time of crisis, and that davening together could provide us the זכויות and the connection that we so desperately need. People are requesting that Rabbanim, in conjunction with medical professionals, create guidelines for safe and legal Minyanim in our neighborhoods, with all participants wearing masks at safe distances, perhaps on separate properties, with safeguards in place to ensure that there is no significant risk.

We, the undersigned Rabbanim and Roshei Yeshivos, after much thought and careful consideration, feel obligated to communicate- in unequivocal terms- our united decision to reinforce our previous mandate, and bid our community against the creation of any Minyanim, as well as to cease unauthorized Minyanim. This includes porches, front-/backyard, Minyanim– with no exceptions whatsoever. We will continue to reassess and reanalyze this decision on a regular and ongoing basis as new developments unfold.

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A Vort About the Virus from DIN

This Shabbat most shuls will say the tefila of אב הרחמים before מוסף ........

So you ask what is the chidush? Don't we say אב הרחמים every shabbos? 

Actually no, we usually skip this prayer,
a prayer that deals with those Jews that were martyred for being Jews, 
when there is a bris in shul , or when there is a groom present who is in midst of his sheva berachos, or if that particular shabbos is Parshas Zachor, Parshas Para, Parshas Ha'choidesh, Shabbos Shekalim....

And there is another shabbos that we don't say אב הרחמים and that's when Shabbos is also Rosh Chodesh...

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Rabbi Avraham Yeshayahu Heber, Founder of Matnat Chaim for Kidney Transplants Succombs to Corona

Rabbi Heber 55, was the founder and director of the organization Matnat Chaim which facilitated kidney transplants for those in need. The organization recently celebrated the 800th transplant. 

"Matnat Chaim is an Israeli non-profit dedicated to encouraging healthy volunteers to donate kidneys to patients who require a transplant. None of the kidney donors receive monetary compensation for their donation and most are altruistic donors who do not know their recipients prior to the procedure. The organization functions on a not-for-profit basis; the sole motivation of our volunteers is their desire to help others and save lives." 

https://kilya.org.il/en/

Rabbi Heber himself was a recipient of a kidney transplant and had been ill for about two weeks.

Mayor Aliza Bloch:

"This is an evening of sadness at the tragic death of Rabbi Heber who helped to save 821 lives. Only a few months ago, I participated in a special Shabbat sponsored by Matnat Chaim and learned of the work of this wonderful organization. Each time a resident of Beit Shemesh would donate a kidney thru the work on Matnat Chaim, I would receive a message from Rabbi Heber telling me how important it was to recognize these special people." 

"We send our condolences to the family of the Rabbi, our hearts cry out at this heavy loss."

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Zera Shimshon Tazria-Metzora

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Mordechai Marcus ZT”L, Rov of Lakewood Minyan of Flatbush

 Hagaon HaRav Mordechai Marcus ZT”L, the Rov of the Beth Medrash Govoha Minyan (Lakewood Minyan) in Flatbush was nifter this morning .. He was 78 years old.

Rav Marcus, rov of the Lakewood Minyan in Flatbush, was one of Brooklyn’s most prominent talmidei chachomim.

In his younger years, Rav Marcus was a talmid at Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yaakov Yosef (RJJ). Even as a young ben Torah, he was already recognized for his brilliance. It was said that even the rabbeim respected Rav Marcus, knowing that in a moment he could refute a sevara or shlog up a shiur.

With a grasp of all of Shas and Shulchan Aruch, Rav Marcus’s breadth and depth of yedios haTorah were breathtaking. His talents and encyclopedic knowledge benefited the ArtScroll Schottenstein Gemara, for which he served as an editor, as well as those who attended his many shiurim.

Equal to his absolute brilliance in Torah, Rav Marcus was as humble a person as one could meet, with sterling middos and deference for every individual, no matter who they were.

Rav Marcus is survived by his rebbetzin and children, bnei Torah and marbitzei Torah, and grandchildren.

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Childhood Rebbe of DIN Rav Shmuel Horowitz Succumbs From Corona

Rav Shmuel Horowitz  right hand man of three Bobover Rebbes ...died from Corona; he was 91 years old ...

Rav Shmuel Horowitz was my childhood rebbe and I had him for 2 years .....

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Chasidic Jew from Monsey leads effort to fight coronavirus

Chaim Lebovits, a Chassidic shoe wholesaler from Monsey, New York, is leading an effort to get the New York City area’s Orthodox Jews who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate their blood plasma en masse, so that it can be used as a therapy by people still battling the coronavirus.

The Forward reported that Lebovits has been working for weeks to create a network of rabbis, religious organizations, virus researchers, health professionals and hospital administrators to educate Orthodox Jews about the benefits of plasma donation, as well as testing them and receiving their blood.

So far, Lebovits said, more than 3,000 people — mostly men — have donated plasma at blood banks around the region, and 6,000 more are being tested on Wednesday to see if they have the antibodies that would enable them to be able to donate plasma.

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Did Zantac Cause Your Cancer?

Rachel exercised regularly, maintained a healthy diet, and had no family history of cancer. But she still got breast cancer and she still died. Rachel’s family and Rachel’s doctors were at a complete loss. It wasn’t until the news about Zantac’s link to cancer swept across the world that it all made sense: it appears that Zantac caused Rachel’s cancer.

Before Rachel passed away, she started researching Zantac’s connection to cancer and what she unearthed was astounding. Valisure, a Connecticut-based laboratory, discovered that Zantac turns into the extremely potent, cancer-causing carcinogen, N-nitrosodimethylamine (“NDMA”) within the body. This carcinogen, which was originally used for rocket fuel, is so potent that its only practical purpose today is to induce tumors in laboratory animals to study cancer!

Even some of the most conservative testing protocols, such as the testing performed by Emery Pharma which did not show as much NDMA as Valisure’s testing, still generated enough NDMA that just one 150mg tablet of Zantac has at least as much carcinogenic impact on the human body as smoking 30 PACKS OF CIGARETTES.

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Stolin Releases Psak To Allow Music During Sefira To Help Uplift Spirits

The Vaad Rabbonim of Karlin-Stolin issued a psak today allowing adherents to be mekel on listening to music during Sefira this year.

The psak comes as schools remain closed for the remainder of the school year and families have been stuck in their homes due to quarantine for over six weeks.

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Zoom Has New Feature To Eliminate Those Who Hack Into Conversations

Zoom is rolling out a new feature to help users fight pervs and trolls who hijack their video meetings.

The videoconferencing company said it will put a new button in its app to let meeting hosts report misbehaving users directly to Zoom’s “Trust and Safety team,” which will evaluate the problem and block the offending user if warranted.

The feature will be included in an update to Zoom’s app due to roll out this Sunday, according to the company. It’s meant to address the phenomenon of “Zoom-bombing,” in which miscreants interrupt virtual meetings by shouting obscenities, displaying bigoted images or putting porn on the screen.

The incidents have plagued schools and government agencies, which have been forced to start using Zoom amid lockdowns meant to curb the coronavirus pandemic. The attacks have occurred often enough in recent weeks that the FBI issued a warning about them last month.

Silicon Valley-based Zoom has an online form where users can report attacks, but the new app feature is meant to make the process easier, according to PC Mag, which first reported on the update.

“That report button will be added to the security menu,” Oded Gal, Zoom’s chief product officer, said in a webinar last week hosted by the Anti-Defamation League. “That helps us capture information about what happened in the meeting.”

Zoom-bombing is one of several security problems the company has had to address as users flocked to its service during the virus crisis. Zoom is facing a shareholder lawsuit over concerns that it lacked adequate data privacy measures and put users at risk of having their information accessed without their permission. The firm has pledged to address security and privacy issues over 90 days in response to such complaints.

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