Michael el Chayil

Two scenarios: Scenario I: A young boy awakened in the middle of the night, placed in the back of vehicle, told not to make any noise, and the vehicle speeds off down the highway. Scenario II: Young boy playing in park goes to see firetruck, turns around to see scary man in angry pursuit, poised to attack. I experienced and lived through both of those scenarios. Terrifying, no? Actually, no; and my picture was never on a milk carton. Here's the context: Scenario I: We addressed both set of our grandparents as "grandma" and "grandpa". How did we distinguish? One set lived less than a half hour's drive; those were there "close grandma and grandpa". The other set lived five hour drive away; they were the "way far away grandma and grandpa". To make the trip the most pleasant for all of us, Dad would wake up my brother and I at 4:00AM, we'd groggily -- but with excitement! -- wander out and down to the garage where we'd crawl ...

I saw interviews a couple of weeks ago with college students on spring break in Florida -- "I've planned this for months; a little virus isn't going to stop me!" Uh-huh. Worse though, I still see people being lax about social distancing and hygiene. I also hear unfortunate comparisons to the flu, "Ok, even if I get it, it's not usually fatal. It'll be a week of being sick; nu?" What does COVID-19 do to a body? So, there are these little cells in the pipes and tubes that bring air into the lungs. These little cells have hair like structures whose job is to sweep the grit mixed in the air out of the lungs. COVID-19 kills those cells, so the lung is left unprotected. Now do you see the problem? No? You still think, "Ok, I'll cough more and probably be sore. But aren't you overreacting?" Hmm... ok, it's like this: Imagine a garbage pickup strike in New York. All those people dumping all that garbage and it's not going any...

Here is my hope and expectation: When I stand in front of the the Creator of the World for my final judgment, I will be roundly chided: "Michael, Michael, Michael... don't you think you were overreacting a bit -- let's be honest, way more than a bit, like over the top -- to the COVID-19 outbreak in 5780?" I am pray for that embarrassment, because I know with certainty that I don't want to be held responsible for even one murder. Let's put this in perspective. On Monday, March 16, 2020 CE, there were 100,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 outside of China (which seems to have finally leveled off). On Tuesday there were 116,000; an increase of 16,000; taking the conservative mortality rate of 1%, that means 160 deaths. Not much out of a population of 3 billion. On Wednesday, there were 18,000 more case; 180 more deaths. Thursday, 28,000 more; 280 more deaths. Friday, 30,000 more; another 300 deaths. Saturday, up 32,000; another 320 deaths. These numbers are most ...

The reaction I got to my TftD: Psak Halacha Regarding Protection that Beats Firearms was much, much different than what I expected. By way introduction to my surprise, allow me to relate a story regarding my father, Yaakov ben Yosef, alav ha'shalom whose yahrtzeit is approaching; 13th Adar (he was niftar a month before Purim, but in a straight year like this one, it is Ta'anis Esther). Several years ago, approximately 13 years before my father's p'tira, I received a distressing phone call: my father had suffered a major heart attack and was just now being air lifted to the closest cardiac intensive care unit. In fact, the heart attack had started the night before, but because of misdiagnosis and generally incompetent medical staff at the small hospital near his home, he had been left suffering all night being treated for indigestion! Baruch HaShem, I was able to get there right away and again three weeks later when he had his triple bypass surgery. Baruch HaShem, the...

I once mentioned to my family that I found it interesting that many of my closest friends are people to whom I rarely speak. I was referring, of course, to those with whom I daven at the Chicago Vasikin Minyan. My children -- in all their wide-eyed innocence and purity of spirit -- replied, "Abba, it is probably because you don't speak to them that they are your friends." Ok.... now I have your attention. I had heard in the name of R' Fuerst that it is incumbent on every shul to have someone carrying a weapon on Shabbos. I read in the pamphlet put out by the Beis Hora'ah that the p'sak of R' Fuerst is that it is forbidden to carry a weapon outside on Shabbos. (In a place where there is no eiruv, such as Peterson Park in Chicago.) I decided to ask the rabbi in person to get the straight story. The following is my transcription of the dialog; quoted without comment. Please also note that in this case, the indicated emphasis was the way R' Fuerst said ...