By COLlive reporter
Rabbi Yosef Braun, member of the Crown Heights Beis Din, has expressed his opinion about the Jewish schools in Crown Heights requiring ongoing testing of students for Covid-19 to avoid a possible spread and shutdown.
The decision, announced last week, requested that parents sign a waiver for the students to be regularly tested on school premises. They have since offered to parents to get their children tested by a medical practice of their choice.
While the majority of the parents complied, a few have been vocally opposing the requirement, saying that it either wasn’t necessary or that it is an area that schools should not be involved in.
In response, Rabbi Braun released a voice-note on Tuesday, backing the decision of the schools in an effort to stay open for in-person learning after many months being closed and learning via Zoom.
“The mosdos are going through trying times,” Rabbi Braun said. “Our schools are open now with mesiras nefesh and are under threat of being closed down. Schools and shuls are in danger of being closed down, chas v’sholom, and no one wants to see that.”
“When it comes to limud HaTorah, we do things even if they are difficult for us, and even to the point of mesiras nefesh,” he explained. “The right thing is for the parents to support the mosdos as much as possible.”
“The fact that people are now undermining the mosdos is something very frightening,” he added. “And to disparage the mosdos and come out publicly and berate the mosdos and even worse, to do mesira (inform) on them,” he says.
Rabbi Braun explained that “people have been sending lawyers letters to the mosdos and are being machti es harabim – asking others to sign. It’s totally forbidden even to threaten with a lawyer’s letter! Anyone who does this is going against the Torah.”
“The p’sak al pi Torah is that the mosdos have the right to make this decision, and the parents have a right to remove their children,” he said. “If you feel so strongly against the testing – you have the right to take your child out of the mosad. But you don’t bad mouth the mosad. If parents want to speak to the mosdos, that’s perfectly legitimate. But the way the conversation is running now, it has to stop. There is no doubt in my mind that this is not what the Rebbe wants.”
AUDIO:
For being the voice of reason against the dangerous minority who don’t seem to care about the lives of our community.
He is the same, courageous Rabbinic voice our community needs.
This applies to many things!
To have a rav weigh in on this issue