Shas Council of Torah Sages call for outdoor prayer services only

‘Those who don’t abide by regulations are potential murderers’ say leading ultra-Orthodox rabbis.

By JEREMY SHARON
Jewish men pray outside a synagogue in the northern Israeli city of Tzfat, September 23, 2020. (photo credit: DAVID COHEN/FLASH 90)
Jewish men pray outside a synagogue in the northern Israeli city of Tzfat, September 23, 2020.
(photo credit: DAVID COHEN/FLASH 90)
The Shas Council of Torah Sages, the ultra-Orthodox movement’s rabbinic leadership, has called for prayer services to be conducted only outdoors and not inside synagogues due to the severe spike in COVID-19 cases and severely ill patients.
In a public statement, the five members of the council, Rabbi Shalom Cohen, Rabbi Shimon Baadani, Rabbi Moshe Maya, Rabbi Reuven Elbaz and Rabbi David Yosef, said that it was a “clear obligation” to abide by government health regulations, saying anyone who failed to do so was a “potential murderer.”
The statement was signed only by “The Council of Torah Sages” and not individually, although a spokesman for Rabbi David Yosef said that a text with the signature of each individual rabbi would shortly be published.
The rabbis wrote that since the coronavirus outbreak was increasing in severity, “everyone must abide by and be stringent with every single health regulation with all their strength, without any exception, so that they do not harm anyone or get harmed and, God forbid, to become a possible murderer.”
Continued the council of rabbis “We have come with a holy call for whoever fears God in their heart, to hold prayer services, including on the [Jewish] holidays, outdoors only, with a small number of worshipers, observing distancing [regulations] and with a mask for the whole prayer service, and to be especially diligent about distancing… Prayer services should not be held at all indoors.”
The rabbis said that over the Simchat Torah holiday people should not pass Torah scrolls to each other or dance in circles, as is common during the traditional dancing with Torah scrolls on that day, and that “no one whatsoever” should kiss the Torah scrolls, as is also customary.
They added that the services should be shortened where possible, and that there was “no permission” to lengthen the service where it can be shortened.
The rabbis added that people should celebrate the upcoming Succot and Simchat Torah holidays at home with the family,” and should not go to other people’s homes, including parents.