By Rabbi Benjamin Herman
MIAMI, Florida –I’ve put off writing this article because of its political nature but I can do so no more.
What is negligence? According to Webster’s it is “failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in life’s circumstances.”
When President Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows bluntly said “We’re not going to control the pandemic” it solidified the negligence of the Trump administration. There have been over 80,000 Americans infected and 1,000 deaths per day over the weekend from Covid and over 225,000 deaths since the pandemic began. We know Judaism’s primary value is pikuah nefesh, safeguarding life. To know measures which work to curb Covid, such as masking and social distancing, and deliberately not advocate, worse make fun of, people who wear them is negligence of the first degree. We know there are measures that can slow the spread yet the President’s chief of staff wants no part in them.
Thank God, I live in Miami where I can spend a sufficient amount of time outdoors in the winter. I feel for those in Denver where it’s currently 7 degrees or Missoula where it’s 1 degree. This cold winter is not going to stop people from going to work in multi story buildings or from essential business travel. Having an administration that admits it will do nothing to combat Covid, essentially advocating for the herd immunity, and which advocates for “learning to live with it,” is committing negligence of the first degree.
The Torah states “You shall not place a stumbling block before the blind.” An administration which purposefully withheld information in January and February so as not to “cause a panic” has placed a massive stumbling block which led many people I know to become infected with Covid. The Torah also states “build a parapet for your roof” so that those in danger of harm will be protected. Where’s the parapet protecting the “essential” meatpackers or our essential teachers risking their lives day after day going into work?
This administration is clearly guilty of negligence. I am tired of being a guinea pig in its futile experiment to “do nothing” and see how many get Covid.
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Rabbi Benjamin Herman is the senior rabbi at Bet Shira Congregation in Miami. Married to Karina, he is the son-in-law of Ben Dishman, Pharm.D, of San Diego.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned during covid, it’s that governors have a lot more power than I initially thought. The president does not have any legal authority to make a federal mask mandate. Current mask mandates are made at the state level. That aside, the science behind masks is shaky and still being contested. This doctor says they work. This doctor says they don’t. Rinse and repeat. Lastly, while any death is a tragedy, I do not know with certainty that we can say 200,000+ people died of covid. Dying *with* covid is not the same as dying *because* of covid. People can literally commit suicide or get hit by a bus and have “covid” on their death certificates. Also, presidents aside, I think a major blunder was democrat governors who sent symptomatic covid patients into nursing homes. The elderly are among the most vulnerable, and close to half of all covid deaths were in nursing homes. Criticize the president all you want, but the governors have some explaining to do!
Because of the lack of action by our national government we had states in a bidding wars against each other to get needed protective supplies. We have a motorcycle rally held in one state without any individuals protecting themselves and they go home and spread the virus wealth and death for that matter.
There is nothing shaky about mask wearing. Show me an article in a bonafied scientific journal that outlines why masks are not effective in preventing the spread of Covid 19. Why do people keep quoting a statement made 8 months ago about masks that was made at a time when healthcare workers had a lack of supplies. These healthcare workers were dying because they were caring for thousand of dying patients and were themselves exposed to Covid 19. These same doctors and scientist admitted they were trying to protect our healthcare workforce. Every credible scientist and physician in the world of virology has stated that masks protect those around you. If you believe that masks don’t help prevent the spread of infection you must think that medical personnel are stupid for wearing them, and that hospital administrators want to waist millions of dollars. I am pretty sure your sources are much better than the hospitals. Stop drinking the Kool- Aid.
You say that you can’t say for sure that 200,000+ people have died due to covid. People have examined the number of death expected per year due to
normal causes by comparing the past 3 years and you are right the predictions actually showed more than the 200,000 deaths have occurred most probably due to covid-19. Stop drinking the Kool-Aid.
Perhaps we should eliminate our Federal Government. I believe four states accounts for almost 70% of the GSP. Sixty one percent of the GSP comes from what you called blundering states with Democrat governors. Lets not distribute any of that wealth to the other states. As a matter of fact let’s let each state run itself. Let’s eliminate national parks, after all each state should have their own power. If Wyoming wants to close Yellowstone National Park and turn it into grazing lands and housings let’s let them. It seems like you feel that each state should run itself.
We have a great constitution in country but it was written hundreds of years ago. We have changed. Perhaps it’s time we examine our constitution and bring it up to date to match the reality of our time.