The Right Side Of History

Almost a year ago, I wrote “Sacrificing Our Children on the Altar of Covid”.  https://gershondistenfeld.blogspot.com/2020/09/sacrificing-our-children-on-altar-of.html I knew already back then after speaking to various psychologists and educators that we were abusing our children, but refrained from calling it what is was on the advice of those who felt that I would lose my audience by doing so. I now regret following that advice and I won’t make the same mistake this time. It’s clear that we as a society are abusing our children. And I’m going to use the term “abuse” continuously here because that’s what it is. Period. It’s not the physical kind and I’m not here to argue whether it’s more or less severe than any other form of abuse. But abuse is abuse. And treating our children in a way that stunts their psychological, emotional, social and educational development definitely qualifies. And just like I would hope that any decent person wouldn’t stand idly by when they know that a ch...

It pains me to write this as one of the founders of the school, but I'm afraid that they have abandoned one of the key principles on which the school was founded. Yeshivat He'Atid was started a decade ago by a dedicated group of parents who saw a need for a different type of Yeshiva Day School. The founding principles were threefold: 1) Affordability 2) Differentiated Learning 3) Sensitivity to Working Parents Unfortunately, they seem to have forgotten that third principle and as a result I can no longer support their mission. From an e-mail sent on Friday: The last day of Pesach vacation is Monday, April 5th.  We will have a full Zoom schedule for April 6th and 7th, and return to our building for in-person learning on Thursday, April 8th. This enables us to celebrate the second days of chag with our family and friends, and confirm that no one we were with develops any symptoms before returning to our building. Our goal is to minimize unnecessary quarantining of classes and gra...

This is a classic case of judging a decision by its outcome if there ever was one. And in this case, I’m going to argue that it was the polar opposite of the famous decision that Pete Carroll made late in the 2014 Super Bowl where he was criticized by most for not running Marshawn Lynch and instead calling for a pass that was intercepted. This has been written about extensively and shown to have been a really good decision that just happened to have resulted in a bad outcome. For those interested, I’d recommend reading the first chapter of “Thinking in Bets” by Annie Duke for a very detailed explanation. Pete Carroll made a good decision and had a bad outcome. Andy Reid yesterday made a terrible decision but it worked out so nobody is going to criticize it. Except me! :-) So let’s look at the situation from yesterday. Up 22-17, the Chiefs have 4th and 1 from their own 49 where they have to snap the ball with 1:11 remaining (why they chose to snap the ball with 1:16 remaining is puzzli...

This one should have been a layup. One of the myriad of arbitrary, unfounded and unnecessary restrictions the schools have placed on us out of Covid fear is that any child that travels by airplane is prohibited from coming to school for 14 days. Based on numerous studies that have concluded that, in fact, airplanes have a much lower probability of Covid transmission than most other activities we all engage in daily (such as going to the supermarket, Shul or ironically even school), I respectfully asked the schools my children attend to consider removing this restriction from their policies. ( https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/risk-covid-19-exposure-planes-virtually-nonexistent-masked/story?id=73616599 )   I have yet to hear back from one of them but I recently heard back from the other one and their response is indicative of everything that is wrong with how we as a community (and society) are approaching our response to Covid. If we don't change course, we will be living under these...

Part I of this three part series can be found here: https://gershondistenfeld.blogspot.com/2020/10/pikuach-nefesh-covid-19-precautions.html Part II of this three part series can be found here: https://gershondistenfeld.blogspot.com/2020/10/pikuach-nefesh-covid-19-precautions_18.html The following is the third part of a three part series analyzing the applicability of halachic maxims like safek pikuach nefesh to the current social distancing mandates during the Covid-19 Pandemic. In the first part, the application of safek pikuach nefesh on the individual level, and the lack of historical precedent was discussed, and can be found here.  In the second part, safek pikuach nefesh on the communal level was discussed in light of the observed efficacy of social distancing measures. It can be found here.   Pikuach Nefesh & Covid-19 Precautions - Questioning the Halachik Link - Part III (Conclusion) Etan Golubtchik Who is Wise? When discussing safek pikuach nefesh and how it appli...