COVID-19 Updates

Adar 19, 5780
March 15, 2020

Dear Friends, 

As our understanding of COVID-19 increases, so does our response. 

1. EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, all weekday Minyanim are canceled (in addition to Shabbat Minyanim, which were cancelled on Friday).

I would urge everyone to listen to this 7-minute podcast, by Uri Bulow - an MD/PhD candidate in the Molecular Biology department of Tufts University - explaining why ALL social gatherings need to be terminated. It is no longer a question of susceptibility or not; it is a question of denying the virus a platform to continue existing. 

2. This announcement came from the Orthodox Union this morning:

                                             Tehillim Call Today, 1pm EDT
Due to the unfolding community crisis, we are gathering together to beseech HaKodosh Boruch Hu for His unlimited mercy and compassion. We ask Him to protect us and give us the strength to withstand the difficulties that we each may face in the time ahead.

Please join the Orthodox Union community as we join together for the recitation of Tehillim (chapters 20, 121 and 130) and divrei chizuk with Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz this afternoon at 1 pm EDT - the call-in number is 773-377-9170.

May the group recitation of Tehillim serve as a zchut (merit) for those who are ill and to ward off this pandemic.

I STRONGLY urge our membership to take advantage of this opportunity to stand together with Klal Yisrael around the nation, beseeching Avinu SheBaShayim to bring this crisis to quick end. The Achdut alone is a worthwhile achievement. 

May this week be one of healing, of redemption, and of unity. 

Rabbi Joseph Friedman