Spreading "flu" in synagogues

 

It will be interesting to see, as the "real" season for flu approaches the northern hemisphere, the number of cases reported by people active in their congregations.

Sephardim, more so than our Ashkenazi brothers, tend to be hand shakers and cheek-to-cheek bussers . Many Sephardim touch their "shaking hand" to their lips after the handshake.

Then there are the bet mezuzot - touch the object then touch the lips.

Likewise with the sefri Torah, be they in box or covered by a cloth mantle.

And then there are the congregation's sedurim and humashim.

I won't depend on my fellow congregants sneezing into their elbows; more likely they'll share their sneeze with whomever is near.

I can't visualize a congregation that dons tallit, tefillin, and masks, although that might be a good thing for the rabbis to invoke in the short term. (Is there a shatnez issue? What about wearing the mask on Shabat? Is that carrying; do we need an eruv?) Would Sephardim put the mask on differently than the Ashkenazim? What about the Sephardi from North Africa vs. the Mizrachi from Iraq?

Seriously, it will be interesting to see if HaShem really does protect us from ourselves to the extent that Jews who regularly attend services (two and a half times a day since minhah and ar'veet [ma'ariv] usually are run together) have a lesser incident of The Flu then the less observant community and the non-Jewish community.

Another group to watch, albeit the men at least are not "cheek-to-cheekers" are what I refer to as "Pump-handle Baptists," Southern Baptists who almost out-shake observant Jews. Will they have a "similar-to-us" infection rate? Or will our observance of Shabat rest ... pray-eat-sleep-repeat ... give us added protection?

Contagious diseases ARE a concern within our community. At least one hasidic leader now avoids passing the kiddish cup from person-to-person to reduce the opportunity for people to "share" their malady.

Hopefully in these "enlightened" times if we indeed have a lower incidence of The Flu our non-observant and non-Jewish neighbors won't place the blame on us for their higher infection rate.

Meanwhile, maybe I'll look for face masks that either compliment, or contrast with, my Shabat and weekday kippot - and are not too uncomfortable over the beard.

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn at gmail dot com