Coronavirus
Coronavirus
BDJ is open for daily and Shabbat services (see calendar for times).
Following the new guidance by the County's Department of Public Health, ALL masking requirements are lifted at BDJ. All who prefer to mask, are of course welcome to do so.
Our Shabbat kids groups ( Rechov Yeladim) are open for kids 6 months to Grade 6. Any questions about Rechov Yeladim please direct to Jenna Rubin at youth@bnaidavid.com.
- Mikvah: For the latest mikvah guidelines, please visit the LA Mikvah website. For any questions, please contact Rav Yosef.
- Mental Health Resources: please visit our Mental Health page to learn more about resources in the community. We will continue updating it as we find relevant resources.
- Testing: The latest testing information for LA County can be found here.
Update: Monday, March 17, 2020
Jewish Law is built upon principles of likelihood and probability. For example, if there are three indistinguishable pieces of meat in front of you, two of which come from a kosher source and one which does not, you may take and eat one of them, for the probability is that it is kosher. The wife of a kohen may continue to eat terumah (which only a kohen and his family may eat) even when her husband is incommunicado while on an extended overseas trip. She does so based on the assumption that her kohen husband is still alive, because of the halakhic principle that we assume the last known status quo until we know definitely that this status quo has changed. Likelihoods and probabilities determine Jewish Law. The vitally important letter below, drafted by the rabbinic leadership of our community, abandons these principles of likelihood and probability. It proscribes very stringent measures regarding staying at home and limiting in-person social interaction to only essential minimums. It clearly proscribes interactions which have only small likelihoods of effecting transmission, and reasonable probabilities of being safe. The basis for this is the revered halakhic principle that חמירא סכנתא מאיסורא - we treat danger more stringently than we treat prohibitions. A drop of milk is "batel" if it is only 1/60th of a meat mixture, but poison is never "batel". The rigorous standards set in the letter below are operating in the realm of סכנתא - danger to health and life. As we've all heard, we've each got to everything we can, including avoiding setting in which transmission might be considered improbable - when we are facing the prospect of contagion expanding exponentially as it has done in other countries and US cities, which would indisputably threaten the lives of our fellow Angelinos. Our hospitals are simply not ready for an explosion of cases, health workers will be unable to handle such a load, and people will die as a result. Life and death is in our hands, and our Halakhic responsibility is to recognize that and take it seriously. This will be a difficult and austere period of time... Please escape feelings of hopelessness by being a source of hope to others in your immediate sphere. Please take advantage of our on-line learning and chatting and davening. And most of all, let's all remember to be thankful. Gratitude may be the farthest emotion from our hearts in this moment. I can't think of a more appropriate moment for feeling grateful, for our community and family and friends, for modern medicine and responsible government and our general abundance (despite some empty shelves at this second). We should make a special point of including Mizmor L'Todah (Psalm 100) in Shacharit each morning. There is heightened poignancy and power these days to remembering that we have so much to be thankful for, that we are blessed in myriad, countless ways. Rav Yosef Kanefsky |
Dear Fellow Community Members, Over the last several days we have been hearing urgent messages from our elected officials and Department of Health representatives asking us to eliminate communal gatherings and to minimize in-person contact to the greatest degree possible. This is the best and surest way to slow down the spread of the coronavirus in our city. It will literally save lives and will prevent our local hospitals from becoming overwhelmed to the point of having to turn patients away. This is the reason that we the undersigned have made the unprecedented decision to close our shuls and schools. It is vitally important, and a matter of Pikuah Nefesh, life and death, that everyone in our community abide by the following policies. In order to receive professional guidance for the community, we held a conference call this afternoon with Rabbi Dr. Aaron Glatt of New York, an infectious disease expert and an Assistant Rabbi at the Young Israel of Woodmere, and Dr. Rick Riggs, Chief Medical Officer at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in charge of overseeing Cedar's response to the Coronavirus. Considering our discussion with the doctors we the undersigned strongly recommend the following policies to be instituted immediately:
10) Call your doctor if you start to have symptoms (increased congestion, coughing or fevers). Seek emergency medical treatment if you have difficulty breathing, but please do not go to the emergency room if you do not need emergency care. Call ahead if possible and advise health care workers of possible exposure to COVID-19. Ask for a facemask as you enter the facility. These steps will help the healthcare provider's office to keep other people in the office or waiting room from getting infected or exposed. If possible, put on a facemask before emergency medical services arrive. 11) For a COVID-19 test enter your zip code to find out the nearest COVID-19 test site. (from US HRSA.gov website) https://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/ Go to clinics instead of crowded large facilities. (Testing and Treatments are free.) 12) Any member of our community who has tested positive must immediately inform family and friends (or any acquaintances if applicable) who may have been exposed to him or her. This includes informing your rabbi or head of school. 13) We call on all of our community members and institutions to create formal systems and mechanisms by which people who are in need of assistance and people who can volunteer to provide assistance, are connected with one another. We encourage also helping the general public by donating to community charities of your choice. Please also remember to generously support Maot Chittim campaigns. During these most challenging times when we all pray that Hashem accept our Tefilot, we encourage everyone to daven with exceptional Kavanah even though we are not meeting in our shuls for Tefilah B'Tzibur. We also ask you to set time for learning Torah and for doing Chessed. Each shul and school will be in contact with their members and students sharing their Torah Shiurim and Chessed opportunities that we all should join. With Brakhot of good health and safety, Rabbi David Block, Shalhevet High School Rabbi Yonah Bookstein, Pico Shul Rabbi Asher Brander, LINK Kollel Rabbi Daniel Cavalier, Young Sephardic Community Center Rabbi Pini Dunner, Beverly Hills Synagogue Rabbi Shlomo Einhorn, Yeshivat Yavneh Rabbi Daniel Grama, West Side Shul Rabbi Alan Kalinsky, Orthodox Union West Coast Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky, Bnai David Judea Rabbi Yehuda Moses, Kehilat Mogen David Rabbi Elazar Muskin, Young Israel of Century City Rabbi Adir Posy, Beth Jacob Congregation Rabbi James Proops, Young Israel of Century City Rabbi David Revah, Adas Torah Rabbi Ari Segal, Shalhevet High School Rabbi Joshua Spodek, YULA Girls Rabbi Arye Sufrin, YULA Boys High School Rabbi Y. Boruch Sufrin, Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy Rabbi Kalman Topp, Beth Jacob Congregation Rabbi Jason Weiner, Cedars Sinai Medical Center Rabbi Aaron Wilk, Gindi Maimonides Academy |
Response to Coronavirus COVID-19
Friends,
I'd like to take half a minute to reflect on the human, religious dimension of this present hour. One of the brand new terms that has entered our daily conversation is "social distancing". It is shorthand, as we know very well, for the practical physical precautions that we all need to and must take in order to protect ourselves and others. I'd humbly suggest though, that we use the term itself sparingly, if at all. Language is a powerful shaper of thinking. And the very last thing we need right now, is a mindset of mutual distancing. We actually need to be thinking in the exact opposite way. Every hand that we don't shake must become a phone call that we place. Every embrace that we avoid must become a verbal expression of warmth and concern. Every inch and every foot that we physically place between ourselves and another, must become a thought as to how we might be of help to that other, should the need arise. It is obvious that "distancing", if misplaced or misunderstood, will take its toll not only upon our community's strength and resiliency, but upon the very integrity and meaning of our spiritual commitment. And who knows if it was for this time that we have committed ourselves to walk in God's ways.
Let's stay safe. And let's draw one another closer in a way that we've never done before.
Rav Yosef
Fri, June 2 2023
13 Sivan 5783
Today's Calendar
: 7:00am |
Friday Night Summer Schedule : 6:45pm |
Candle Lighting : 7:42pm |
Upcoming Programs & Events
Jun 3 Graduation Shabbat Saturday, Jun 3 |
Jun 3 Seder Nashim Shabbat, Jun 3 4:30pm |
Jun 4 Board Meeting Sunday, Jun 4 7:00pm |
Jun 11 |
Jun 11 Joint Project with First AME Sunday, Jun 11 1:00pm |
This week's Torah portion is Parshat Nasso
Shabbat, Jun 3 |
Candle Lighting
Friday, Jun 2, 7:42pm |
Havdalah
Motzei Shabbat, Jun 3, 8:45pm |
Shabbat Mevarchim
Shabbat, Jun 17 |
Zmanim
Alot Hashachar | 4:13am |
Earliest Tallit | 4:50am |
Netz (Sunrise) | 5:43am |
Latest Shema | 9:17am |
Zman Tefillah | 10:29am |
Chatzot (Midday) | 12:52pm |
Mincha Gedola | 1:27pm |
Mincha Ketana | 5:02pm |
Plag HaMincha | 6:31pm |
Candle Lighting | 7:42pm |
Shkiah (Sunset) | 8:00pm |
Tzeit Hakochavim | 8:44pm |
More >> |