Children never mattered in politics. They don't make campaign contributions (nor do parents of young children generally), so they are disposable.
No one cares that 10,000 children in Boston haven't learned a word in two months. [1]
No one cared that 10,000 Jewish children were banned from school in NY State last year, along with another 25,000 public school children.
No one cares that the Public Health Committee is poised to pass an unjust bill to the Massachusetts legislature that will effectively ban 10,000 children from school in MA.
No one cares when shots are forced upon children while adults are given a choice.
No one cares when children are occasionally injured by a shot which was forced upon them for the sake of keeping adults safe, even when the actual disease poses little risk to children.
No one cares when two-year-olds are forced to wear face masks in preschool, or when millions of children can't attend school across the country because a virus that poses zero (or numerically negligible) risk to children.
Children are par for the course.
How utterly opposite of the Torah view in which education of each and every child is paramount.
How antithetical of halacha [2] which prohibits us from sacrificing a single individual child (or anyone else) for the sake of public safety -- or from exposing a child to potential risk (even if minimal) if it entails no significant medical necessity to this child.
How incompatible with our Judaic tradition in which G-d agreed to enter into a covenant with us and give us the Torah ONLY once we declared: "Our children are our guarantors." [3]
Can we afford to neglect our guarantors and throw them under the bus for the sake of political expediency or dubious political agendas that have no basis in Torah law?
This Shavuot (tomorrow), when we renew our commitment to the Torah, let's start caring about EVERY single child in our midst.
Speak out against the injustices being perpetrated against the youngest and most vulnerable of our population, and make your voices heard.
Tell our government once and for all:
Stop betraying our children!
Notes:
[1] According to NPR, 10,000 children in Boston haven't logged onto their zoom classes even once in the past two months.
[2] Jewish Law.
[3] Midrash Rabbah, Shir Hashirim 1:3-1
you're so right rabbi
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