Halachic aspects of the Corona Virus

The fear of potential spread of the Corona Virus has possibly become a greater talking point around Israel than the upcoming elections next week!

Chief Rabbi Dovid Lau has been asked many halachic questions related to Corona

According to Kikar, Rabbi Lau said that anyone instructed to be in isolation must remain in isolation as instructed and is prohibited from leaving isolation to go to shul to daven with a minyan. Even if it is only a slight suspicion of exposure that caused the isolation he is not allowed to leave to go to shul and he would be causing great damage to others by doing so.

Another psak by Rav Lau is that one cannot put himself in danger, so a person should not go to a place that might have been exposed.

Additionally, this morning on Radio Kol Barama, Rav Lau said that if the Ministry of Health determined a case requires quarantine or isolation - even someone who always goes to minyan or to a shiur must listen carefully to the doctors orders and follow them precisely.

Behadrei is reporting that a group of businessmen who deal directly with China have been adversely affected by the Corona virus and went to Rav Chaim Kanievsky to seek counsel. Some of them run businesses whose stock price has dropped because of Corona, others who travel to China for business and now cannot, others who import from China.. and they are concerned wondering if they should sell everything off now before their businesses are destroyed.

Rav Kanievsky's response was to follow instructions from the authorities regarding anything Corona related and being careful but they should not sell off their stocks and businesses and should not panic. Rav Kanievsky told them to increase tefilla, especially that they should not incur damages form the virus.

Interestingly, we see from both Rav Lau and Rav Kanievsky how they stressed the importance of following instructions from the authorities...

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