Three distressing Corona psakim:
1] Using zoom to have seder with one's parents.
2] Permitting hugging and kissing between husband and wife even if she doesn't go to mikva. [The person-rabbi-professor who said this made it contingent upon a few other rabbis agreeing with him. What is his problem? There are hundreds and hundreds who would agree with him. Problem is that they are all Reform, Conservative or Reconstructionist].
3] This was a shocker because of who said it: Leaving one's phone on during the seder so that others [such as Baalei Teshuva who need help conducting the seder] can join.
A Jew is sitting at his seder on one of the holiest and special nights of the year with the phone on. מזעזע!! HARROWING!!! Technologically speaking, it might actually be a Melacha. But putting that aside - what a terrible פירצה [breach] in Kedushas Yom Tov and also an act of עובדין דחול [which would make it אסור]. I would surmise that 99 percent of all poskim would forbid such a thing.
I happen to have the cell number of one of the most prominent Poskim in the world and I just called him a number of minutes ago [somehow whenever I call I get him right away....] and read out the psak. He said that he respects the person who said it but NO WAY to permit such a thing. It opens a pandoras box of many more non-Yom Tov behaviors. [He specifically asked me not to publicize his opinion on the matter in his name].
BTW - In the course of our conversation he quoted a certain posek and Gadol who was lenient about a telephone on Shabbos and said [I am translating approximately] "He was a Gaon Olam but understood nothing about electricity, as is clear from all of his Tshuvos".
Juicy :-).
Names remain with the editor of Mevakesh Lev....
