One of the GREAT things about our Selichos is how we stand there SCREAMING abt. how sinful we are. I LOVE that. Instead of pointing fingers at others or getting defensive [as most people do when confronted with their failings] - we emphatically admit it with the hope that we will improve.
Sadly - that is not always the approach when not reading the Selichos booklet. But the only way to improve is to recognize our faults and then to go abt. fixing them!!
So in that spirit I will point about 3 HUUUUGE scandals in our community that not enough people are talking abt.
Gilui Ayayos, Shfichus Domim and Avoda Zara!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gilui Arayos is the parents who give their kids phones and/or open Internet. How is this possible? How can you give them a movie screen that has endless pornography and not supervise them? And then there are the religious schools that allow the students to use such devices.
A scandal.
Avoda Zara is the two Chasiduyos in particular where if it is not mamesh Avoda Zara - it is borderline [in many but not all cases]. If a human being is at the center of your Avoda and not G-d - it is Avoda Zara.
Shfichus Domim - Corona kills and it doesn't fall down magically from Mars. It is transmitted from one person to another. Yet, after a year and a half, tens of millions of sick people and well over four million dead, many people still take no precautions. They act as if NOTHING is goin' on. If you take your old parents for a stroll in Harlem in the middle of the night, you are being irresponsible even if they come back in one piece. If one is not careful, even if he didn't kill or harm anyone it is still TERRIBLY irresponsible. Yet, I see before my eyes how many people are carrying on as if nothing is happening.
Some people say "masks don't work". BY GOLLY!!! Who was the Navi that told them THAT??? The consensus in the medical establishment is to wear masks in closed spaces. There are those who argue and say that it doesn't help. So how can someone say that it definitely doesn't help when there is no proof?? Why shouldn't one be careful JUST IN CASE???!! Even if in the end we discover that masks don't help - you were still doing the GREAT MITZVA of trying to preserve the health of yourself and those around you.
