Rabbi Edelstein
Rabbi EdelsteinYoni Kempinski

The dean of the Ponivezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak and the president of Degel Hatorah’s Council of Torah Sages, Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, urged his students to be stringent and pray individually if precautions cannot maintained, despite the government's decision loosening restrictions on public prayer.

The government on Sunday morning adopted new guidelines for dealing with the coronavirus, ultimately including permission to hold prayer groups of up to 19 people, at a distance of up to 500 meters from one's residence or place of work and in an open area, with a distance of at least 2 meters between people.

"It is the most serious obligation for everyone to observe and abide by the rules of distancing and caution required by the physicians' instructions, and by no means to hold group prayers unless the precautions are fully adhered to," Rabbi Edelstein wrote.

"Everyone should check before joining a prayer group whether it is possible to maintain the precautionary rules while maintaining the distance between people, since all this involves concern for human life, and anyone who transgresses this harms himself and others, Heaven forbid.”