United Kingdom’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis warned to the Jewish community to strictly follow government guidelines on public gatherings during the High Holidays or “risk posing a danger to the lives of others”.
The warning came after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed new restrictions to fight the flow of Covid-19 transmission, making it illegal to gather in groups of more than six.
“As we enter into the forthcoming High Holy Days, sadly here in the UK, as is the case in many other places around the globe, cases of Covid-19 are on the rise and this is primarily due to irresponsibility – the responsibility that people have towards themselves and others,” Rabbi Mirvis said.
His message comes in wake of mortality figures which show just three Jewish deaths in the past two months. More than 300 funerals took place in April at the peak of the crisis.
The coronavirus has caused the death of more than 500 members of the Jewish community and over 40,000 across the country.
Boris Johnson’s Rosh Hashanah message
Boris Johnson reflected on the “disproportionate losses” in the community during the pandemic and closures of synagogues and cancelled simchas in his message to British Jews for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
He said the sound of the shofar would “signal not just the arrival of a new year, but also the end of one that many would like to forget.”
‘’The disproportionate losses you have suffered have been compounded by the necessary privations of lockdown,” he said.
‘’Synagogues that have remained open for centuries, welcoming worshippers on Shabbat even as Nazi bombs rained from the sky, were forced to close their doors just when people needed spiritual comfort more than ever,” he added.
‘’Here in the UK and around the world, Jewish communities have never been ones to take adversity lying down,” he said.
‘’So I was not in the least surprised to see you responding to the challenges of Coronavirus with typical vim, vigour and ingenuity.”
He said the sound of the shofar would “signal not just the arrival of a new year, but also the end of one that many would like to forget.”