One of the students of the Rav Shapira who perished in the Holocaust wrote a lengthy teshuva that went even a step farther then his rebbe. Rabbi Nata Shlomo Shlisil, hy”d (published in ירשת פליטה סימן י, a collection of teshuvot of the גדולים of Hungary who perished in the Shoah) argued in support of Rabbi Litvin that even the Shofar can be fulfilled over the telephone. 

Rabbi Shlisil goes so far as to describe how you could have two non-Jews holding phones in different cities on Rosh ha-Shanna for the Shofar, or Shabbat for Kiddush. His analysis begins with trying to find a way for someone who is in jail to fulfill the Mitzva of Shofar. It appears that his teshuva was written in the midst of the Holocaust while Jews were in Concentration Camps. See this brief selection where he refers to the Jewish People struggling in jails, deserts and forests. You can feel the empathy of this great posek who is trying to help his fellow Jews fulfill Mitzvot.

It does seem likely that this coming Rosh ha-Shana shuls are not going to be able to packed. There are many potential solutions to ensuring that people can still hear the Shofar this year. We should certainly arrange to send בעלי תקיעה to as many different homes as possible. However, according to some doctors, the blasting of the Shofar could be a very potent way to spread the virus – perhaps that person needs to test negative?

Should we also be considering setting up someone in shul with a phone or Zoom so that people who can not make it are able to hear in that way? I don’t think that is a wise choice and I would not encourage such behavior. However, is there a way to make such an argument based on these teshuvot? I think so.

One of the things that we have learned over these past few weeks and months is that there are people who want to come to shul who are simply unable to make it. Many have been shut out of Synagogue life for geographic reasons, because they might have physical handicaps or it may be too hard to sit in a room filled with hundreds of other bodies. While I certainly pray for a return to Synagogue life when it is safe, I do hope that we don’t forget these important lessons.

Next week we will begin the analysis of those poskim who were not comfortable with Mitzvah performance over the telephone.