Blatant flouting of rules by so many leaves me angry

I apologise in advance for this vent, but having read the SA Jewish Report today, confirming my suspicions about the number of illegal minyanim taking place in and around the community, I feel I have to say something.

On 30 April last year, during our hard lockdown, my brother, Brett Hummel, tragically passed away leaving his family and friends heartbroken. As his next of kin, I wanted to say kaddish for him for the full eleven months and because shiva was held in lockdown, we had no prayers. It was difficult for me to accept that I couldn’t say kaddish.

A prominent rabbi in our community called me and summed it up perfectly. He said it was a kiddush Hashem (sanctification of G-d) to say kaddish, but in these circumstances, it was more of a kiddush Hashem not to say kaddish. I have been very grateful for the three months that we did manage to have daily services and I could say kaddish.

It angers me tremendously that so many people are blatantly breaking the rules. The chief rabbi’s office has requested that due to the easy transmission of the virus as well as the current law of the land, no minyanim should take place. Over the past week, I have seen people walking into a shul property early in the morning with their tefillin in hand. G-d forbid one person in that gathering has the virus, how many more will it be passed to?

My community and its rabbonim have done a remarkable job in ensuring that our community comes together on Zoom every day. We daven three times a day “together” but alone, and have found a special kaddish leyachid – the individual kaddish allowing all mourners to be able to say a different prayer in lieu of kaddish. Again, please, let’s daven together but alone for now until the experts have declared that we can safely return to our shuls.