Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher, and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money, and spiritual engagement.

Love Yehuda Lave

In reading the New York State travel advisory, I am reminded of one of my favorite scenes from a Woody Allen movie, this one from Bananas. Having ascended to power, the dictatorial rebel leader Esposito announces his new rules for San Marcos:

From this day on, the official language of San Marcos will be Swedish. ... In addition to that, all citizens will be required to change their underwear every half-hour. Underwear will be worn on the outside so we can check. Furthermore, all children under 16 years old are now...16 years old!

Woody's character Fielding Mellish cracks, "What's the Spanish word for straitjacket?" The Spanish word is camisa de fuerza. The Swedish word is tvångströja. In any language, Gov. Andrew Cuomo surely needs one. It is bad enough that he is running the state by executive order. Worse is that the orders are nuts. If Woody Allen were to make a comic version of 1984, he could model "Big Brother" on Andrew Cuomo.

Last week, I flew into Buffalo. It was my first flight this year into New York, a state in which I have owned a summer cottage for the last 30 years. Coming from Missouri, a state on New York's travel advisory, I had to fill out a two-sided form promising that I would quarantine in place for 14 days. As if.

Missouri has had about 25 COVID-19 deaths per 100,00 people. New York has had about 165. In the western part of Missouri where I live, the rate is considerably lower. No matter. By some perverse calculation, my return to New York threatened to put the state's residents at some elevated risk.

To visit my own cottage, I had to promise not to be in public or otherwise leave the quarters that they have identified as "suitable." These "quarters" — how quaint — had to have "separate bathroom facilities for each individual or family group." More than that, I had to have "access to a sink with soap and water, and paper towels."

Esposito would have been hard pressed to imagine rules this absurd and unenforceable: "Food must be delivered to the individual's quarters"; "Garbage must be bagged and left outside by the door of each of the quarters"; "Individuals should self-monitor for fever and other symptoms of COVID-19 daily."

Big Brother Andy promises that "enforcement teams" will be stationed to "greet disembarking passengers to request proof of completion of the State Department of Health traveler form." He isn't kidding. My flight had no more than 20 people on board, but two officials were waiting at 9:00 P.M. on a Sunday night to collect our letters of transit. The penalty for leaving the airport without completing the form is a $2,000 fine and a mandatory quarantine. Knowing this, I filled mine out. I wrote on it, "Under protest, self-destructive, wasteful, oppressive."

My flight to Denver a week earlier was nearly full, but no one who did not have to come was coming to New York. The state is broke and broken. Yet it can still afford to create this Byzantine bureaucracy and impose it on those who are compelled to visit, even — hang on — those who drive to New York. Decrees Big Brother: "Travelers coming to New York from designated states through other means of transport, including trains and cars, must fill out the form online."

I know a conscientious fellow who did just that. Health authorities contact him every day to check on his progress. My friend was given a choice of call or text. He chose text. At the beginning, he was asked if he needed any help with food or medicine. I asked my friend whether the State delivered pizza. He chose not to inquire. He was afraid they might.

The tourist destinations in the mountain states are thriving. Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks is reportedly doing twice its annual business. New York State is withering. Not since Saddam taunted the U.S. into invading Iraq has the world seen so self-destructive a case of narcissism.

Pay no attention to New York's national dominance in COVID deaths. Nursing homes? What nursing homes? I am convinced that Cuomo imposed the travel advisory to creates the illusion that he has so heroically purged his state of COVID that red-state refugees can only screw things up. I suspect his forthcoming book — American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic — will assure at least the media that this is so. (And who writes a book during a crisis?)

Come what may, Cuomo has an assured place in history. He will be the first head of a state to enact a costly, self-defeating law that absolutely no one will follow and, quite likely, no one will be punished for not following. San Marcos can use a man like that.

Jack Cashill's new book, Unmasking Obama: The Fight to Tell the True Story of a Failed Presidency, is now widely available. Also see www.Cashill.com.

Breaking news--When will get our lives back by Tucker Carlson-we Won't!

For Americans living under coronavirus restrictions, it's a question too rarely asked. In fact it's actively discouraged.

Second thoughts on complying with the mask mandate

By Bob Dullard

I’m writing thus under a pseudonym because it’s not about me. Yet I have some unanswered questions regarding compliance with all the recent health fads.

The company I work for falls under the heading of “Essential,” so when the Governor of my state issued a “stay at home” order in March, we continued to work, “business-as-usual.” It was extended for a total duration of 5-weeks. During that period, we worked without masks or hand-sanitizer.

A few days before the order was lifted, we were told that on the day the order is lifted, wearing of face masks would be mandatory. All my co-workers grumbled: “The state is relaxing its mandate; why are we suddenly tightening-up?” We hadn’t needed them for the previous 5 weeks, so many were declaring defiance and refusal to wear one.

Without fanfare, I issued a request to Human Resources:

Re: Face Masks

As a gesture of respect, I am submitting this letter expressing my objection to wearing a face mask as required by the Company, for the sake of clarity and record.

When it was posted that all employees would be required to wear face masks as of Friday, May 1, 2020, my conscience convicted me that the motivation behind the ruling had less to do with safety than it had to do with an outward display of religious submission to the false god of paranoia currently gripping our country.

Compliance with the rule would contradict my religious convictions. It would violate the prohibitions found in both the Old[1] and New[2] Testaments against worshiping false idols[3].

If I believed it was about safety, I would comply, just as I do with the use of other PPE.

To date, my objections have been met with courtesy and respect from all members of management that I have interacted with, having made accommodations for my faith by approving the use of vacation time until a resolution can be arrived at.

I regret any inconvenience my position has caused and express my gratitude for the consideration I have experienced thus far and look forward to continued employment with the Company.

Thank You.

(Signed)

The day the mandate took effect, I took 2 days of vacation to see if it would blow-over. Upon my return, I noticed that all the rebels who were raising a raucous refusing to wear masks were wearing theirs. Without donning one myself, I requested 2 more days’ vacation, awaiting approval of my request for absence.

After a week had elapsed, I called an HR representative and asked if they’d received my request.

“Yes.”

“Then why haven’t I received either approval or denial?”

“Our lawyers can’t figure out what to do with you.”

“Well then, obviously, you need to hire more lawyers.”

Hmm: They’ve turned it over to legal. I wondered if I should get a lawyer. I told a friend who’s a consummate news-junky about my dilemma. He responded, “Bob – you’re gonna be famous! Every news item has been about this pandemic 24-7 for weeks. I haven’t come across a story from this angle once. You’ll be on Hannity before the end of the week.”

No. I didn’t want to exploit the opportunity for personal gain. It would appear as a shameless publicity stunt and maintaining the appearance of having integrity is sort of important to me. Even at work I was discrete about it, not staging a public protest.

My buddy protested, “Guaranteed, if your name was ‘Mohammad’ they’d approve your request.”

The day before my scheduled return to work, I woke up in the morning and made a decision: Throw in the towel. All the other resistors caved-in. You’re not better than anyone else. Everyone else is wearing one. Put one on tomorrow and return to work.

Having put that decision behind me, I poured a cup of coffee and decided to begin my day by spending some time in the Bible. My routine is to pray before I start my day to block-out distracting thoughts. As I prepared to launch into prayer, I perceived a nearly audible, firm, “NO.”

“No?” I knew what it meant. “Okay, If I’m not supposed to return to work wearing a mask, what am I supposed to do?” Crickets.

So, I opened my Bible and found myself reading in the book of Esther, the account of Mordecai refusing to bow before Haman (biblically condoned civil disobedience). That was my answer.

My friends and family harangued me for my stance: “You’re just being a rebellious child! What are you going to do – quit and go work for some other company that requires you to wear a mask? It’s not the company that is requiring it: they posted an order from OSHA. Is this really the hill you want to die on?” I wasn’t being rebellious. I was struggling to be obedient to God rather than man.

After 3 weeks of frittering-away my accrued vacation and 2 weeks of voluntarily unpaid quarantine, I decided not to make a spectacle of myself and violated my conscience by acquiescing and returned to work. It wasn’t a financial decision: I have sufficient resources to subsist for a substantial duration.

A few weeks later, the Governor mandated wearing of masks anywhere in public. Had I taken my stand for “Conscientious-Objector” status and prevailed, it would have affected the personal freedom of potentially millions of other Americans (other countries don’t have constitutionally protected freedom of religious expression).

Churches, emulating my victory, would be able to congregate once again.

That’s why this isn’t about me. I’m wondering if I didn’t drop the ball. What would have happened had I stood my ground? Had I retained an attorney and demanded an answer from the company, what would have transpired? All the company had to do to avoid my appearance on Hannity was approve my request. What repercussions were they afraid of?

(If you’re an attorney, please answer that in the comment field below.)

Had the company denied my request, it would have violated the ethics policy they post on their website: requiring an employee to violate their conscience.

I maintain my original position. I continue to violate my conscience in submission to false religion. It’s an effort to avoid drawing attention to myself. Is it a legitimate position?

[1] Exodus 20:

3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

[2] 1 Corinthians 10:

14 Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.

[3] 2 Timothy 1:Graphic credit: Public Domain Pictures

7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Photo credit: Public Domain Pictures

I’m writing thus under a pseudonym because it’s not about me. Yet I have some unanswered questions regarding compliance with all the recent health fads.

The company I work for falls under the heading of “Essential,” so when the Governor of my state issued a “stay at home” order in March, we continued to work, “business-as-usual.” It was extended for a total duration of 5-weeks. During that period, we worked without masks or hand-sanitizer.

A few days before the order was lifted, we were told that on the day the order is lifted, wearing of face masks would be mandatory. All my co-workers grumbled: “The state is relaxing its mandate; why are we suddenly tightening-up?” We hadn’t needed them for the previous 5 weeks, so many were declaring defiance and refusal to wear one.

Without fanfare, I issued a request to Human Resources:

Re: Face Masks

As a gesture of respect, I am submitting this letter expressing my objection to wearing a face mask as required by the Company, for the sake of clarity and record.

When it was posted that all employees would be required to wear face masks as of Friday, May 1, 2020, my conscience convicted me that the motivation behind the ruling had less to do with safety than it had to do with an outward display of religious submission to the false god of paranoia currently gripping our country.

Compliance with the rule would contradict my religious convictions. It would violate the prohibitions found in both the Old[1] and New[2] Testaments against worshiping false idols[3].

If I believed it was about safety, I would comply, just as I do with the use of other PPE.

To date, my objections have been met with courtesy and respect from all members of management that I have interacted with, having made accommodations for my faith by approving the use of vacation time until a resolution can be arrived at.

I regret any inconvenience my position has caused and express my gratitude for the consideration I have experienced thus far and look forward to continued employment with the Company.

Thank You.

(Signed)

The day the mandate took effect, I took 2 days of vacation to see if it would blow-over. Upon my return, I noticed that all the rebels who were raising a raucous refusing to wear masks were wearing theirs. Without donning one myself, I requested 2 more days’ vacation, awaiting approval of my request for absence.

After a week had elapsed, I called an HR representative and asked if they’d received my request.

“Yes.”

“Then why haven’t I received either approval or denial?”

“Our lawyers can’t figure out what to do with you.”

“Well then, obviously, you need to hire more lawyers.”

Hmm: They’ve turned it over to legal. I wondered if I should get a lawyer. I told a friend who’s a consummate news-junky about my dilemma. He responded, “Bob – you’re gonna be famous! Every news item has been about this pandemic 24-7 for weeks. I haven’t come across a story from this angle once. You’ll be on Hannity before the end of the week.”

No. I didn’t want to exploit the opportunity for personal gain. It would appear as a shameless publicity stunt and maintaining the appearance of having integrity is sort of important to me. Even at work I was discrete about it, not staging a public protest.

My buddy protested, “Guaranteed, if your name was ‘Mohammad’ they’d approve your request.”

The day before my scheduled return to work, I woke up in the morning and made a decision: Throw in the towel. All the other resistors caved-in. You’re not better than anyone else. Everyone else is wearing one. Put one on tomorrow and return to work.

Having put that decision behind me, I poured a cup of coffee and decided to begin my day by spending some time in the Bible. My routine is to pray before I start my day to block-out distracting thoughts. As I prepared to launch into prayer, I perceived a nearly audible, firm, “NO.”

“No?” I knew what it meant. “Okay, If I’m not supposed to return to work wearing a mask, what am I supposed to do?” Crickets.

So, I opened my Bible and found myself reading in the book of Esther, the account of Mordecai refusing to bow before Haman (biblically condoned civil disobedience). That was my answer.

My friends and family harangued me for my stance: “You’re just being a rebellious child! What are you going to do – quit and go work for some other company that requires you to wear a mask? It’s not the company that is requiring it: they posted an order from OSHA. Is this really the hill you want to die on?” I wasn’t being rebellious. I was struggling to be obedient to God rather than man.

After 3 weeks of frittering-away my accrued vacation and 2 weeks of voluntarily unpaid quarantine, I decided not to make a spectacle of myself and violated my conscience by acquiescing and returned to work. It wasn’t a financial decision: I have sufficient resources to subsist for a substantial duration.

A few weeks later, the Governor mandated wearing of masks anywhere in public. Had I taken my stand for “Conscientious-Objector” status and prevailed, it would have affected the personal freedom of potentially millions of other Americans (other countries don’t have constitutionally protected freedom of religious expression).

Churches, emulating my victory, would be able to congregate once again.

That’s why this isn’t about me. I’m wondering if I didn’t drop the ball. What would have happened had I stood my ground? Had I retained an attorney and demanded an answer from the company, what would have transpired? All the company had to do to avoid my appearance on Hannity was approve my request. What repercussions were they afraid of?

(If you’re an attorney, please answer that in the comment field below.)

Had the company denied my request, it would have violated the ethics policy they post on their website: requiring an employee to violate their conscience.

I maintain my original position. I continue to violate my conscience in submission to false religion. It’s an effort to avoid drawing attention to myself. Is it a legitimate position?

[1] Exodus 20:

3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

[2] 1 Corinthians 10:

14 Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.

[3] 2 Timothy 1:Graphic credit: Public Domain Pictures

7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.