The days of the Corona epidemic forced the world to pay attention to its elders. Those who have been trampled under the wheels of progress, under "The World Belongs to Young People", under the alienated culture that put personal careers ahead of concern for parents and elders. 42% of the elderly population in Israel report loneliness these days, which has only worsened since the outbreak of the virus, alongside health, anxiety and terror.

This impossible situation led the brave group of rabbis, the Association of Western Sages in the Land of Israel, to offer a solution to this troubling problem: What would all the thousands of lonely elders do on the eve of Seder? Evening is all about converting the small family to the story of the wider family, the people. Is it possible to imagine a night of peace without family, without parents?

The Smart Union has ruled that in some cases, and especially extreme, the use of "zoom" software to virtually celebrate the holiday in tandem, based on the conventional ruling in Western countries - North Africa - which allowed the use of holiday electricity, according to the same principle of fire-to-fire.

The interesting thing about the case law - and what stirred up fury and anger among some rabbis, and pride among many in public - is the unique mood that arises from it, a spirit whose roots in a leadership perspective are radically different from the approach we have been accustomed to by the central rabbinic establishment in Israel.

The very pretense of the Moroccan rabbis to pass judgment in light of the changes of time and period, and to provide the public with an answer to its problems and difficulties - is of interest. Talking about deep historical roots: While in Europe, the rabbis shut themselves down in halakhic dumbbells in the society only for observance - in Morocco the sages took a radically different strategy, which led to the name of the reform movement not taking root.

The scholars of North Africa did everything possible to bring members of their community closer and to follow a path that would put everyone into Jewish unity. While in Europe, Judaism was split into Reform and Orthodox, in Morocco one Chief Rabbinate was operating that united the entire public under it; While in Europe the religious world ignored the changes of the period and focused only on the "religious" issues of kosher, Sabbath and modesty - in the wise Morocco maintained the Jewish tradition of the millennia, ruling the social, economic, personal and public issues as well.

Moroccan rabbis have enacted regulations in response to the new hourly needs created in relation to women's status, science and modernity, demonstrating their containment and proximity. The Union of Rabbis, in this sense, continues the path of the Chief Rabbinate to Morocco.

The new ruling expresses a halakhic approach in which social sensitivity is one of the halakhic considerations itself, and not a foreign and external interest to it. Opponents of the halakhic ruling have disputed the halakhic basis of operating the holiday software, but the question must be reversed: what is the halakhic basis that allows the neglect of isolated elders on the eve of the Seder? Under what pretext will we violate the duty of respect for parents in the evening where the tradition "and the betrayal of your son" is his center?

In an ideal situation, the person who should have passed this kind of ruling is the Chief Rabbinate. But today it is under the control of elements that still operate in the exiled and closed European spirit, who dare not dare to speak courageously and socially even when an extreme situation like the one we are witnessing today is at stake.

The "Western Sages Association" provided a reminder of the possibility of another rabbinate. On the next night, a simple operation like running Zoom software can be a life-saver, no less.