Category: Coronavirus

Facing Coronavirus with Mesirut Nefesh: Channeling the Power of Death in a Holy & Positive Direction

3/8/2020

Before this blog continues with discussions & insights into Rav Itamar Schwartz's Q&A on Coronavirus, it's important to address what people CAN do to manage the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

(Otherwise, the whole thing can turn into an overwhelming fear-mongering dynamic, which is pointless. The entire purpose of fear is not crushing despair or paralyzing anxiety, but self-improvement via awareness of Hashem.)

On pages 32-34 & 44 & 103 of the Q&A, Rav Schwartz discusses the response and the "remedy" for coronavirus.

It has to do with self-nullification, which I stated before I'm not qualified to go into that. However, it's imperative to mention the basic idea of self-nullification: One should strive to internalize the fundamental idea of "Ein od milvado — There is nothing but Him."

And while in today's world of self-promotion and self-esteem, the very idea of self-nullification seems offensive or even frightening, a person who achieves true self-nullification experiences freedom & happiness on a level impossible to otherwise comprehend.

We see this among our tzaddikim who achieved this level, like Rav Aryeh Levin, a person who was wholly selfless and truly happy & content.

Self-nullification occurs when one wholly bonds to & unites with Hashem with no interference of cognitive dissonance or ego.

Self-nullification doesn't cause you to lose yourself.

On the contrary, self-nullification enables you to discover & fulfill the real you — the pristine neshamah residing within you.

Halevai I was on that level & could actually know what I'm talking about!

But that's the basic definition as written in books & exemplified by tzaddikim who reached that level.

Mesirut Nefesh: Breaking Your Middot

According to Rav Schwartz, one can fight coronavirus via mesirut nefesh (self-sacrifice).

Different types & levels of mesirut nefesh exist.

One way is physical death.

But another (and more appealing) way is on the spiritual, nefesh level.

When you break your middot, you kill off your bad middot.

This is a wonderful thing!

Because we feel attached to our bad middot & taavot (desires), letting go of them causes pain.

Some people even define themselves by their bad middot or taavot.

For example, some people pride themselves on their sharp tongue (they call it "clever") or their insistence on always getting their way ("being assertive," "nobody's doormat," "never a sucker," "I don't take dirt from anyone," "nobody messes with me!").

Some pride themselves on their ability to control others, whether it's a classroom, an office, or their home.

I knew someone who prided himself on being an innate (and successful) businessman. However, he sunk to manipulative & exploitative behavior to maintain his self-image as "Benjy the Businessman!"

It took me a while to see that he wasn't a bad person, but his commitment to his self-image as "A Businessman" led him to behave with less compassion or integrity in business situations — behavior he took pride in.

Yet in other situations, he could behave with a lot of compassion and fairness.

But think of how hard it is for someone like him to relinquish his commitment to winning in business when his entire self-image depends on that.

It's a kind of death because he needs to let go of his pretend "self," which feels very real to him.

And the transition phase feels like a hermit crab switching from one shell to another: horribly vulnerable & desperate.

But completing the transition phase brings increased emotional maturity, wisdom, and satisfaction.

So it eventually feels good, but yeah, the transition phase is a wringer.

Mesirut Nefesh: Breaking Your Taavot

Breaking taavot also demands mesirut nefesh & feels like a type of death.

For people addicted to alcohol or drugs, dealing with problems by facing them head on is torture.

In fact, getting out of bed in the morning or facing the upcoming weekend with no high or drunkenness to look forward to often depresses the addict. (That's why treatment programs encourage them to take it one day at a time.)

Life initially feels blah without the hit people get from watching their favorite show/movie/podcast, smoking a cigarette, eating their comfort foods, reading their favorite non-kosher novels, social media, listening to their favorite non-kosher music, mixed dancing, unwholesome relationships, "juicy" gossip, or whatever is their taavah of choice.

So for such a person to think they'll never engage in a certain act or have that thing again...it's unbearable.

In fact, they often describe the desire for that which they deny themselves as: "It's killing me."

Mesirut nefesh.

If it helps, the Pele Yoetz recommends relating to the pain of the unfulfilled taavah (specifically alcoholism) as a kaparah (atonement) for all the damage & transgressions caused while indulging in that taavah.

This puts a positive & beneficial spin on the pain of NOT getting what you crave.

In other words, the pain is l'to'elet; it is useful & rectifying. It has meaning & purpose.

Your Own Unique Mesirut Nefesh 2 Inches at a Time

Immediately after a shiur to a group of frum women regarding halachically appropriate shaitels, a woman approached the rebbetzin and asked her how she should change her own shaitel.

The shaitel in question comprised 100% human hair & hung down to the wearer's waist.

The rebbetzin thought for a moment, then said, "Cut off 2 inches, then get back to me in a month and tell me how it went."

The woman thanked the rebbetzin, then went on her way.

My friend, a very unmaterialistic person who lives an especially simple life in Eretz Yisrael, witnessed the exchange in astonishment.

She asked the rebbetzin why only 2 inches? To my friend, that seemed insignificant. After all, even at 2 inches shorter, the shaitel remained far from tsniyus.

But the wise rebbetzin explained that a woman willing to invest in such a shaitel obviously felt very attached to that particular shaitel.

The woman also showed tremendous sincerity in that after hearing only a little mussar on the topic, she immediately sought to improve herself in this area. And the woman's question was open-ended. Notice that she did not ask whether she should do this or that, but she simply asked what she should, making herself vulnerable to a big & possibly overwhelming change.

That's sincerity.

If you think about it, the rebbetzin showed excellent judgement.

These types of shaitels cost more than a used car.

Women who invest so much money in such a shaitel also invested their hearts in the length, style, and color.

There is a very real emotional attachment to THAT particular shaitel in all its details.

Furthermore, if the woman made a drastic change in her shaitel, her family & friends will certainly respond and usually the response won't be one of praise & encouragement, but of discouragement. (Particularly if her husband likes her in the untsniyus shaitel and especially if his ego depends on having a trophy wife — which is a VERY un-Jewish attitude in marriage — and a husband's criticism of her appearance is a bitter pill to swallow.)

For most people, it's too much to ask of them to change their identity & self-image to that point (meaning, if the woman would cut her shaitel to above her shoulders, for example) AND the discouraging responses she's likely to receive from others.

It could cause her to give up completely. (Like selling the newly vamped shaitel and buying a new one with the old waist-length again.)

In addition, a human-hair waist-length shaitel has issues other than length. These types of shaitels look way too realistic & alluring from the front too.

Yet the rebbetzin only focused on one aspect of the shaitel: its length.

And she had the woman start with just 2 inches.

So for that woman, this is big-time mesirut nefesh. Hopefully, she continued on her journey toward a more dignified & refined hair-covering.

However...

What of the woman who already wears a shaitel that conforms to all opinions of tsniyus (of those who permit shaitels)?

If she would look at the above situation superficially, she would go out & buy a custom shaitel that comes down to 2 inches above her waist and say, "I'm being mosser nefesh too!"

But for the one already wearing a refined & dignified shaitel, buying a nearly waist-length shaitel would be a HUGE step backwards!

It's a yeridah, not mesirut nefesh at all.

So we see that these things are individual.

We cannot copy the mesirut nefesh of others.

We must find our own.

Specific Acts of Teshuvah

On pages 17-21 & 44, Rav Schwartz discusses practical suggestions for teshuvah (a form of mesirut nefesh).

Intensifying & deepening prayer is one strong recommendation.

As we've seen from Rav Avigdor Miller & others, focusing on one aspect of Shemoneh Esrei (like saying "Baruch...magen Avraham" with total kavanah and/or feeling a pang in your heart when you recite the prayer for the Beit HaMikdash) is an excellent way to start.

Bonding with Hashem even for only a few minutes every day is excellent. (Yes, 30-60 minutes is ideal, he says, but a few minutes is also very good.) Regarding time spent with Hashem: QUALITY is more important than quantity — especially now. (You can see this guidance on page 44.)

Our focus now is getting real.

Refraining from any type of lashon hara takes a lot of self-control. Depending on the situation & your own personal impulses, NOT saying something can feel almost physically painful.

And therefore, you receive FABULOUS reward for this restraint.

The only reason you restrain your mouth is for Hashem.

And that's such a beautiful thing.

Forgiving someone is also very powerful (both Rav Kanievsky & Rav Gedalyah Edelstein recommended releasing grudges in the coronavirus era).

Our reasons for holding tight to grudges & resentments can go very deep.

Working through this causes pain. (How much depends on the depth of hurt & anger & damage caused by the object of your resentment.)

Forgiveness makes you into a different person than you were before.

Forgiveness does not mean whitewashing truly bad behavior.

If someone intentionally & intensively hurt you, that is not so forgivable, practically speaking. After all, the person MEANT to hurt you and feels NO remorse. Maybe they're even happy about it.

Forgiveness in that case means connecting to the idea of emunah, that everything comes from Hashem.

That awful person was the agent for something you needed to go through for the rectification of your soul.

You don't pretend the person or the actions were okay. They weren't.

But you let go because you realize Hashem was behind the entire disaster and there is somehow in some unfathomable way a benefit.

I'm the first to admit this is much easier said than done.

But any step forward you can make in this area is a form of mesirut nefesh & very powerful.

Gratitude

Gratitude remains an essential component of mesirut nefesh & teshuvah.

Noting your spiritual progress & also feeling grateful for aspects of your life foster feelings of happiness & contentment.

Even if you can't manage to feel wholly happy & content, saying "thank You" to Hashem still increases happiness & contentment.

Even if you can't achieve a wholly positive state, a smidgen of positive feeling is a million times better than none.

The Specifics of Davening during the Coronavirus Era

On pages 18-19 & 84, Rav Schwartz emphasizes we must NOT daven for the world to return back to "normal."

That would be worse.

We should daven that coronavirus is uprooted BECAUSE everyone returns to Hashem and develop a warm & genuine connection with Hashem & our fellow human beings.

So we daven for a global return to Hashem & genuine connection with Him & other people.

We daven for the light of Redemption to illuminate all souls and we daven that a global healing is activated by kedushah (holiness) overcoming tumah (spiritual blockage/impurity).

Another Tip for Successful Mesirut Nefesh

Rav Avigdor Miller repeatedly stresses the importance of NOT sharing your baby-steps with others.

Unless the other person is spiritually aware, they often discourage or mock you for your efforts.

This can ruin everything.

This caution contradicts the newest generation, in which every little thing you do needs to be photographed and advertised on Instagram.

Of course, you can share your baby steps (or your grandest efforts) with another person, but only if that person will recognize your individual need for this particular type of mesirut nefesh, and will validate your efforts.

Many times, your efforts will be between you & Hashem.

And that's perfectly fine.

You're making Hashem supremely happy & that's all that matters.

Even a Tiny Drop MATTERS!

It bears repeating this idea again: One drop matters.

Drop after drop fills a lake.

Drop after drop erodes stone.

On page 32, Rav Schwartz reassures us that person can activate a little bit of mesirut nefesh by working on just one area, as long as it is an area on which one needs to work.

Mesirut nefesh is channeling the power of death in a holy direction.

Rather than destroying your body, you destroy your unhealthy ego and bad middot.

You destroy the tumah blocking you from being your best — the wonderful person you really are underneath all the spiritual blockage.

By taking only 1 thing each day — something you personally find difficult — and working on that, you achieve a form of mesirut nefesh.

That's Rav Schwartz's practical advice.

On the emotional inner level, Rav Schwartz recommends cutting oneself off from everything that's happening in the world. He encourages a feeling of separation from the entire world.

He emphasizes doing this "deeply," which I think means not only that you stop checking the news or social media, but that you make yourself realize how meaningless much of it is so that you don't even WANT to see the podcast of your favorite political commentator or check your social media account every 5 minutes.

It's important not to misunderstand this.

He means the world & all the distractions & fake news.

He does not mean to stop davening for people or to ignore pleas for verified tzedakah campaigns.

We still need to look both ways before we cross the street and cultivate warm, caring connections with others.

We should concern ourselves with the genuine emotional & material needs of those around us.

But many things portrayed as A Very Big Deal do not actually matter. It's sheker.

Summary of Main Points

Ultimately, in comes down to:

Focus on mesirut nefesh & self-nullification
Start small: Pick ONE thing in ONE area YOU find challenging.
Make it individual; Hashem created you unique with unique needs.
Daven for the right things: Redemption, Divine Illumination, the victory of kedushah over tumah, etc.
Do not daven for things to return to normal. (What we consider "normal" is actually sick & warped.)
Try to cut off & distance yourself from the world as much as you can.
Aim for real inner change (though only practical behavioral change is also really good).

May Hashem grant us all tremendous hatzlacha & bracha in our spiritual endeavors!

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A Look into 2 of the Most Puzzling Spiritual Questions of Coronavirus via the Coronavirus Q&A with Rav Itamar Schwartz

1/8/2020

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Note #1: Rav Itamar Schwartz is an Israeli rav who speaks exclusively in Hebrew. All English-language transcriptions are translations by his talmidim.

They do an outstanding job, especially considering the depth & nuance of the material. Nonetheless, exact translations are difficult to achieve, especially from Hebrew to English and especially regarding such deep concepts.

Note #2: Rav Schwartz goes very deep & as a result, anything I discuss here is just the tip of the iceberg. Furthermore, I'm not on the level to discuss his most important ideas, like self-nullification, which he emphasizes as the most significant response we could have to coronavirus.

In other words, it's vital to read the whole PDF because if you just rely on my discussion of it, you'll miss the essentials.

Why are So Many GOOD People Dying — and Davka in America? And What Does that Mean for Us?

In Bilvavi.Corona.Q.and.A.pdf, Rav Itamar Schwartz addresses why COVID-19 has hit our spiritual leaders & other very good people (i.e., respected talmidei chachamim & other people leading Torah-true lives).

In particular, we see this happening in America more than anywhere else.

Judaism describes the concept of Hashem taking a very good person as a kaparah for the Nation, rather than killing off, say, 1000s of people, chas v'shalom.

And that explains part of it.

But Rav Schwartz delves even deeper into what lies behind the spate of deaths from coronavirus among our spiritual leaders.

It's rattling, yet hopefully also a spur for positive change.

Why Did COVID-19 Hit Davka America So Hard?

On page 24, Rav Schwartz addresses the question: Why America?

There are many wonderful things to say about the frum community in America.

For example:

Chessed, bikur cholim, & tzedakah occur with great generosity, regularity, and attention to detail.

The beloved & heroic Hatzolah emergency medical service is an American innovation.

There are frum American Jews who, despite all the temptations of the outside world, invest so much in keeping their Yiddishkeit alive & intact.

The frum American community fosters many activists who work on behalf of anything troubling Am Yisrael, whether it's shidduchim, abuse, addictions, mental health issues, physical health issues, errant youth, shalom bayis, schools and much more.

However, a vapor of materialism has also infiltrated the community, and affects the community in ways that seem bizarre if you're looking at it from the outside.

Americans who got used to & even enjoy the simpler life in Eretz Yisrael describe a type of culture shock when they return to North America for a visit, expected to adhere to the material dictates inherent to some (though not all) communities there — dictates that honestly do not matter one bit & even cause unnecessary stress & inconvenience.

I don't want to give specific examples, but if you know, then you know. And if you can do something about it (at least within yourself), then you can.

Not everyone is materialistic; as stated above, much good exists.

But according to Rav Schwartz, that infiltration of materialism is a major reason the virus hit America so hard.

Needless to say, secularism & materialism infiltrate Jewish communities around the world (including in Eretz Yisrael). But you see the impact of secularism & materialism in the USA more than anywhere else, so the virus hit there the hardest.

For now, anyway.

The Elephant in the Room

And there's an aspect hinted at in this blog's previous coronavirus posts, but it certainly hovers at the back of my mind and others have also mentioned:

...a feeling of something "waiting in the wings."

I don't know what you're sensing, but to me, there's a powerful sense that Hashem is holding back — yishtabach Shemo, Av HaRachaman.

Because of that, we're not really seeing the whole picture.

It's blurred because in His Great Mercy, Hashem is not unleashing the full force of it upon us.

Yet on page 26, in answer to the question of why Eretz Yisrael is seeing a much lower rate of complications & death, Rav Schwartz states:

You are only viewing the situation at the moment.

The situation is able to become more encompassing and more complex.

That potential increase in complexity and scope is hinted to in the contradictory & unclear information regarding the virus:

How far can the virus REALLY travel after being emitted?

How long does it REALLY stay in the air?

How accurate are the tests REALLY?

How infectious is it really? (I personally know people who spent hours in the airspace of, including physically touching, people unknowingly infected with coronavirus...and when tested, these intensely exposed people experienced no symptoms & tested negative for COVID-19. 3 of them had spent a lot of time in the sun, a source of vitamin D, and in addition, one had been supplementing with vitamin D.)

Can COVID-19 really be transmitted via the eyes?

Is treating the virus at a hospital more or less dangerous than treating it at home?

What are the long-term effects, including of those who tested positive but remained asymptomatic?

Is it really better to allow people to die of loneliness & neglect than risk infecting low-risk family members & staff?

For those who focus on the purely medical aspect, why are so many people ignoring the 3 studies indicating that vitamin D plays a huge part in coronavirus immunity? And that vitamin K2 not only helps vitamin D absorption, but also prevents clotting (which is how coronavirus has killed many people)?

And the really big question: Can you get COVID-19 AGAIN after the initial infection & recovery?

Whether you have people putting their faith in masks & 6-foot social distancing or claiming that the whole thing is a hoax, there is a tremendous amount that we really don't know.

While the media-induced hysteria looks over-the-top when compared to the actual number of deaths & complications (MUCH less than epidemics like Ebola, Spanish flu, and so on, though a little more than flu deaths & complications, depending on the area), it could derive from this sense that there could be more to the virus, God forbid, then what we see now.

And maybe that's scarier than believing it is controllable via all sorts of questionable precautions or believing that it is a hoax or the flu.

A Glimpse behind the Curtain of Our Upside-Down World:
Why Davka the Tzaddikim?

Across the board, truly great rabbanim responded to the pandemic by advising us to forgive grudges, disconnect from unnecessary technology & materialistic/secular pursuits, refrain from lashon hara, increase prayer & Torah learning, and so on.

Yet on page 27, we see the question secretly plaguing many of us:

If an Internet connection (especially an impure connection using impure devices) is the spiritual reason behind the pandemic, then why are davka the people WITHOUT such devices dying?

The people who DON'T hold grudges, DON'T speak lashon hara, and DO daven copiously with kavanah and DO learn Torah with dedication — why did coronavirus hit davka those people with such high fatalities?

Rav Schwartz explains that, in part, their illness & deaths resulted from their heightened spiritual sensitivity.

The Wi-Fi connection comprises both a spiritual & physical component.

Physically, the Wi-Fi penetrates every home and space, even if you don't have Wi-Fi devices in your home.

Sure, if you live in a concrete box with no windows, then that weakens Wi-Fi penetration, but even concrete walls don't block it completely.

As a side point, I think we've all known families who own no devices: not even an old computer for word processing with no Internet whatsoever — not even email.

And they either didn't have cell phones or they had the totally kosher kind with absolutely no Internet connection, not even texting.

Yet their wayward children brought such devices into the home.

Because Wi-Fi penetrates everywhere, you can bring a totally tumah device into a totally Internet-free & device-free home, and use that tumah device in that home.

Surrounded by Wi-Fi, it passes through your home, while outside, it also touches you — even if you yourself never own or even touch a Wi-Fi connection or device.

Spiritually, it penetrates every home & space.

What's the Real Poison Infesting the Wi-Fi?

To extrapolate even more from Rav Schwartz's words: What does all this Wi-Fi contain?

For us, the connection is both instantaneous & imperceptible.

We see the result, not the process.

But it travels.

For example, to read lashon hara or fake news written in San Francisco, that lashon hara must travel electronically through the air, including space inhabited by holy people.

To look at unwholesome images & watch stupid movies, this garbage must travel through other homes and people in order to arrive to your device.

So all this lashon hara, filth, and frivolousness penetrates the homes & beitei midrash of these holy people.

And because they are so clean & pure, the tumah affects them more.

It's sort of like a population never exposed to certain diseases, so they lack immunity to those diseases.

Yet when suddenly exposed to those diseases, infection & death runs rampant in this formerly healthy population.

Likewise, on a spiritual level.

As Rav Schwartz explains:

We need to understand that our very existence as we live in this generation is infected by the harmful spiritual effects that this invisible radiation [Wi-Fi] has on us, because we are all living within the invisible field of this tumah that fills every space.

Therefore, there is no one who can be saved from it totally, and therefore it is able to harm anyone, whether they are tzaddikim or whether they are not tzaddikim.

That is why the souls of tzaddikim are broken and gasping from this tumah.

In addition, there is the unfathomable way Hashem runs the world, which ALSO lies behind the infection & deaths of such great people.

(Meaning, if you focus on the Wi-Fi alone, that's a mistake; it's not the whole reason.)

On page 29, Rav Schwartz recommends reading the Ramchal's Sefer Daat Tevunot to better understand the spiritual dynamic & how to respond.

Uh-Oh...Whoops...

So that's some very bitter food for thought.

Intellectually, we know that when we sin, it harms ourselves (even if we don't immediately perceive it) and it collectively harms our Nation (by adding more sins to the National scales, weighing down on the side of Heavenly Judgement rather than Heavenly Compassion).

But did we know that when we invite a non-Torah wave to our device, it passes through the space of very good & spiritually sensitive people, harming them directly?

Those Wi-Fi waves infested with lashon hara, kefirah, time-wasting, and pritzut infiltrate the personal space of these holy people.

I never considered that.

How Quarantines Increase Spiritual Contamination

Spiritually speaking, this may be why quarantines ironically bring about an upswing in infection.

Yes, it LOOKS like all the post-quarantine renewed interaction spreads the virus, but people are tested less in quarantine (because they're not going out for tests).

Once people get out more, they also get tested more.

And this means more positives (if the tests are genuinely accurate, of course).

Though some people utilize the lockdowns to improve themselves spiritually, many turn to their Internet devices to relieve boredom & distract themselves from anxiety.

In other words, a person who might normally walk or drive to work (which prevents him from surfing) and then sits at a cash register or goes around fixing electrical issues in homes, or teaches a class (where he also cannot connect to fake news or videos of the best football moments of 2020)...this person in quarantine now spends all that time on the Internet, which increases the spiritually harmful Wi-Fi traffic.

And wouldn't it be nice if we were all only learning Toras Avigdor or Torah Anytime or Bilvavi via these devices during the quarantines...

But many people waste time (or worse) on their devices.

This means that MORE foolishness, MORE pritzut, MORE lashon hara, etc., are traveling via Wi-Fi through homes during a lockdown.

In other words, quarantine increases spiritual contamination via Wi-Fi even as it lessens spiritual contamination in other venues (because people cannot go to bars, discotheques, football games, and movies).

Touching on the Most Effective Responses to Coronavirus

So tachlis, what can we do?

Rav Schwartz mentions several responses, all interconnected:

Mesirut nefesh (self-sacrifice)
Self-nullification
Focus on holy individuality
Develop "warm" relationships as opposed to "cold" relationships

This is all in addition to increasing prayer, Torah study, tzedakah, and chessed.

I'll be discussing the above (except self-nullification) in future posts, but please remember that Rav Schwartz emphasizes progressing according to your own level.

But just to touch on some of the solutions:

Regarding mesirut nefesh: What's mesirut nefesh for you might not be mesirut nefesh for someone else.

Think about wherever you're holding. Rav Schwartz recommends to start by taking one thing you find difficult & overcome it.

Even just a small amount of mesirut nefesh regarding one thing makes a huge difference.

One aspect of holy individuality means to focus on learning those parts of Torah closest to your heart. What are you really attracted to learning?

If you're a man, it doesn't mean to give up your learning schedule or yeshivah studies completely, but if you've always felt a hankering to delve into Sefer Yeshayahu or Orchot Tzaddikim or Chessed L'Avraham, then now's the time.

As Rav Schwartz advises on page 52 (with a special emphasis on learning in quarantine):

How to actually balance your learning schedule is a matter that differs with each person.

The inner way to go about this period is to receive vitality both from learning in-depth Gemara as well as from learning sefarim you enjoy, in a way that is pleasant and calming, as much as you can.

As stated at the beginning, it's best if you to read the entire PDF yourself to get whatever you individually can get out of it (which will be different in some respects from what I get out of it, due to the innate variance of "holy individuality").

And future posts will discuss other aspects of the PDF.

In His Great Compassion, may Hashem please bring the Geula sweetly & swiftly.

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What are the Medical Facts & Spiritual Truths behind the Face-Mask Phenomenon of Coronavirus?

28/7/2020

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A couple of weeks ago, a delightful reader sent me the latest English translation of Rav Itamar Schwartz's Q&A regarding these Corona Times.

You can read/download it here:
Bilvavi.Corona.Q.and.A.pdf

And WOW — truly amazing & beneficial insights abound.

It has been simmering in my mind since I read it.

There's a lot to say about it, but it was Rav Schwartz's discussion of masks that hit me between the eyes.

Let's Get Cynical for a Moment

As regular readers know, I've been rather cynical about the whole effectiveness of face masks.

Why? Because:

People aren't wearing effective masks (my understanding is that only the N95 masks really protect others from your germs).

People do not wear the masks effectively (i.e., there are all sorts of gaps around the mask, the pores are bigger than the coronavirus, etc.).

People are not using the masks hygienically with regard to themselves or others. (More on that later below.)

People receive no instruction on removing the masks sterilely and therefore, do not remove them without the risk of infecting themselves & others.

In general, you cannot trust people to follow hygiene properly. Even hospitals unintentionally infect & sometimes kill their patients via laxness in hygienic practices.

Yes, it's true: Even hospitals accidentally infect & even kill their patients via laxness by hospital staff in hygienic practices.

1 in 31 hospital patients suffer at least one healthcare related infection (CDC).

In Europe, it's 1 in 20 (source).

Another study found that staff at the University of Arizona Medical Center washed their hands 90% of the time.

Even with the problems carrying out that study (people perform better when they know they're watched), I really don't understand why it's not 100%. I soap-wash my hands automatically at home after touching just raw meat or fish, and all sorts of other reasons (without being OCD about it, BTW) — all the more so, if I worked with sick & vulnerable people.

Also, when I volunteered at an American hospital, they emphasized exactly how long to wash hands (for the time it takes to sing Yankee Doodle), exactly how to do so, and emphasizing that wiping hands with clean paper towels removes even more germs after the hand-washing.

And they emphasized how important hand-washing is overall.

So why only 90%, especially after such training & explanation?

Also, as stated above, the data collection is iffy because when people know they're being observed, they perform better.

A study from the Greenville Healthcare System in South Carolina used secret cameras & discovered hand-washing compliance as low as 54%.

Worldwide, only 40% of doctors & nurses wash their hands as they should. (source)

In Australia, 64-84.7% of doctors & nurses wash their hands as they should. (source)

This is despite the availability of hand-cleaning equipment, posted reminders, their training, and their knowledge.

And these are your trained medical professionals.

All the more so, your average non-medical professional will be lax.

Likewise, with masks.

The Problem with Mask Enforcement

You cannot trust people to wear masks properly.

And if you look around to see what masks people are wearing, whether they're wearing them effectively, and if you have any idea how much people are reusing masks WITHOUT washing or sunning them to kill germs, then you know that many people are NOT wearing their masks effectively.

And just for knowing, I came across studies in which a minority of surgeons refuse to wear masks during surgery because they felt it endangered the procedure due to feeling faint & not being able to see well (source).

(This study clearly contradicts what many doctors in the media, including the frum media, say.)

So...yeah.

Furthermore, I sometimes experience severe breathing shortage & MUST remove the mask, especially after climbing stairs outside.

If I have the wire closed properly over the bridge of my nose, I absolutely cannot breathe enough.

So I don't close the wire. Instead, my vision is impaired.

And that's my major & unexpected problem with the masks: the inability to see properly.

The mask hampers my lower visual perception, which affects crossing the street & other aspects of daily life.

For example, I take my 5-year-old on the bus to school.

To keep track of him, I need to bend my neck all the way down to see him over the mask, which then hampers my peripheral vision of other things or people around me.

You can pooh-pooh it if you want, but managing on a crowded bus with my child, other people's children & strollers (which demand both lower visual perception & side visual perception) has become very stressful because looking straight down at a 90-degree angle prevents me from seeing properly anything to the side (and makes it even harder to breathe, incidentally).

At one point, I even sat down right on the leg of a 7-year-old (who had his leg on the seat to save it for his big brother) because I did not see his leg.

Yes, of course I saw the child and I DID look to see if anyone was sitting next to him!

I did!

However, I did not bend my head so that my chin was touching my collarbone, which is what I needed to do to see the actual seat upon which lay the child's leg.

(Fortunately, he was more startled than hurt and very nicely forgave me.)

Mask-free, you can see all around you just by tipping & swiveling your head slightly.

But with a mask covering your nose, you need to make exaggerated motions, which allow you to see only a limited area at a time.

Furthermore, studies involving surgeons & other healthcare professionals show that wearing masks for prolonged periods cause:

"significantly different temperatures and humidity in the microclimates of facemasks, which have profound influences on heart rate and thermal stress and subjective perception of discomfort." (source)

headaches (source)

rash (ibid)

impaired cognition (ibid)

In Israel, bus drivers must wear masks, but I noticed that many do not cover their nose, which is smart because bus drivers certainly need their lower visual perception!

So why do I wear a mask?

Why are We Wearing Masks? More Insights & Facts...

I wear a mask because:

I don't enjoy confrontations with police & the resulting fines.

Several very big rabbis said to follow these guidelines, and some even used very strong language against those who feel differently. (More on that in a minute.)

I know a lot of people feel distressed around someone who isn't wearing a mask.

(They are uninformed OR they know people who suffered complications/death from COVID-19, so the threat feels very real OR they suffer understandable anxiety about the whole situation in general.)

I can talk to Hashem outside in public without anyone knowing because no one can see my mouth moving.

Now let's look at why many rabbis insist on masks, even to the point of using very strong language (as if the masks really do save lives), despite the facts on the ground.

Consulting with Smart Yet Unaware Professionals: Why So Many of Our Own Insist on Unquestionable Adherence to Questionable Guidelines

Most rabbis get their medical information from highly reputed doctors.

That sounds logical & responsible, right?

Many rabbis do not read medical abstracts (like the ones sourced in this post). Instead, they rely on trusted physicians to inform them.

And this sounds like a very reasonable short-cut to acquiring impeccable information, right?

After all, these doctors are shomrei Torah & mitzvot, have likely displayed their integrity by performing chessed for people in the community, and are top-notch professionals in their area.

Again, it's a very logical & responsible short-cut.

But doctors are people too & may be out of touch or lack certain facts or lack sensitivity.

For example, I've read a couple of interviews with frum doctors who act like wearing a mask is no big deal.

"I wear one all the time!" is one phrase that pops out. "For years!"

The ones promoted in the media express discomfort regarding masks (except the problem of glasses steaming up) — despite the evidence presented in the study above, which shows that surgeons clearly experience discomfort & physical symptoms while wearing a mask.

And they aren't moving around much in surgery.

Also, doctors are not typically on their feet outside maneuvering streets, stairs, and buses in the summer heat surrounded by small children, strollers, and shopping bags.

They go from air-conditioned homes to air-conditioned cars to air-conditioned work environments and back again.

Inside, they can take elevators instead of stairs while wearing a mask.

And unless they're working the ER at a very busy time, they probably aren't wearing a mask while pressed in a crowd of people (and trying to manage a small child).

Yet according to the above studies, doctors & nurses DO experience discomfort and even problematic HEALTH issues while wearing masks — something these media-promoted doctors either deny or omit.

And even in these controlled environments, a survey of nurses DID complain of breathing & communication difficulties, nausea, and visual challenges (source).

One nurse even withdrew from the study because she could not tolerate wearing the mask after only 30 minutes — and she wasn't on a crowded bus or climbing stairs in the heat.

That right there should pull the rug out from under all the doctors who boast "IIIIIIIIIIII wear the ask aaaaall the time with nooooo problem — so you should too!"

We're all different with different physiology.

Obviously, one nurse could not tolerate the mask for more than 30 minutes while others could manage (uncomfortably) for hours.

To better understand the "we're all different" theme, let's look at the people who care for the elderly, which also entails changing adult diapers.

They do this all day every day.

Does that mean you or I could do that job?

If elderly care-takers said, "Well, I do it all the time, so that means you can too," would that be an appropriate or convincing argument for all of us to take on the task of changing adult diapers?

(And it distresses me to see 7- or 8-year-olds on the bus wearing these masks. They don't look well & it's obviously unhealthy for them. I really question both the compassion & the seichel of the people who decided that such young children must wear these things for so long.)

Furthermore, do doctors really NOT know that people are NOT wearing the proper masks AND not wearing them properly?

Oddly, it seems most doctors do not know this.

Some do know, but many apparently don't.

Do they really not know that the average person is not & will not be hygiene-compliant about masks?

I mean, they know that in their own work environments, the rules of hygiene are not followed nearly as well as they should. So why would they assume than an untrained & less knowledgeable population would do any better?

For example, all those cloth masks (with iffy effectiveness, considering the tiny size of the coronavirus): Do doctors think they are being sanitized properly after EACH use?

They're NOT being sanitized.

They're really not!

Even when told about germs and the whole shebang, a lot of people either refuse or forget to wash or sun their spiffy logo mask after each use. Or even after 20 uses.

(Yuck, I know.)

The same is true for those standard-issue blue-white masks.

People repeatedly re-use them without cleaning them.

Back to the doctors: I do not think these doctors are KNOWINGLY dishonest.

But for whatever reason, they seem completely unaware of the facts on the ground.

And so, with good intentions combined with a serious a lack of awareness, they advise their rabbis in the way that they do.

And if you're wondering why I'm listening to the rabbis who are listening to these doctors whom I consider out of touch, it's because it's min haShamayim that these doctors are saying what they do & that these rabbis are listening to davka these doctors.

As you'll see below, Hashem could provide them with a different message if He wanted.

And indeed, some rabbanim receive a different message.

For example, a caring reader sent me a link to a psak from the Shaarei Shalom Beit Din in Beit Shemesh signed by Rav Pinchas Shapira and Rav Yisroel Meir Veil. Therein, they mentioned "numerous testimonies" brought before them, which show that wearing a face mask "is not at all necessary from a medical standpoint; it's hevel v'tohu (meaningless)." (source)

And at this point, you are probably legitimately wondering what this all has to do with Rav Schwartz's latest PDF...

Rav Schwartz Speaks the Truth about Masks

If you turn to page 106 in the Bilvavi Corona PDF, you'll see a question with the assumption that people not wearing masks are doing so for spiritual reasons.

Yet Rav Schwartz immediately answers...no.

For most of the non-mask-wearers, it has nothing to do with one's spiritual level.

The non-compliant people are simply aware of OTHER medical opinions.

That's what the rav says.

Also, he acknowledges: "...health experts disagree" — exactly!

Rav Schwartz is one of the very few I've heard acknowledge this.

(Please also note that this PDF came out before the psak din and some questions were dealt with as much as a month or 2 ago, going on the information available back then.)

I've no idea how Rav Schwartz knows that health experts disagree, whether he consulted with the right people or acquired the abstracts of key studies.

Either way, he clearly has access to accurate information.

Then the rav emphasizes the importance of not distressing others. It's true.

Some people who are understandably very distressed when people do not wear masks around them.

(Even though, as described above, people are both not wearing effective masks & not using them hygienically.)

It's important to be considerate of people's feelings. Rav Miller explained this at length in his dvar Torah regarding ona'at devarim.

And as explained above, Rav Schwartz acknowledges that "wearing a mask is both helpful and detrimental."

He knows! He knows!

He also adds (underline mine):
"If a person is careful when it comes to hygiene and he makes sure to keep changing the mask for a new one, then wearing a mask is very helpful, especially in a quarantined section."

He further notes that the real issue of a mask is to avoid infecting others (something not understood by many people initially), and that we must not be holy or clever on the cheshbon of others.

It's true that in a group situation, wearing a fresh non-valve N95 mask PROPERLY will make the environment safer for others.

(Most people either won't or can't, but if they would & could, then it's true.)

The emphasis being on OTHERS, since as demonstrated above, wearing a mask harms the wearer, especially while going about daily life.

(And as shown above, it also harms small children when adults can't see where they're sitting, and plop themselves down on the leg of an innocent child.)

Everything the rav said showed real awareness of facts on the ground (like how people are re-using masks and not being careful with hygiene).

On page 110, Rav Schwartz notes the importance of paying attention to experts' guidelines and following them on a halachic level.

Real experts are people who actually know what they are talking about.

Rav Schwartz also does not advise following government rules blindly.

For example, on page 111, Rav Schwartz replies to such a question by saying, "We would need to clarify how much of a risk of danger there is, and accordingly we can then know how we should act halachically."

What I really appreciate and benefit so much from Rav Schwartz is his focus on deliberation and consideration.

There is no knee-jerk response here. There's no fear.

Somehow, he has made himself aware of the actual facts.

And halacha is premier.

Furthermore, on page 16, Rav Schwartz provides an intriguing spiritual insight into the decree of wearing masks (which though imposed on us by authorities of questionable character, it originates from Above):

The mask reminds us of the Sin of the Golden Calf (the basis of which still affects us today & needs to be rectified).

By covering the mouth & the nose, the mask hints at the state of This World being covered over in preparation for revelation of the Next World.

B'ezrat Hashem, I'll be discussing other issues mentioned in this PDF.

Also, the PDF shows how the people associated with Rav Schwartz ask such good questions, questions that are on all our minds, and questions that show genuine awareness of "facts on the ground."

And there are so many pertinent points to learn from Rav Schwartz, plus points for doing teshuvah.

A big yashar koach to Bilvavi.

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Is Vitamin D the Medical Key to Fighting Coronavirus?

12/5/2020

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I just received from Miriam Adahan's email subscription that there's evidence of vitamin D's effectiveness against Covid-19 virus.

She included 3 articles showing that no one with high levels of vitamin D has died from coronavirus.

Here's one of them:
Vitamin D Linked to Low Virus Death Rate Says New Study

Based on her research, Miriam Adahan recommends:

Take 3-5000 IU Vitamin D3 daily with about 70 mg. K2 for absorption.

UPDATE: K2 also helps protect against blood clots, which has occurred frequently in the lungs of coronavirus victims.

Avoid all sugar (white flour & white sugar), since sugar suppresses the immune system.

While this blog has focused on the spiritual source and antidote for COVID-19, I feel it's irresponsible of me to completely avoid mentioning the derech-hateva solutions.

After all, when I'm not feeling well, I don't just pray and do teshuvah; I also take vitamins & herbs, perform acupressure, and also take ibuprofen if absolutely necessary.

Here's wishing everyone vibrantly good mental, spiritual, and physical health!

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The Yetzer Hara against Heartfelt Tehillim and Tsniyut: The Challenges & How to Win Your Own Battles

6/5/2020

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If you think about it, the influence of the yetzer hara is truly bizarre.

For example, if you make a slow, thoughtful bracha with real kavanah before eating, the food tastes so much better.

Saying a heartfelt bracha before eating enhances both our physical & emotional pleasure.

Yet we struggle to remember to say a bracha with kavanah, and many brachot are said by rote with little awareness of what we are saying.

Yet the 15 seconds it takes to say a really geshmak bracha which enhances the taste of the food — that's too difficult? Not desirable enough?

It's irrational if you think about it, yet extremely common.

I really noticed this when I started saying 1 perek of Tehillim a day with heartfelt kavanah. (You read about how that started here: Saying Tehillim: Getting Back to the Barest Basics.)

Not only did I say the Tehillim with careful kavanah, but also felt a desire to go through it again and discuss it with Hashem each time.

Needless to say, it is an enjoyable & meaningful experience.

Really taking my time over each verse and using the Metzudah translation & explanation, plus sometimes the classic commentaries, I'm finding new meaning in verses I've been saying for decades, including verses I thought I already understood well.

For example, Tehillim 19 came to vibrant life in a completely new way — as if I'd never read it before.

The experience is absolutely delicious.

I haven't timed how long each perek takes, but I think it's around 10-15 minutes.

Yet surprisingly, I found myself skipping it completely a couple of times.

Or sometimes, I only managed to say it right at the end of the day.

And I found myself saying, "I couldn't find the time" or "The day just flew by and I never managed to do it."

Really? Throughout an entire day, I never had 15 minutes to spare? Or maybe even 5 to just say the Tehillim with kavanah without the follow-up discussion?

It's true that some days are jam-packed and we don't have a moment to think, let alone sit down and do something meaningful.

But the realization hit that I was pushing it off because it felt "heavy." There was an emotional difficulty to it.

So if it's so short, easy, and deliciously satisfying, why not rush to do it the moment I have even a minute of spare time?

How could something so deliciously satifying feel "heavy"?

Yetzer hara.

It ruins everything.

It makes even the most enjoyable things look like a drag UNTIL you actually do them!

Mysterious Anti-Tzniyus

Another huge, yet totally irrational yetzer hara is the one against tsniyut (dressing and behaving in a dignified, modest manner).

Men are obligated in tsniyus too, but women even more so.

(Just like how men are obligated more in certain mitzvot, like praying in a minyan regardless of weather or convenience, keeping his payos even when he's balding & would like to shave it all off like all the really cool secular and non-Jewish guys do to cover their balding, wearing tzitzit no matter how hot it is outside, etc.)

Rebbetzin Heller once mentioned an old photo she saw of herself and her friends in their younger days. They wore skirts that weren't long enough (fashionable in that decade), so they are pulling them down in the picture, maybe sitting kind of cramped to really cover those knees, and are wearing the big clunky shoes fashionable then.

They looked awful, she thought (maybe not her exact words, but approximately). Yet at the time, they were very into dressing like this back then.

And this is so often true of non-tsniyus clothing.

A lot of immodest clothing looks bad or makes us look bad, yet some are mosser nefesh to wear this, spending extra money and risking their Olam Haba (not to mention social disapproval in some cases or problems with her school) for this.

Around 20 years ago, short narrow stiff shirts came in style. They didn't look good on anyone because it made the body look awkward and disproportional.

Also, most women are pear-shaped and the hem of the shirt hit right before the hips, which is unflattering to most and really not modest or dignified.

They didn't even look good on slender girls because of the shirt's shape.

Interestingly, I noticed that the shirt only looked good on short plump girls because they needed the shirt a few sizes bigger, which made it the right length on them and was no longer disproportionate.

It was such an ugly and untsniyus style (especially the short length), I thought it would go out of fashion quickly. But to my surprise, it hung around for about 15 years!

I rarely found a top I could wear during that time.

It also wasn't tsniyus unless you wore a very wide skirt, but even then...

If the wearer bent over at all, the back of the shirt slid up, which revealed the completely forbidden torso area.

If the wearer raised her arm at all, the shirt also often slid up too far.

Once, I was on the bus behind a beautiful young woman, obviously frum. Her hair, nails, and posture announced that she cared very much about looking just right and that she invested a lot of effort in looking good.

When she stood up to go, she leaned over to pick up the bag on the seat next to her (which means she wasn't even bending over so far), yet the shirt went up so much, I was really shocked...

...to see what a hairy back she had!

I had never seen such a hairy back on girl before, a layer of such thick black hairs for a girl, and didn't know that such a thing existed.

I felt mortified on her behalf, even though she had no clue she'd just exposed her hirsute back to anyone behind her.

I can't imagine she would've felt fine with that, especially not when her eyebrows were so carefully sculpted with nary a facial hair to be seen either.

If she had any idea that could happen, I'm sure she never would wear such a shirt (or she would at least wear a longer shirt under it).

And I guess it says a lot about both of us that her hairy back (hairiness isn't forbidden at all in halacha) is considered more mortifying than the total breech of tsniyus. (There is no heter for a woman to reveal her torso area.)

See how the yetzer hara totally messes with our minds?

The Low-Down on Skirts

And what about skirts?

Long, wide skirts are infinitely more comfortable & convenient than short skirts — and also more than narrow skirts, even if they have a slit.

Especially if the wearer constantly needs to tug down the short skirt as she walks. Very inconvenient & awkward-looking.

In hot weather, long loose skirts allow the air to circulate and cool the body, which is one reason why Arab men traditionally wear them.

Unfortunately, a skirt came into style a few years ago (and has not yet disappeared) that looks completely tsniyus on the hanger. It's more than wide enough and definitely covers the knee.

The problem is, it doesn't cover much more than that.

Because the hem is flouncy and the skirt is so loose, I think it's hard to tell even when trying it on that it's actually too short.

It's a real optical illusion for a skirt, something I never saw before.

And the slightest breeze or movement causes it to fly up.

So if a girl is even just almost running or if there's any wind, you end up seeing a lot more than you bargained for.

I heard at least one very embarrassing story in which the wind caused this type of skirt to fly up over the girl's face, much to her mortification (because the skirt is wide and not as long as it looks, it catches the wind even when it's not a flimsy fabric).

Yet so many good frum girls & women wear this skirt.

(Note: Wide ankle-length skirts can also fly up in the wind. Pleated skirts are the least likely, as are straight skirts that aren't too narrow. Tsniyus is so individual, it's hard to come up with hard-and-fast rules that apply to everyone. It's very much intuitive, sort of like the female personality.)

Does Corona Hint at a Jewish Woman's Crown?

A lot of married Jewish women really struggle with covering their hair.

A caring & spiritually sensitive reader sent me a link to an article on the great protection provided to a married Jewish woman for covering her hair properly.

The Sun's beautiful corona during an eclipse, along with the "diamond ring effect." Courtesy of By Natarajanganesan - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

(Thank you, caring & spiritually sensitive reader!)

Corona means "crown" or "crown-shaped."

In astronomy, the corona is the gaseous envelope of the Sun, usually only visible during a solar eclipse when the pearly glow of the Sun's corona surrounds the dark disc of the Sun...

...sort of like how a Jewish women's hair-covering surrounds her head.

Interestingly, cameras that can photograph auras also capture an enhanced aura around the covered hair of a married Jewish woman, very much like the stunning corona of the Sun. (Please see The Human Aura for more.)

Also, the Kli Yakar compares righteous woman to the Sun, considering righteous woman as essential to the world's existence as the Sun itself.

(Please see for more about that here The Kli Yakar - Parshat Chayei Sara and scroll down to the end.)

According to the article, the corona of coronavirus hints to the unique protection Hashem endowed women by bequeathing Jewish women with the mitzvah.

And this should give us pause for some thought.

The Good, the Bad, and the Las Vegasy of Hair-Covering

When I was first becoming frum decades ago, a newly married acquaintance showed up to shul wearing a baseball cap with her hair stuffed up underneath.

(A real New York Yankees-type baseball cap, not one of those brimmed hats for women.)

I derided it to an older friend of mine because I thought it so sloppy & undignified in general, and especially inappropriate for shul on Shabbos.

(This was outright lashon hara, by the way, and I should never have said a word about my thoughts. Assur, assur, assur.)

But my older friend stopped me short and said: "No. Covering your hair is HARD. If she's covering her hair, then you cannot criticize her. Some women won't cover their hair at all unless they can wear a baseball cap. So never criticize a woman who is covering her hair al pi halacha. Her hair was actually all covered, right?"

Yeah, it nearly all was, surprisingly, considering that baseball caps aren't really made for that.

"So there's no room to criticize her."

And that was that.

At that point, I hadn't realized that covering hair was so hard for some people, and I especially did not realize that even a frum-from-birth woman (like the baseball-cap-wearer) might find hair-covering a very challenging mitzvah.

But some do.

And whoever doesn't have that particular challenge has her own challenges in another area.

It's good to know this and be more aware of other people's challenges, even though I still don't think baseball caps are dignified headwear for daughters of the King.

But sure, they ARE a million times better than nothing.

(And I think they're also much better than these knock-your-eyes-out long luxurious shaitels.)

For me the idea of covering my hair wasn't hard at all; it was even fun — although when I stopped wearing shaitels, I struggled to find a hair-covering that was convenient to use, looked nice, and was dressy enough to wear to weddings.

That aspect was my hair-covering challenge.

But I never felt I didn't want to cover my hair; I did, but struggled to find the most compatible solution for a couple of years.

When pre-tied headscarves came into fashion, my hair-covering frustrations vaporized as if they never existed. Thanks, Hashem!

But it's true that some women really dislike covering their hair, no matter what.

This is despite the fact that hats, shaitels, and pre-tied scarves are so much easier as far as convenience & maintenance go — much less fuss because they're all ready to go and you don't need to do much except make sure they're not crooked when you put them on.

You don't need to worry about bad hair days (although bad shaitel days do exist, as do days when you just can't tie the scarf evenly or when the pre-tied scarf isn't sewn properly — actually, I'm not coordinated enough to tie a scarf properly so I was always having bad-hairscarf days until the pre-tied came along).

When you cover your hair, you don't need to worry about dandruff, limp hair, dry hair, hair crazy with static, brillo hair, gray hair, or hair-thinning & female baldness.

Redhead women who didn't enjoy being redheads finally found relief when they could don a brunette or auburn shaitel.

When I was still single, I often held my hair back with a scarf (not outside, but if I was reading or cleaning) because my hair bothered me when it hung in my face and a ponytail was too uncomfortable or the ponytail didn't catch all the shorter hairs around my face that were still long enough to bother me. A scarf around my head did the trick.

Also, I remember when a 60something woman took off her shaitel next to me as we were at a shaitel macher together.

I was shocked to see this elegant dignified woman was bald except for a few tufts of hair and then a thick lock of gray hair above her forehead, into which she inserted the little comb of her shaitel to hold it on to her head.

So there are lots of enjoyable reasons about covering hair, but it's true that a great many women find it extremely difficult, emotionally speaking, and find all sorts of reasons why they can't, or why they can't do so properly, or even why they stop doing so after having done so for years.

Please note: I am NOT talking about people who are just getting started in tsniyus and still trying to find their way (sometimes coupled with extreme opposition by friends & family members, especially an anti-haircovering husband).

That's tsniyus-in-progress and NOT the same as someone who is already firmly grounded in frumkeit (whether they're FFB or came to it later) and gets married knowing this is a halachic obligation, yet still gets really upset about it.

The other extreme is the women who spend thousands of dollars on a shaitel that looks exactly like real hair and is styled and colored to knock your eyes out.

Because covering hair is hard, they reason, you need to feel good about it. Like, Las-Vegas-showgirl-good.

Or they mistakenly assume that va-va-voom is a kiddush Hashem.

(Seriously. It's very common for women to think that looking like a total babe is a kiddush Hashem. They mean this in all innocence. Strange how their husbands never try to disabuse them of this notion, which of course the husband, being a man, knows how she really appears in the eyes of others & Hashem. Hmm...)

BTW, really long hair is an incredible nuisance. These elbow-length or waist-length shaitels are clearly yetzer hara because they aren't tsniyus and they aren't comfortable and they're exorbitantly expensive.

Or the shaitels that have tons of hair piled up like a beehive tower. VERY uncomfortable. And exorbitantly expensive.

Meaning, there's no advantage to them except to be eye-catching & turn heads. It's a weird phenomenon.

And just to be fair, let's take a quick look at those who have actual sensory problems with hair-covering: There IS a minority of women whose hair grows in the opposite direction and they experience anything from minor discomfort to actual pain when covering their hair.

This can also go with having a sensitive head; these women struggled when wearing barrettes or headbands as little girls.

This is a genuinely challenging situation. No joke.

They're still obligated, however.

And yes, they need to be more flexible when looking for solutions.

But one woman who wore either shaitels (one of the least comfortable things to wear if your hair grows the wrong way) or berets told me that because her hair grows the wrong way, it's a real mesirut nefesh for her to cover her hair.

She's in constant discomfort.

But she did it. She always did it and she never stopped. And you should know that she is receiving MASSIVE reward just for this.

Believe me, if Jewish Law ordered women to NOT to cover our hair or if it commanded us to wear revealing clothing, we'd complain about how hard it is like:

"I can never have a bad hair day because I'm forbidden to cover my hair so I always have to invest so much to make sure it looks nice!"
"I get so cold when I can't cover my hair!"
"Exposing my hair all the time is bad for it — all that sun dries it out!"
"I'm experiencing female old-age balding, but the rabbis refuse to let me hide it under a head-covering!"
"My really long hair keeps getting in the way; I wish I could restrain it somehow."
"I have really hairy back, yet I'm not allowed to cover it!"
"The pigment and dry skin of my elbows makes them look black and dirty all the time, yet I'm not allowed to cover them — so embarrassing!"

Right?

And that's how the yetzer hara works.

Battling the Yetzer Hara: Try to Focus on What TRULY Provides You with REAL Enjoyment & Satisfaction

True, I don't have a hair-covering yetzer hara, but I have other yetzer haras (like the one trying to stop me from saying Tehillim with kavanah — even just 1 perek a day!).

I have my own battles (like how I spend my time & how I eat), which end up being hour-by-hour battles throughout the entire day.

And the next day, I wake up knowing I have to start them all over again from the beginning.

That's how it is until you win that particular battle and move on to your next level.

We all have this.

In short:

The yetzer hara strives to convince us that something genuinely enjoyable & fulfilling is a drag.

And yetzer hara equally strives to convince us that something annoying, inconvenient, expensive, bad-mood-inducing (like Facebook or any news outlet), and embarrassing is the most desirable thing in the world.

Our job is to embrace what we truly enjoy and find both rewarding & fulfilling despite the obstacles.

May Hashem grant us all the sweet merit to overcome all our battles with the yetzer hara — and especially to know that it's the yetzer hara in the first place!

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How Rav Yehudah Petiyah Stopped the Plague of Baghdad in 1915, and What the Destroyer Angels Revealed to Him

3/5/2020

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In his amazing book, Minchat Yehudah, Rav Yehudah Petiyah discusses a plague that broke out in the year 1915 in his birthplace of Baghdad.

It's found in the chapter entitled Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 26: An Explanation on the Subject of Plague & How It Occurs in the World, Rachmana Litzlan.

Before we delved into that mind-boggling saga, it's important to understand something about Rav Petiyah.

Despite the fact that he always comes off as a gentle, sweet grandfather, he was also a tremendously holy talmid chacham and mekubal.

He developed such closeness to Hashem that he faced even the most terrifying situations with serenity.

So when he enters into conversations with entities like malachim mashchitim (destroying angels) or the angels in charge of tormenting souls sentenced to the dreaded Kaf HaKaleh (The Slingshot — an afterlife punishment worse than Gehinnom/Hell), it's important to understand that we would find these beings absolutely terrifying if we encountered them.

They seem rather nice and sympathetic when he interacts with them, but that's probably not how our experience would be at all — because we aren't at Rav Petiyah's level of holiness.

Rav Petiyah is also incredibly humble, so he doesn't mention that these entities respect him because of his great holiness & righteousness.

But that's the reality behind the scenes of how he humbly portrays himself in these real-life accounts.

So with that in mind, let's look at Rav Petiyah's encounter with the fearsome malachim mashchitim of the 1915 plague in Baghdad...

(Note: The encounter as Rav Petiyah presents it is told here in full, then an analysis and explanation of the events follows at the end, with some explanations interspersed in the middle.)

The Spiritual Epidemiology of an Epidemic

First of all, Rav Petiyah explains the origin of plagues (or epidemics, as we call them nowadays), starting with the following verses and Rashi (Hebrew text courtesy of wikisource).

He wants us to understand the ultimate source before describing what he experienced.

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 26:20:

לֵ֤ךְ עַמִּי֙ בֹּ֣א בַֽחֲדָרֶ֔יךָ וּֽסְגֹ֥ר דלתיך דְּלָֽתְךָ֖ בַּעֲדֶ֑ךָ חֲבִ֥י כִמְעַט־רֶ֖גַע עַד־יַעֲבׇור־זָֽעַם

Lech ami bo bachadarecha usgor d’latcha ba’adecha chavi kimat rega ad ya’avar za’am. Ki hinei H’ yotzeh mimkomo lifkod avon yoshev ha’aretz alav, etc.

Go, My people, come into your chambers and close your door about you; hide for but a moment, until the wrath passes.

During the current global quarantines, this verse has been quoted a lot...and for good reason.

Rashi on this verse explains that "your chambers (chadarecha)" mean 2 things:

the synagogues and the study houses
to think about your deeds, in the chambers of your heart

Then Rashi explains that "close your door about you" means:

Do good deeds that will protect you.
Close the doors of your mouth so as not to question the divine standard of justice.

And "hide" means:

Hide a little until the wrath passes, for indeed I will visit upon your enemies.

Then Rav Petiyah quotes Yeshayahu 26:21:

כִּי הִנֵּה יְהוָה יֹצֵא מִמְּקוֹמוֹ לִפְקֹד עֲו‍ֹן יֹשֵׁב הָאָרֶץ עָלָיו וְגִלְּתָה הָאָרֶץ אֶת דָּמֶיהָ וְלֹא תְכַסֶּה עוֹד עַל הֲרוּגֶיהָ

Ki hinei Hashem yotzeh mimkomo lifkod avon yoshev ha'aretz alav v'giltah ha'aretz et dame'ah v'lo t'chaseh od al haruge'ah

For behold the Lord comes forth from His Place to visit the iniquity of the dweller of the land upon him: and the land shall reveal its blood and it shall no longer cover over its slain ones.

Rashi says that Hashem comes forth from His Place of the Divine standard of mercy to the Divine standard of justice.

And who is the "dweller of the land"? Rashi says it's either Mount Seir or Esav & Mount Seir or Esav on Mount Seir.

Either way, "dweller of the land" represents Esav, who is the progenitor of Edom.

And the slain ones, says Rashi, are the Jews slain by the "dweller of the land" – whom Rashi identifies as connected to Esav.

It also bears noting that the Hebrew word used here for "iniquity" is avon (ah-vohn) with an ayin, which the Malbim defines as "a sin derived from corrupted thinking."

With all that in mind, Rav Petiyah states that his opinion that verse 26:20 refers to a time of plague.

Referring to Bava Kamma and the Arizal's Sha'ar Hakavanot, Rav Petiyah delves into an explanation of how vital Hebrew letters of Hashem's 4-letter Name go missing because of avon (a sin derived from corrupted thinking).

And this is also the secret of Pitom HaKetoret.

(It was too complex for me to understand well enough to explain it here, but that's the process in a nutshell.)

Anyway, when these letters go missing, their illumination dims and then dever comes into the world.

Dever is often translated as "pestilence."

It can affect human beings, but we know from the Torah that dever was the 5th plague that killed off the Egyptian animals — so it's a disease that can harm both people and animals.

(Interestingly, that is what many also claim about HIV and also coronavirus, that they infect both humans & animals.)

Anyway, the above (sins emanating from corrupted thinking cause letters of Hashem's 4-letter Name to go missing, which dims its illumination, which brings dever into the world) is apparently the spiritual epidemiology of any epidemic.

And it's all hinted there in Yeshayahu.

Why is It So Important for Hashem to Remain in His "Place"?

Rav Petiyah further explains this is connected to Yechezkel 3:12: "Baruch Kavod Hashem mimkomo – Blessed is the Glory of Hashem from His Place."

This refers to Hashem's Place of Mercy.

As Rav Petiyah states:

For in the time He will be in His Place, He will be blessed and not immersed in anger.

And gleaning from several sources in the Zohar, Yechezkel (Ezekiel), and Zecharyah, Rav Petiyah then refers to the War of Gog & Magog, and how the nations will come against Yerushalayim, saying this will bring dever & megeifah (plague) [emphasis mine-MR]:

And the text announces to us that nothing bad will happen to us, and that it [Zecharyah 14:3]: “And the Lord shall go forth and wage war with those nations” – davka them.

"And now," writes Rav Petiyah, "we come to the matter of mageifah — plague."

The Baghdad Plague of 1915

On the night of Shabbat Yitro, 22 Shevat 5675 (February 4, 1915), Rav Petiyah saw himself in a dream and he went to the eastern side of Baghdad, where all the poor & impoverished live.

Around 100 amot (approx. 170 feet) from there, Rav Petiyah spotted a type of shelter called an achsadra.

This achsadra had no walls, just a roof-covering supported by a pillar in each of its 4 corners.

Under the roof stood 40-50 men in military uniforms consisting of black wool with one finger-width red stripe of wool going along the arm (like maybe from the shoulder to the wrist) and along the collar. The red wool was sewn on top of the black wool.

Rav Petiyah understood that they'd already been inside the city and now they gathered into this achsadra in order to refresh themselves.

Though Rav Petiyah stood around 10 amot (approx. 17 feet) from them, they didn't see him.

Rav Petiyah describes their behavior as follows:

And they were standing and looking and scrutinizing the sides of the city, is if they wanted to know what’s happening in the city and what activity they’re doing there, because in those days there was a plague in the city — may such trouble not arise twice.
***
It seemed to me that those military men — they were the ones who were plaguing & striking the people of the city.

At that point, Rav Petiyah was moved farther away from this military look-out point, and he approached the gate of the courtyard of one of the poor on the eastern side of the city.

Three elderly Jewish poor men stood near the gate.

Rav Petiyah joined them "grieving and sorrowful over the plague."

“Over one matter, I am very troubled," he said to them.

Then Rav Petiyah proceeded to explain that when Am Yisrael had Prophets, and then after the era of Prophecy ended, Am Yisrael merited people with ruach hakodesh or access to a bat kol or dreams that contained true messages...Am Yisrael at least received warning BEFORE being punished.

And if Am Yisrael didn't listen, they at least understood WHY they were being punished.

So they were told by their Prophets or holy people that they sinned or erred, and Am Yisrael was begged to do teshuvah or else Hashem would first reap that punishment on the haters of Israel. Then Am Yisrael would do teshuvah, and Hashem would tear up the terrible decree.

It was all nice & neat, especially in the time of the Prophets.

Rav Petiyah explains all that as he speaks with the grieving elders.

Then Rav Petiyah adjures on behalf of Am Yisrael:

And so in our many transgressions, we lack everything.

And in the coming of some kind of trouble, we don’t know its purpose, and to which way we must turn to cancel the decree.

And we are comparable to the rebbi who oppresses his student and like a father who chastises his child, yet who do not say to him ‘That from the reason that so-and-so sinned, he was stricken.’

Ahh! upon us and upon the badness of our mazal! For we are struck with no warning and without knowledge of the transgression for which we are struck.

And another question for our Lord: If one man will sin, then on the entire community will He display His Wrath?

And what's more: For the people who themselves sin — their homes are peace without fear and the rod of God is not upon them.

And the people who go in unsuspecting innocence [holchei temimei derech] — they are the ones who become trapped in their transgressions…

This was all said by a man of total emunah & trust in Hashem's Goodness.

The above are not words of petulance or resentment.

Rav Petiyah was not concerned for himself at all; instead, he was going on the defense — the defense of his fellow Jews, despite their sins.

In an effort to sweeten the terrible judgement over the city, Rav Petiyah continued in this vein, beseeching on behalf of his errant brethren, until 3 of those black-and-red-uniformed soldiers approached.

Rav Petiyah knew exactly who they were: mashchitim — destructive entities.

Yet he seemed to feel no fear whatsoever.

And they told Rav Petiyah:

Know that the decree of this plague is because there are people who eat neveilot & treifot and meat & dairy in the inns of the gentiles.

And not only that, but also in the inn of a Jew, they cook those forbidden foods.

And what’s more, there are a few people who cook in their homes neveilah & treif meat, and meat & dairy. And behold, even if it is possible to rectify the inn of the Jew, tell us please — are you able to also govern the inn of the gentiles not to cook treif & neveilah meat?

Or the rest of the people who cook these forbidden foods in their homes?

For it is unpreventable.

And if so, what will it help if we will tell them the reason for the plague? And therefore, the letters mem-alef-chaf-lamed (מאכל) are made in the combination mem-lamed-alef-chaf (מלאך) – the destroyer of the nation [mashchit ha’am].”

Note:

mem-alef-chaf-lamed (מאכל) spell out ma'achal — food
mem-lamed-alef-chaf (מלאך) spell out malach — angel

There are pleasant angels and not-so-pleasant angels.

These are malachim mashchitim — destroyer angels.

Also, treif is an unkosher animal or unkosher mixture (like meat & dairy together) and a neveilah is an animal — including of the kosher variety — that did not undergo kosher slaughter, like the carcass of an animal found somewhere that died of old age or illness.

Interestingly, the malachim mashchitim seem to also accuse those gentiles who operate non-kosher public places.

Why would that be?

A non-Jew commits no sin when he eats treif or neveilah, as long as it's not the limb from a living animal.

It seems to me (and I could be wrong) this implies that non-Jews have a responsibility not to knowingly feed Jews non-kosher food.

In those days in that location, Arabs certainly knew the difference between Jews and themselves by sight. Furthermore, they well knew the prohibition on Jews against eating non-kosher meat or mixtures.

Yet they served them this food anyway.

True, they think it's fine because they feel their religion supersedes ours, but that is always the case when we sin because people don't sin unless they justify their acts & beliefs to themselves.

Or, as the Malbim defines avon, we suffer from corrupted thinking.

Yet it's still avon and punishable.

In other words, distorted thinking is no excuse. We have a responsibility to at least try to seek the truth.

In reply, Rav Petiyah (who is always on our side) suggests: "So why not just kill those people that eat these forbidden foods?”

Right! Why should the innocent suffer needlessly?

But these destroyers have their reasons. They answer:

Know, that even though we are called "destroyers [mashchitim]," with all that, we still have compassion, and we have mercy on the creatures.

And the matter is that all those same people who eat treif & neveilot, meat & milk — all their names are written by us. And death has already been decreed on them if they don’t do teshuvah.

And the rest of the human beings who sin in the rest of the transgressions and sins — they aren’t listed with us.

But if we’ll meet them on the way, we have permission to strike them -- or not to strike them, as it is written: ‘His iniquities [avonotav] shall trap the wicked man [rasha], and he shall be hung with the ropes of his sin [chata’o]’ (Mishlei 5:22). And about them it is said, ‘…and some perish without justice [mishpat]’ (Mishlei 13:23).

And here, if we strike and slay only those written in our notebook, won’t it be enough for them one day or two days to slay all of them? For behold their judgment is already decreed and signed.

And there is no court trial Above; we must still sit and examine their judgement. But if we’ll do so, to cause them to die in one day or two days, you must know that most of the people of the city will die from fear & shock, and will not achieve their allotment of life.

But from our great compassion that we have mercy on the creatures, we strike also the rest of the people who are not written in our notebooks, but whom most of them have transgressions.

Indeed, since death is not decreed upon them, only that we met up with them, so we need a Heavenly court trial to sit and examine their judgement, whether they are worthy to die or not.

And during all the continuation of time of scrutinizing the judgement, that very destroyer cannot destroy any of the living, even from among those written in his notebook, until the Heavenly Tribunal will complete the verdict of that same man.

And it turns out that this way or that, not so many human beings will die.

And also those same people who are inscribed for death — it’s possible they’ll do teshuvah. And their decree of judgement will be torn up and they won’t die. And also the rest of the human beings will not die from great fear and panic.

That is our way and our custom for the good of the creatures.

With all their talk about their notebooks and their lists, I keep picturing these destroyers carrying around yellow legal pads on clipboards.

But that's probably not what their pinkas (notebook) looked like.

The malachim mashchitim then explain to Rav Petiyah:

And behold, last week on Thursday, 20 Shvat (February 4, 1915), Hashem rained down hail in the city because switching the letters of dever (דבר) leads to the combination barad (ברד)[hail].

Therefore, we assembled here in the achsadra until we’ll see what the rectification of the city will be.

So that is a valuable connection to know:

dever — dalet-bet/vet-reish — pestilence
barad — bet-reish-dalet — hail

And then the maschitim take a breather to reassess the situation and see what the city's tikkun will be.

Then they provide Rav Petiyah with proof that this whole experience is not just a dream:

They inform him that he and the 2 men with him will speak with a man who eats neveilot & treifot and that Rav Petiyah and the 2 men with him will warn this sinner not to eat neveilot & treifot anymore.

If this sinner will totally reject the warning and refuse to stop, the mashchitim instruct them to tell the sinner, "Since you have rejected our words, we decree upon you that in this-and-such day at this-and-such hour, you will be struck with the plague. And at this-and-such hour, you will die.’

"And," conclude the mashchitim, "you’ll see that it will be so, no more & no less. And in this way, you’ll know that this dream is true.”

At that point, the maschchitim turn away from Rav Petiyah and exit from the city, along with all their comrades-in-arms.

Phew!

Yet as they did so, another 120 destroyers came to assist the first destroyers to strike the people of the city.

Uh-oh.

But when they saw that the first destroyers themselves were going out, these newly arrived 120 were surprised and said in a whisper, “If so, then for what did we endure the rigors of the way to come and help the first destroyers after they also are going out of the city?”

Why did they whisper? And it is news to me that these spiritual entities endure the rigors of journey to arrive at their appointed destination — much like real foot soldiers.

Yet no more is explained.

Rav Petiyah concludes:

And I saw that all of them stood at the eastern gate of the city. Until this point, I saw.

And on Thursday, 4 Adar, 5675 [February 18, 1915], the plague ceased among the Jews even though it still was active among the gentiles.

Now, at this point, probably a lot of questions are popping through your mind.

Or even thoughts like, "Nah, I wouldn't be at all frightened to death by treif-eaters falling like flies — just kill the treif-eaters please and not the rest of us, please! Thanks!"

There's a ton to examine here.

Let's get started by going back to when Rav Petiyah first spotted these destroyer angels dressed as uniformed soldiers in black & red, and how he got the ball rolling by uttering protestations on behalf of Am Yisrael.

How was Rav Petiyah's Protests against the Heavenly Decree Different than Ours? Why were His Protests So Effective?

We are so often taught that accepting suffering with love sweetens harsh judgement.

We know we should thank Hashem for the good along with the bad, because the bad is meant for our benefit too.

Furthermore, many people protest to Hashem about why babies and innocent children suffer.

We are taught that hurling accusations at Heaven can actually bring more suffering.

So why were Rav Petiyahs protestations so effective?

First of all, there is the concept of acting us a sanigor, an advocate on behalf of Am Yisrael.

That's what Rav Petiyah was doing (and what the famous Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev used to do.)

Rav Petiyah wasn't angry at Hashem nor did he think that everything was unfair.

Rav Petiyah profoundly loved Hashem & was well-aware that Hashem profoundly loves us even more.

He wasn't self-righteous or self-pitying. Not at all.

He knew he was speaking to the Most Compassionate and the Most Just.

And that makes all the difference.

What's Up with the Black and Red Uniforms?

This might shed some light on why idolatrous groups err so badly (and are so stupid, let's be honest).

Apparently, the mashchitim do have the capacity for mercy (sort of like real soldiers in the line of duty), so for those people of higher perception who might actually be able to see these entities, it might look like they have more control & power than they do.

The wicked occultist Bila'am could probably see these things, for example.

And it might look like you should plead your case to the entities.

After all, they're the ones holding the gun, so to speak.

But NO.

You may only beg mercy from Hashem. He can sweeten your judgement, cross your name off their list, and so on.

Also, it sounds like they might even get irked if you would turn to them personally without doing teshuvah and turning to Hashem.

So people who turn to entities are making things so much worse for themselves on all levels.

After all, these destroyer angels clearly know the Truth. They know what you should really be doing.

The black & red theme is creepy.

The black & red theme features in occult practice. I don't know much about it nor do I wish to know much about it, but it seems there might be a connection.

For example, research into early Nazism shows that the red flag with the black swastika was chosen for its impure spiritual symbolism.

In other words, the entire Nazi flag, both the Buddhist/Hindu swastika AND those particular colors (red & black) were chosen for their spiritual significance to their Buddhism-loving designer & designed especially for and with input from Hitler, yemach shemo. (Please see Part 10-America's Scary New Direction: New-Age Nazis for more on this aspect.)

Again, my assumption is that misguided seers messing with kochot hatumah (impure spiritual forces) perceived these powerful destroyer angels and wished to connect or identify with them in an effort to absorb their destructive powers.

But again, it's focusing on Hashem's servants rather than on the Creator Himself. They don't have power in and of themselves. And they kept repeating to Rav Petiyah, they speak of themselves of "being given" lists and of "having permission" — they have no power outside of whatever Hashem gives them.

This is a core concept of walking in temimut with Hashem and turning only to Him.

They sound like scary Santas.

Their red and black uniforms (his was the opposite with mostly red with black accents, like a black belt and boots), they know "if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!"

Maybe Santa was originally based on the description by someone able to see a destroying angel, but then was fluffed up for more palatable consumerism.

Actually, yes, I know the concept of Santa goes back much farther and is of pagan sources.

How Striking "Innocent" People is an Act of Compassion

How is striking innocent people a chessed?

A prime reason given by the mashchitim for striking innocent people is that, paradoxically, less people die that way.

Again, their theory is that, in addition to the guilty dying of plague, tons of other people would die of fright — much more than would die by striking both the guilty and the innocent.

(And as they said, the innocent are actually not necessarily so innocent; even if they hadn't eaten treifot & neveilot, they've done other things.)

Plus, because the mashchitim cannot strike another person until the person they struck undergoes his or her Heavenly trial, during which the person might do teshuvah and save themselves, so this actually slows the death rate.

(See? The destroyer angels actually have many limitations placed upon them. They can only function within a certain framework. So thus, we turn straight to Hashem.)

Are you thinking: Oh c'mon. Would more people really die of fright seeing the guilty die than by a mixture of the innocent (who are actually not necessarily so innocent) & guilty die? Of fright? Really?

Here's why I think it makes sense:

First of all, I think that people dying of sheer fright upon seeing the forbidden-food-eaters dropping dead is both culture & the culture of those times.

For example, Middle Eastern people, especially back then, were more emotional & passionate than Europeans. They could get worked up more, especially since the surrounding non-Jewish culture of the Middle East tended to be highly superstitious.

Furthermore, I've read about Europeans from that time period who also got worked up and experienced health problems from fright or anxiety. Hysteria, nerves, and so on used to be common diagnoses.

In fact, when my great-great-grandmother in a European shtetl wrapped herself up in her shawl and went looking for her husband one Saturday night (he hadn't returned after Shacharit because he'd gone to the Rebbe), she saw Mottel the tailor (yes, there was really a tailor named Mottel!) and called out to him, "Mottel, Mottel! Have you seen my husband?"

To her puzzlement, he stared at her in sheer terror, then took off as fast as his feet could take him.

She just shrugged and kept looking.

What she didn't know is that he'd run straight home, stated that he encountered a ghost who sought him out by name, then passed out on the spot.

His family removed him to his bed, where he lay unable to recover for a couple of weeks.

When my great-great-grandmother, hearing that Mottel was desperately ill, managed to bring a pot of nourishing soup to help out, she heard the story of Mottel's desperate state and was able to clear things up on the spot.

(Apparently, Mottel only heard his name being called and not the part about her looking for her husband.)

Needless to say, Mottel made a speedy & complete recovery.

So maybe it's a generational thing, that people got more emotional about things.

On the other hand, let's say that today we would see everyone who ate treifot & neveilot drop dead, chas v'shalom.

Due to the extremely lax & ignorant level of our generation today, the death rate would reach the millions. (Remember, despite the flourishing Orthodox communities, kashrut-observant Jews are still in the minority.)

Probably we would realize the connection on our own, or at least our Gadolim would tell us the reason.

Even more chilling, we would see people we thought were so frum die because they secretly ate bacon double-cheeseburgers.

To make matters even worse, if any of us had eaten treif, even if we'd done teshuvah, we might become terrified that we'd be next, chalilah.

This would be in addition to all the fatalities to deal with on a practical level.

Very stressful.

In modern times, this could be imagined as all who used their Internet for unclean activity just dropped dead — at least, those who weren't in the middle of doing teshuvah for it, I mean.

Again, we might come to the conclusion on our own as people are found slumped over their keyboard or phone with the unclean site still on their screen.

And our Gadolim would tell us too.

People who we thought were so frum would also be found this way, much to the horror & mortification of their families and those who knew them.

And people who have done such activity in the past, even if they've done full teshuvah for it, might die of fright & panic.

So that's a way to understand the logic of the mashchitim during the 1915 Plague of Baghdad.

Granting the opportunity for everyone to do teshuvah

Killing off all the transgressors of a particular sin offers them little or no chance to do teshuvah.

While we tend to focus on a length, high-quality physical life, it's life in the Next World that really matters.

So in addition to shortening life of the transgressor (which is also a type of atonement, but not necessarily a full one, depending) & traumatizing his family, he faces a very disappointing Olam Haba.

Aside from that, as the mashchitim mention, the non-treif-eaters they strike have generally committed other transgressions, yet because they're not listed in the mashchit notebooks, they do not die immediately but undergo a Heavenly trial as they lie sick in bed.

This enables them to do teshuvah on their own sins (if they choose).

Either way, people receive the opportunity to sweeten the judgement and merit the deadly decree torn up, whether they are on the list or not.

Furthermore, by striking those not in their notebooks, this prevents the mashchit from striking anyone else, whether on their official list or not, because they are not allowed to strike anyone else until the non-listed person they struck gets their judgement completed.

Furthermore, what happens to those people who don't achieve their "allotment of life" (archot chayim)?

They cannot achieve the rectifications they were placed here to achieve. So do they undergo Gehinnom? Being born again in another reincarnation?

They were placed in that particular life for a reason and for their own benefit, they must fulfill the purpose for which they were assigned that life.

Regarding the suffering of small children or babies in these events, this often has to do with past-life sins. There are also other reasons and we aren't privy to all the reasons, nor can we understand the reasons, but the reasons exist.

So altogether, this method actually lessens the amount of fatalities.

In other words, despite the harsh decree of plague, there is still mercy happening.

With the Concept of Malachim Mashchitim, the Illogically Orchestrated Quarantines Make So Much More Sense!

"But if we’ll meet them on the way, we have permission to strike them — or not to strike them..."

This...but THIS turned on the light bulb for me regarding the current quarantine.

As noted in previous posts, the current quarantines are neither here nor there.

If this was really something as awful & dangerous as the Black Plague or Ebola, even nations with very strict quarantines (like Israel) should not have had the openings they did, like permission for essentials like shopping, bringing home citizens rather than telling them to shelter in place, or imposing the way-too-short 14-day individual quarantines.

(I went into this in more detail in a previous post: Coronavirus: Facts, Fears, and a Deeper Look at What's Really Going On.)

The quarantines, as stifling as some of them are, aren't enough to protect the truly vulnerable (over-70 AND/OR with underlying medical issues that weaken immunity) because they need NO EXPOSURE WHATSOEVER.

If they face a higher risk of death upon infection, then they should not be exposed at all.

With coronavirus's apparently high contagiousness and the fact that it lives well enough on all sorts of surfaces, granting vulnerable populations the opportunity to shop at certain times (when the virus is still possibly in the employees, in the air and on surfaces affected prior to the special hour) cannot be truly effective.

It might lower their risk a bit, but that's a far cry from eliminating the risk completely.

Secondly, the rest of the population is not really in danger of death or even of a severe reaction to infection. So why impose such harmful measures on people who are not in any statistical danger?

Based on the reports we have up until now, the quarantines seem like they cannot be so effective and are instead mostly feel-like-we-are-doing-something strictures mostly for show.

Furthermore, many people do not show ANY symptoms yet receive a positive result from the test (if the test is even accurate), the masks are mostly ineffective unless you know how to remove them steriley — and even then, the masks work mostly to protect others if you are infected, and don't protect you so much, especially when you bring your mask home to your family and do not remove it steriley.

Furthermore, there are growing indications that a recovered coronavirus infection does not confer immunity.

Meaning, there may be no way to prevent a coronavirus infection. (So the fatalist in me threw up my hands and said, What is the point of even trying?)

Especially because it attaches to & lives on surfaces, there seems no logical way of preventing infection or being rid of it.

HOWEVER, when you look at it as malachim mashchitim taking aim, the neither-here-nor-there quarantines make so much more sense!

The less you go out, the less likely you are to run into such entities.

Viewing the coronavirus pandemic from a purely epidemiological point of view brings about despair & fatalism.

But seeing it from a spiritual point of view, the neither-here-nor-there quarantines make sense because they limit exposure to malachim mashchitim, who are limited in number. Yes, there may be a lot of them, but according to Rav Petiyah's description, there aren't as many as there are germs.

And yes, the malachim mashichitim still have the power to decide whether to strike or not even when they do encounter someone, but it's clearly best to avoid them altogether.

This really helped me to accept the rules against leaving the home. It just makes much more sense this way.

It helped me see how the illogical quarantines were from Hashem, as a way of protecting us.

And now with the quarantines being lifting in many places, maybe that's a sign that the mashchitim are less active in those areas now.

Anyway, according to current reports, coronavirus isn't even a dangerous infection unless one suffers from underlying conditions, making one vulnerable in some way.

Having said that, Rav Miller opined that even with a simple cold virus going around, one should still avoid crowds to avoid getting & spreading even a cold virus.

Personally, I plan to go out now for exercise & errands, but not among crowds, and to take my son to school when his grade opens.

Also, in the account, the mashchitim did not state their criteria for how they decide to strike or not strike a person they encountered.

Maybe if they encounter someone admiring apple seeds (as per Rav Avigdor Miller's advice) rather than someone admiring something more sinful, they're less likely to strike.

So I guess it's a good thing to do teshuvah or think thoughts of gratitude and admire Hashem's world when we do go out.

The Connection between Pestilence & Hail

The connection between dever & barad is valuable to know:

dever — dalet-bet/vet-reish — pestilence
barad — bet-reish-dalet — hail

For a long time now, and especially in the recent year, we've seen some truly bizarre hail events.

Huge and/or frequent hail worldwide — and sometimes in such copious amounts, it ended up looking like big snow drifts on the ground.

Did you know that hail can be a precursor to pestilence?

I didn't.

(In ancient Egypt, the plague of dever preceded barad. Either way, they are clearly connected.)

Eretz Yisrael also received more hail in the past couple of years than I ever remember seeing since I came here over 25 years ago.

Little did we know it was a sign of dever to come...

This also gives us a glimpse into Hashem's Patience.

There was obviously din in the works for years now, but only now has He hit us with an epidemic — and it's not even as awful as epidemics usually are (though that's little comfort to those who have been hit very hard by coronavirus, may the ill merit a speedy & complete recovery and may the mourners be comforted).

Some Final Theories

Some questions still remain, like:

These entities aren't physical. So why did the new reinforcements coming in complain about the toil of the journey? And why do they need to journey, like a march? They aren't physical.
Why did the plague start among the poor & impoverished?
Why, after all those explanations of why they do what they do, did the destroyer troops immediately leave?
Why were the gentiles punished for the Jews' transgressions?
Why did the plague stop among the Jews but continue among the gentiles?

I don't know the answer to the first. The whole idea of them in uniforms and troops, and using an achsadra as their lookout point? Not a clue.

Why did the plague start with the poor & impoverished? The germ theory explains that a lack of hygiene, more common among impoverished & primitive living conditions, causes & increases disease.

But as for a more spiritual explanation, I'm honestly not sure — unless the physical presence of disease conjoins with the spiritual effects too. Or maybe the non-kosher inns were being run by & for the less-well-off residents. Maybe the non-kosher inns resided in the poorer neighborhoods.

And I'm not sure about why they left immediately, despite complaints from the newly arrived reinforcement troops, but I think it's because the din changed.

First of all, Rav Petiyah received exactly what he protested about: He received a true dream in which the transgressions were clearly stated, which would enable Rav Petiyah to inform his community and thus take care of the problem at its root.

With Rav Petiyah on the scene, there was no longer any need for plague among the Jewish community.

But why were the gentiles punished for the Jews' transgressions? After all, a non-Jew can eat treif food & treif mixtures. If, for example, an Iraqi wishes to eat camel meat in yogurt sauce, what is the problem? There isn't any problem. It's permitted to them.

And if the Jew partakes of it, how does the non-Jew share the guilt?

Rav Petiyah doesn't say, but I think it's this:

Arabs & Jews are pretty good at telling each other apart.

Furthermore, Jewish traditions were pretty well known among the non-Jewish community. An Iraqi Jewish woman told me that at the end of Pesach, their Arab neighbors would come to them offering them bags of flour to use for their mimouna celebration the night Pesach ends. She recalled it fondly.

That shows intimate familiarity with the laws & times of Pesach on the part of the non-Jewish community.

Likewise, these non-Jewish sellers would know that they are selling forbidden food to Jews. Maybe they don't care because their religion says these foods are fine, but deep down, the soul knows.

In fact, I knew a young non-Jewish man in the USA who grew up visiting the home of non-frum Jews who kept kosher. When he encountered other Jews whom he saw eating meat & dairy together, he was shocked & would tell them, "Hey, did you know you're not supposed to be eating that?"

It sounds funny, but it's actually a good thing for a non-Jew to do. And it shows an awareness that deep down, we all sense what we Jews are supposed to be doing.

Nowadays, it's not usually possible to tell who is Jewish and who isn't, unless the Jew is in obviously Jewish clothing. Even a last name doesn't mean as much as it used to.

"Sarah" is popular among non-Jews today and with America's 60% rate of intermarriage (which puts typically Jewish surnames on non-Jewish wives & children), a secular-looking Sarah Goldberg is more likely to be non-Jewish than Jewish today.

I personally have cousins with names like Eli (Elijah) Sirotzkin who have a handsome Jewish face like their father, but who are 100% NOT Jewish.

But apparently, if the non-Jew knows he's dealing with a Jew and what the Jew's rules are, then the non-Jew shares responsibility.

Again, it doesn't state that outright in Rav Petiyah's account, so maybe I'm wrong, but I can't think of another reason why the non-Jewish community seemed to be held responsible for the minority of Jews who ate non-kosher by them.

And why did it continue in the non-Jewish community?

Presumably, the non-Jewish community there would not have been open to hearing from Rav Petiyah. Some Jewish Sages did have the respect of their surrounding non-Jewish community throughout the ages, but many times they did not or were not even known among the non-Jews.

Furthermore, the surrounding gentiles may not have been open at all to hearing that their selling non-kosher food to Jews was such a big problem. In fact, that may have made them very angry at the Jews, like, "Why did you come to eat by us if you knew it was forbidden to you?!" and the like, fanning flames of resentment & wrath against the Jewish community.

Also, the non-Jewish community has sins of its own. As the destroyer angels stated, they struck people innocent of treifot & neveilot, but guilty of other transgressions.

Likely, the continued plague also served as reinforcement for the continued teshuvah of the Jews.

Hashem is the Only Address

What do we get from all this?

Ein od milvado — There is NO one but HIM.

It's very important to walk in temimut with Hashem.

He controls everything.

Even when it looks like other people, events, or entities are operating behind the scenes, it's all brought about and orchestrated by Hashem.

In other words, do NOT go around keeping an eye out for entities in black uniforms with red accents. They are controlled by Hashem and their actions actually depend on our actions. So let's keep the Torah as we should!

There are reasons for everything. We don't & can't know them, but they definitely exist.

Even in a state of harsh judgement, there is still mercy & compassion. We may not perceive them, but the mercy & compassion are definitely there.

Teshuvah is so vitally important and SO POWERFUL!

May we all merit to do complete teshuvah from love with no need for trials or disgrace.

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The Stunning Greatness of a "Regular" Jew: 16-Year-Old Tamar Heinman

29/4/2020

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In Tel Tzion in Binyamin, coronavirus struck the Buchris family in an extreme manner: Both parents tested positive for infection, as did 3 of the children.

The father ended up in with a severe response to the disease and was hospitalized & put on ventilation.

The mother, only 2 weeks after her ninth(!) birth, experienced a much easier response to the infection, but still could not be at home.

Even worse, 3 of the 9 children, including the oldest (a 13-year-old girl) who tested positive for coronavirus were also removed from the home, leaving the home without a capable caretaker.

Who would care for the 6 remaining very young children during this pandemic — and only a couple of weeks before Pesach?

That's when 16-year-old Tamar Heinman stepped up to plate.

Tamar also lives in Tel Tzion and when she heard about the desperate situation, she volunteered to go live in the Buchris home and care for the children for as long as necessary.

Not only did this up her risk for infection (remember, the virus remains alive on some surfaces for an extended time), it meant that in addition to caring for 6 young children whom she never met and who don't know her either, she must clean their home & ready their kitchen for Pesach, and also prepare and conduct the Pesach Seder — all by herself.

No help & no reprieve, no matter how tired or stressed she felt.

In an interview that took place outside as Tamar stood on the Buchris porch, Tamar said,

Ultimately, I knew I'll fall ill too...Was I scared? Yes, a little bit. It's corona and everyone's talking about it and everything.

But I'm young and I have, baruch Hashem, a healthy immune system.

I ultimately decided this [her healthy immune system & youth] outweighs that [the certainty of infection] and to come and help and everything. That outweighs the fear.

It's wasn't easy for Tamar.

She needed to be both father & mother to all 6 children from morning until night.

The children didn't know her and she needed to establish gentle, loving authority without the on-hand support of the children's parents (who are in phone-contact with their children, but cannot provide backing any other way).

Tamar's parents helped as much as they could from the outside: laundry, supplies, shopping, etc.

It has been very difficult for them as parents themselves to allow their daughter into such a situation, but Tamar was so committed to the idea of helping, plus the thought of leaving 6 young children on their own was chilling.

Social services also assisted in whatever they could.

In an interview three days before the Pesach Seder, Tamar said,

I knew I would make the Seder night here.

I said it would be sadder if they'd make a Seder without any parents.

I hope everything will work out okay. I'll get sick and...we'll see, with Hashem's Help.

Probably some people think that Tamar took too big a risk.

But she speaks intelligently about the virus, clearly knowledgeable that the death rate (especially in Eretz Yisrael) is pretty low and also affecting only those who are decades older than she, and with underlying health problems.

For what it's worth, I think Tamar's decision to help the family shows good sense, plus tremendous compassion and fortitude.

Ultimately, I hope she merits as shidduch who is as sensible, compassionate, and dedicated as she obviously is, b'ezrat Hashem.

She seems so quiet & tzanuah and just like any other frum girl, but what an amazing person she is!

Also, it's worth noting that Tamar & the Buchris family are not of the same ethnic group. Clearly, they also follow different rabbanim, which includes different customs for Pesach. There's no doubt Tamar received halachic guidance about everything and that local rabbanim made themselves available for any halachic issues that came up, but putting everything together, Tamar shows profound ahavat Yisrael.

Mi k'Amcha Yisrael? Who is like Your Nation Israel?

(BTW, the father is healthy now and I believe the Buchris family is back to normal.)

This was all reported in the Hebrew Hidabroot, except for the information about the father's recovery, which my son heard from a cousin of the Buchris family.

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Coronavirus: Facts, Fears, and a Deeper Look at What's Really Going On

22/4/2020

2 Comments

Note — I always encourage people to do their own research. Feel free do conduct your own search with questions like:

Do gloves help with coronavirus?
How long does coronavirus live on surfaces?
How long does coronavirus hang in the air?
Can masks protect against coronavirus?

You'll see a wide variety of sources come up with scientific studies and (hopefully they really are) expert opinions, which state the same conclusions expressed in this post.

You may also get really frightened & overwhelmed reading all the contradictory statements & theories. (So maybe it's better not to.)

Also, all this is only based on current knowledge. Our knowledge & experience with coronavirus changes, sometimes daily. I think that's part of what's so frightening about it and why it might be better to read less about it, and listen to Torah shiurim (the non-scary ones) instead.

Some Current Facts about Coronavirus

I wanted to revisit (again!) certain issues with coronavirus.

Again, I looked at current reports and what experts claim to know right now — with the awareness that it could all change.

(Heck, even the virus itself is mutating as we speak, although that's apparently normal in flu virus too: Coronavirus Has Small Mutations and Now Has 8 Strains, Doctors Say)

The current quarantines, including the strictest ones (like in Eretz Yisrael) cannot possibly prevent infection with such a contagious disease.

As confining as they are, they simply aren't strict enough to provide real quarantine.

At best, they can postpone infection for a while (whether that means an hour or a couple of weeks), but based on current reports, they are nonsensical.

Here's why:

The 6-Foot Requirement of Social Distancing

Coronavirus can travel up to 13 feet.
A coronavirus sneeze or cough can shoot coronavirus 27 feet.
Coronavirus hangs in the air for 30 minutes after the coronavirus source leaves.

(This means that if you are standing in line or walking behind an infected person, you will encounter their coronavirus germs hanging in the air even if you maintain a 6-foot distance — unless you wait 30 minutes before entering their space. And only if you enter a space you know no one stood for the past 30 minutes.)

Based on the above, please explain how maintaining a distance of only 6 feet from another person will protect against being infected by coronavirus.

Making Allowances for Essential Activities like Shopping

Coronavirus has been detected on copper for up to four hours.
...on cardboard for up to 24 hours.
...on plastic & steel for up to 72 hours.

Please tell me how, for example, granting vulnerable people a special shopping hour just for them in the morning will protect them when the grocery carts, shelving, door handles, containers, cans, cash registers, and the checkout can host coronavirus for 3 days?

And on cardboard cartons for 24 hours?

Thou Shalt Wear a Mask

There are different types of mask with different levels of effectiveness.
Some masks allow viruses through.
Most people either do not know how to wear a mask in the way that prevents the virus from escaping out the side or conversely, entering in the sides.
Most people cannot tolerate the suffocating feeling of covering their mouth & nose (even improperly, but especially properly) for the amount of time it takes to conduct their essential activity (whether grocery shopping or work), rendering the mask less effective.
Masks pick up germs. Even if they do not enter your nose or mouth, they are still there on the mask.
Most people do not know how to remove a mask in a non-infecting manner.
Some reports say coronavirus is transmittable through the eyes, which are not covered by a mask.
Experts say rather than wear a mask, it's best just to avoid disease hot spots (Rav Avigdor Miller says this too.)

Based on the above, please explain to me how people wearing masks is supposed to effectively reduce their chance of catching or spreading the disease.

The truth is, if you interact with another person AND you are wearing the proper mask and wearing it properly, you do reduce the chance of infecting them (except, of course, for the eyeball possibility) and them infecting you. That's why doctors and nurses wear them.

Yet what happens is that most people do not wear them properly and even if they did, they go home and...then what?

Let's say there is coronavirus on the mask. Now what? How do you take it off without getting coronavirus on your fingers? Or in the air? And how do you dispose of it without affecting yourself or your family members?

Doctors & nurses know how to remove the mask. I don't. Do you? And if you do, how many others do you think know?

The other problem is getting people to follow rules, to wear the masks properly and dispose of them properly. Most people simply aren't inclined.

Gloves

Oh, those nice latex gloves — on which coronavirus can live for 8 hours.
Unless you change or wash them frequently, what is the point?

Let's say a glove-wearer touches a metal grocery cart handle (on which coronavirus can survive around 3 days).

Now there is coronavirus on the glove. And when the glove-wearer reaches for a can of peas only to accidentally knock the can next to it, coronavirus is transferred to that can.

Or maybe the glove-wearer places his possibly coronavirus-infected latex on a can of peas only to discover it is a can of asparagus, which he intends to return to the shelf as he continues his search for a can of peas.

Does he immediately rub down the asparagus can with alcohol?

Unlikely.

In general, experts say just to forget about the whole gloves thing altogether. Your hygiene will be much better with frequent & thorough hand-washing.

14-Day Quarantine

At the beginning, no one knew how long a coronavirus quarantine needs to be. 14 days was a dumb & irresponsible idea. 30 days is a lot more logical when you don't know exactly what you're dealing with, and especially if you think it's highly contagious & dangerous.
Case in point: Some incidents revealed an incubation period of 24 days.
A great many people do not show any symptoms when infected with coronavirus (like my neighbor's teenage son), so being in apparent good health after 14 days is no indication.
It's really not at all clear that testing positive for coronavirus confers immunity. There are some people who seem to have caught it twice, but that's not clear either.

Other issues:

They don't even know how to treat it.

Theories abound, but they really don't know. In fact, this sobering new article pinpoints just how much they don't know. New insights are changing the way the treat it (which means they weren't treating it properly before, though they were trying to).

They don't even know if coronavirus infection confers immunity. It looks like it might not, but that hasn't been proven.

So this is all why I had fatalist attitude about it from the beginning.

After all, if it's so contagious and enduring, AND if a person can never receive immunity from it (meaning a person can just be re-infected again & again), then there is no way of ever protecting oneself against it.

Based on the known reported information at present, the only way to seriously hinder a coronavirus epidemic would be to both shut down & shut up everything for at least 40 days.

This means no allowing citizens from abroad to come home and no going out for any reason whatsoever.

Allow time for the virus to die on surfaces.

Allow time for people who are sick (whether they show symptoms or not) to recover & lose their contagiousness.

(40 days may not be enough to cover all cases. You may need 54 days just to be sure.)

You can imagine the desperate consequences this would bring and why it would not be possible to just impose it from the beginning.

For example, many people do not have enough food stored for 40 days. Baby formula, diapers, medication refills...

And what about people who fall seriously ill and need medical attention? Is there a sterile way to transport them the hospital during that time?

And what about when they get to the hospital? We've all heard how doctors & nurses are being infected one after the other.

So you see, a genuinely effective quarantine can't be put into effect without truly desperate consequences that may be worse than the disease itself (for most people).

Don't Confuse Us with the Facts!

But the big conundrum gained from looking at the numbers is that coronavirus simply isn't as deadly for the average person as all the media & government hysteria makes it out to be.

Yes, it does seem to be highly contagious.

But in a recent look into 3 New York hospitals at the condition of those who actually died from the infection, we see that:

57 percent had hypertension
41 percent were obese
34 percent had diabetes

If you do the math, it adds up to 132%, so it's safe to assume that some of these people suffered dual problems, like obesity AND diabetes, for example.

Again, the actual fatality rate is overwhelmingly in vulnerable people (whom we should help & protect).

Yet it's being promoted as similar to the Black Plague, Ebola, or the Spanish Flu.

This can actually cause more death because some places instituted a do-not-resuscitate order in place against mouth-to-mouth on the mere suspicion there might be coronavirus.

People suffering potentially fatal illnesses have been & are being denied proper medical care in order to make way for coronavirus sufferers who haven't even arrived yet!

Fear of coronavirus is already hampering efforts for first-responders to assist in natural disasters, because they're much more cautious how they help, say, tornado victims.

This would make sense in a Spanish Flu pandemic, but not in this current pandemic (based on the current information).

The other pandemics had a terribly high death rate. A lot of suffering also occurred during the illness (and not the no fever, no chills, no coughing, asymptomatic — like with many infected with coronavirus).

Oddly, the Spanish Flu was most likely to kill the strongest of society — young healthy men, making them the most vulnerable group back then.

(Some research indicates that treating Spanish Flu with aspirin exacerbated effects of that disease, and young men were more likely to be given higher doses of aspirin than, say, children. In other words, most doctors didn't know how to treat it properly — sort of like now.)

And I don't know about you, but I'm getting fed up with the overconfident declarations that contradict the previous overconfident declarations.

For example, "experts" initially declared, "Oh, coronavirus doesn't linger in the air; it drops down to the ground!"

Now reports are saying it actually hangs in the air for half an hour.

Initially, we were told that 6-foot social distancing protects from the disease.

But now reports say we actually need at least 13 feet.

Initially, we were told that a 14-day self-quarantine was the oh-so responsible thing to do, but then we discover that really, one should self-quarantine for at least 24 days.

Initially, experts declared that they had a test. Then they discovered their test put out false negatives.

But now, they say, they have a REAL test!

Except that it's mutating and has already developed 8 different strains. But no worries — they have the "right" test for it!

It's so typical of modern science to say, "Oh, yeah, that previous idea was wrong, but NOW we REALLY know!"

And to say it again. And again. And again!

And initially, they were screaming, "BRING US VENTILATORS! WE NEED MORE VENTILATORS!"

And now they're scratching their heads and saying, "Well, gosh. A disturbingly large majority of people on ventilators still died. And the people most vulnerable to lung issues — asthmatics — aren't getting hit so hard with this virus. So maybe ventilators aren't where it's at. What gives?" (source)

They still don't know how to treat it. The malaria drug? Blood thinners? Ventilators? Doing the hokey-pokey?

(I've heard that a steady infusion of vitamin C is the best solution, but who knows if that's true either?)

Yet as described above, despite new knowledge, societies still impose requirements of 6-foot social distancing, masks, etc.

The only way to really make sense out of this is to look at it more spiritually.

And that's where our big rabbanim come in.

Why Our Rabbis are Right

Initially, some of the biggest Israeli Gadolei Hador stated that minyanim should continue, as should yeshivot & schools. They declared this would protect us.

Not long after, they declared support of the quarantine strictures, and a lot of our most prized activities (davening in shul, weddings, learning Torah) either shut down or adapted into a different life form (holding minyanim from porches, etc.).

Are they wishy-washy?

Incapable of looking at the real statistics?

NO.

As already discussed on this blog and in so many other blogs, shiurim, magazines, and more, there are very obvious correlations with the shutdown to a lot of mitzvot & prohibitions.

As a result of the shutdowns, people needed to focus on the true essence of a Jewish wedding.

People needed to make do with a lot less.

Tsniyut (dressing & behaving with dignity), shemirat Shabbat, davening, and teshuvah all improved.

Crime plummeted.

A lot of social ills like theater-going, discotheques, and pop concerts fizzled out.

When we look to the metzora (a person suffering tzara'at from lashon hara), we see he needed to cover his face and keep away from others; he needed to call out in warning to others about himself, "Tamei, tamei — Impure, impure!"

And now, most of us walk around outside like a metzora with a mask. We need to maintain a distance from others. And those that are sick do indeed need to tell their families, "I've been diagnosed with COVID-19. Don't come near me."

And like the metzora who lived in dilapidated conditions, many of us have had a dip in our finances and standard of living.

For many people, Pesach was not conducted according to their usual standards. Without cleaning help, how could it be? Even now, some are forced to manage without their weekly help.

Anything in need of repair at home has been staying that way for many. You may not be able to get a plumber or electrician or repairman to your home right now.

Baruch Hashem, our rabbis have been emphasizing this correlation to the metzora.

Here is a letter from Rav Kanievsky about strengthening ourselves in the laws of speech to fight corona:
https://hamodia.com/2020/03/13/letter-harav-chaim-kanievsky-shlita-coronavirus/
(Sorry it's in Hebrew. Briefly, it mentions strengthening ourselves in lashon hara, rechilut [tale-bearing], the trait of humility, and foregoing honor & being "right" (ma'avir al middotav). Every person who strengthens him- or herself in the above will cultivate merit that will protect you and prevent you and all the members of your household from falling ill.

And Toras Avigdor put out a dvar Torah on Parshat Tazria-Metzora clearly delineating the plight of a metzora and what we are supposed to glean from this:
Parshas Tazria-Metzora 3: Returning to Normalcy

Those are just 2 examples. You've likely come across many more explanations & correlations of what's going on & how to respond spiritually.

But it's more than even that.

"Go, My Nation, Come into Your Chambers...until the Wrath has Passed"

We are supposed to respect derech-hateva realities, like germs.

Hashem put them their, created their effects, and we are supposed respect the rules of basic cleanliness & hygiene, just like we look both ways before crossing the street (rather than just saying, "I have emuna!" and diving into a busy freeway.)

Likewise, our rabbis have been very strictly supporting quarantine rules, both for spiritual & for practical reasons (though they mostly emphasize the practical reasons).

For example, Toras Avigdor has published several transcripts of Rav Miller discussing germ precautions:

A helpful reader also sent me an audio of Rav Miller discussing this topic.

I've also read that if there is a disease hot spot, it's a sign that Hashem does not want you there, even with all the pretty precautions.

In this case, in which there is no place that's NOT a corona hot spot (except for Antarctica, and I don't think Hashem's message is to make a beeline to the bottom of the planet), it's clear that Hashem doesn't want us out & about much.

Finally, there is a spiritual entity behind the disease, which we are supposed to avoid.

Aside from germs, we don't wish to meet any mashchitim — destroyers.

Rav Miller discusses this in Parshat Bo 3: Night of the Locked Doors.

He discusses this from page 1 of the PDF until page 8, but particularly on page 7, (though it's worth the reading the entire booklet to get the full message).

Furthermore, Rav Yehudah Petiyah goes into great detail about this phenomenon in his book Minchat Yehudah, which I plan to cover in a future post.

So despite feeling all fatalistic and "What is the whole darn point of it all?" regarding everything coming out about coronavirus and the feel-good not-terribly-effective measures, I listened to our Gadolim about it and stayed inside much more.

It's a combined physical & spiritual event, and needs to be responded to with combined physical & spiritual efforts.

Where is the Love & Compassion?

The need for spiritual change cannot be over-emphasized.

A part of me is still waiting for things to go back to "normal," even though I know that's not realistic. But I think it's also normal to feel that way.

Right now, Hashem has sent us a pandemic that, for the most part, is actually not so deadly and not even so torturous (again, for most people, not all).

We receive the strictures & fear & limitations without the really awful springboard (like mass suffering & death).

We receive the same strictures & limitations common under anti-Jewish persecution, but without the obvious persecution coming from evil authorities (emphasis on "obvious"). We are not forced to stay indoors because of falling missiles or invading armies or rioting savages or blizzards or natural disasters, all of which would be much worse than the current situation.

We also still have our modern conveniences, like electricity and their appliances, indoor plumbing, running water, and more.

This is a big chessed from Hashem.

He's giving us a pandemic, a disaster, but without the truly insufferable aspects of a pandemic or disaster.

(Though if you know someone close who has suffered a severe reaction to or actually died from coronavirus, that's not much comfort. But it could be & has been massively worse.)

For example, when tornadoes recently ripped through America's South, 1 million people were left without electricity.

In the middle of a coronavirus pandemic. During quarantine.

It can happen!

B'ezrat Hashem, it won't.

And while there have been positive results from all this, as one commenter mentioned, shemirat Shabbat needs to happen inside the home too, not just in the public square.

People need to stop indulging in wasteful or forbidden activities with their phone or computer.

The Internet has been the most diabolical conduit for lashon hara & machloket.

The very tricky thing about liking or disliking posts, email, commenting, blogging, texting, "stories," and more is that you can get caught up in lashon hara or machloket before you even realize that's what's happening.

It has happened to me, much to my chagrin, and despite efforts to be aware & avoid it.

And it has happened to nearly everyone with an Internet connection.

What are we doing in our homes right now?

Yes, there are major challenges & stress right now.

Depending on your situation, it may be difficult to rise to the occasion (like the guys who wish to learn Torah, but are crammed in a small 2-bedroom apartment with 8 children or people living with a spouse or child who is bad-tempered, hyperactive, or mentally ill).

And I'm talking to myself as much as you. I'm also doing the inner work, along with the expected stumbling, failing, then picking myself back up again.

It's all something to work on now, while the chessed & rachamim are still palpable.

B'ezrat Hashem, we'll all do the teshuvah necessary to sweeten the judgement and bring about the Geula in a sweeter way.

As Rebbetzin Heller said at the end of a recent shiur, this is preparation for the much better world that's coming.

2 Comments

A Shift in Coronavirus Response & Its Possible Meaning

20/4/2020

10 Comments

Here is an facts-on-the-ground example of what the raw statistics regarding coronavirus have been showing:

Near us lives a family with 6 or 7 children at home.

The father was exposed to coronavirus at work and received a positive result upon being tested for coronavirus. That was before Pesach.

He suffered lower back pain, and says that at night sometimes he wakes up with breathing difficulties. (It is not clear to me whether his breathing difficulties only at night are psychosomatic or not.) This I heard from my husband, who spoke with him directly.

He may have had low-grade fever; not sure.

His teenage son also tested positive for coronavirus, but never exhibited even one symptom – not even a slight fever. No coughing. Nothing. (This I heard from my teenage son, and also myself, as the conversation was conducted via speakerphone.)

His teenage son has since been tested several times more and each time, tested negative.

The man's 5-year-old daughter also tested positive for coronavirus. (This I heard from both my husband and my son.) Not sure if she's still positive, but she exhibited symptoms similar to a light flu virus: some fever and generally not feeling great.

Everyone else in the family has tested negative, despite being cooped up together in an apartment for weeks now.

(Baruch Hashem, they've relatives & neighbors who've been doing their shopping for them.)

This is just one example of what we've seen reported so far:

Coronavirus tends to be fatal in those who are over 70 AND/OR suffering previous medical issues that weaken their immunity.

THEY need to be protected; we should help them!

But as for the rest of us...?

Having said that, I suspect there are things we don't yet know about coronavirus.

Hashem isn't unleashing full negative judgement against us.

But based on what has been reported, it is not the terrifyingly threatening plague as portrayed UNLESS you belong to a vulnerable group – as is always the case with any disease, including the flu.

Heck, I once knew someone with an immune deficiency who needed to be very careful not to catch a cold because that could kill him. (Eventually, he died at around age 28.)

Having said that, it's of great concern that some of our most highly respected religious leaders having been dying davka of coronavirus in their advanced age (and yes, also with underlying medical issues).

But they've been felled davka by coronavirus.

As already discussed on this blog and in numerous other articles, blogs, and Torah lectures, that is a significant message from Hashem.

And now in Eretz Yisrael, they've started lifting the suffocating strictures and apparently plan to gradually relax strictures even more.

The question is why?

And no, I don't believe for a minute it has to do with health.

As written in an An Analysis of the Current Pandemic, the quarantines anywhere never made sense for 2 reasons:

The quarantines were really neither strict enough nor enduring enough to effectively prevent infection (and anyway, the vulnerable people generally had the sense to put themselves in a genuinely effective quarantine). It's almost as the quarantine was for show.
The disease, based on what's reported, isn't nearly as fatal or as dangerous as the response indicates. Again, that was discussed in An Analysis of the Current Pandemic. But with Israel's death count under 1% and nearly all of them (or literally all of them) over 70 AND/OR suffering underlying medical issues, a nationwide quarantine over every last citizen is really not warranted and can even cause more problems than it solves.

I already wrote about parallels of these strictures and the spiritual messages:

The Paradox of the Present Pandemic
An Analysis of the Current Pandemic (toward the end under the section "A Clear Act of Hashem")

Many others also have discussed this in articles and Torah lectures.

So why are the strictures being relaxed (at least in Eretz Yisrael and a few other places)?

In fact, many other places that have been hit hard are talking about relaxing their strictures.

Either way, it all defies logic.

Why is that?

We're on the Right Path, But We're Not Out of the Woods Yet

While it's true that much of the world has used the lockdowns to indulge in movies and food, those in the know have been doing the opposite.

In other words: teshuvah.

For example, we've just come out of Pesach – a major mitzvah bouquet.

This alone bequeathed massive zechuyot for Am Yisrael: keeping the laws of yom tov, eating the right shiurim of matzah and everything else, reading the Haggadah, singing praises to Hashem, remembering His Kindnesses...big, beautiful mitzvot.

And many people were keeping Pesach with mesirut nefesh: Leil HaSeder in less-than-ideal conditions, whether they needed to conduct it all alone or with immediate family but without their beloved parents or grandparents, and so on.

People did not extend strenuous efforts on chol hamo'ed in all sorts of nonsensical unspiritual pursuits. Sure, some people wasted their time. (I'm sure not all the men are learning Torah as much as they could in quarantine, for example.) But it's not the same as spending lots of money and effort to go to the circus or the zoo. (And in the interest of full disclosure: We usually go to the zoo on chol hamo'ed Sukkot or Pesach. Probably we shouldn't. But we do. But now we didn't. And we were fine!)

People were davening in minyanim with mesirut nefesh, whether outside or on their porches. And there was achdut. People sometimes joined a minyan with different groups of Jews with whom they don't necessarily daven usually.

Many people have been turning to Torah shiurim. Websites like Torahanytime.com have reported site difficulties from such heavy usage – YAY! That's the kind of problem that reflects well on us!

In fact, a lot of people have been davening more. People have been learning more. There are opportunities for unique chessed that people have been undertaking.

And even if people were getting really impatient with their family members, so many people were at least trying to make the best of it. Even if they failed and had their snapping-turtle moments, they were trying.

There were also moments in which they overcame their lesser impulses; they also had moments of trial in which they succeeded.

In quarantine, so many problems with tsniyut (modesty & personal dignity) simply cease to exist! Ta-dah!

Think of all the hanky-panky & flirting & hirhurim that simply DIDN'T happen because it COULDN'T.

Shemirat Shabbat greatly expanded during this time.

So there was both teshuvah & an imposed inability to sin.

Either way, there has been improvement.

In fact, so many people have done so many good things, it's impossible to list it all.

I hope we will keep it up and push even further in our teshuvah.

(Here, I'm hoping for myself just as much as for anyone else.)

There are lessons learned, and more to do, and hopefully, we will take it all to heart.

We are certainly not out of the woods yet, but seeing things as from Hashem, this seems to be a positive sign that Hashem is accepting our teshuvah and tefillot.

In fact, this bears noting: In His Great Mercy & Compassion, Hashem brought about quarantines and a whole truckload of difficulties and sorrows via a disease that is actually not so harmful or fatal.

In other words, it's not Ebola. It's not the Black Plague.

But it could be, chas v'shalom.

We don't want to need Hashem to give us a stronger message.

Right now, we're doing better.

And again, I hope so much that we (me!) can not only keep this positive momentum going, but just fly with it even higher.

10 Comments

An Analysis of the Current Pandemic

16/4/2020

14 Comments

Note: Links alluded to within the post can be found at the bottom of the post.

I must admit that when this whole coronavirus mess started, I didn't take it so seriously.

In fact, I quickly developed a fatalist attitude when I heard that recovering from a coronavirus infection might not confer immunity.

What's the point? I thought.

There is no way to be immunized from the disease. Even if you recover, you'll be just as vulnerable after recovery as everyone else. This means there's no one who can care for patients without getting infected too.

(Now I realize that they don't know for sure there's no immunity. Maybe yes, maybe no.)

Anyway, my hishtadlut was to go out and buy extra vitamins, soap, aluminum foil for Pesach (and other Pesach supplies), and tzitzit for my 5-year-old in the expectation that shopping would be more difficult at some point and to get stuff then, when I still could do so easily.

(This expectation has since been fulfilled, unfortunately.)

I still don't take the masks seriously, although if I were to go out, I would put one on to avoid problems with the police.

The only reason why I ended up going out less was because of what Rav Avigdor Miller warns about leaving home during a time of dever (plague), and also what Rav Yehudah Petiyah describes in Minchat Yehudah (which will be described in a future post – hopefully soon).

Much of what's resulting from coronavirus simply doesn't make sense.

Let's look at how this whole coronavirus fiasco being mishandled.

Irrational Quarantine Strictures

First of all, there is a lack of clarity about COVID-19's source.

Is it a naturally developing disease that mutated from China's wet market to human beings?

Or is it a human-cultivated bioweapon that either escaped or was released?

There is evidence for both.

But no one knows for sure.

And apparently, figuring out how to treat it most effectively and possibly develop a vaccine (if you can vaccinate against something that maybe does not confer immunity naturally) is influenced by whether it's manmade or not.

Secondly, while it's apparently highly contagious, its fatality rate seems to primarily affect people who already suffer pre-existing conditions and an already compromised immune system.

In other words, healthy people, especially if they are under 70, do not need to have any fear of dying of COVID-19 – statistically speaking. (And really, people over 70 have also recovered nicely.) Furthermore, healthy people under age 70 do not really need to even fear suffering complications.

This is clearly a limited disease so far.

These currently known facts mean that the quarantine measures are neither here nor there.

If coronavirus was a truly lethal plague, like the 14th-Century Black Plague that eliminated around a third of Europe (and half the population of England), then you wouldn't have neatly arranged hours for "essential" tasks like shopping.

You wouldn't allow your borders open for any reason, even to bring home fellow citizens who wish to leave coronavirus hot spots.

And you wouldn't quarantine for only 14 days.

In fact, for such a new virus about which so little is known and the testing isn't even completely up to par, 14 days is a silly idea. One needs at least 30 days, preferably 40 days.

Masks are also a not-very-effective idea, especially since a mask shortage resulted early on.

Do you know how to remove a mask in a sterile manner?

I don't.

Doctors & nurses do. But most regular people don't.

Think about it: You go out in a mask, picking up all the germs on it, then take all those germs into your home.

And get them on your fingers when you remove the mask.

Then you let it sit in your garbage can, still live & contagious.

Is that rational?

Other people have already noted that what masks really do is protect others if you are unknowingly already infected.

But that's not why people were buying the masks initially; initially, they acquired masks for their own protection, to prevent themselves from infection, not to protect others.

Social-distances measures can't possibly be effective, according to what we currently understand of coronavirus.

For example, the virus floats around in the air and sticks to surfaces for a long time.

So how does maintaining a 6-foot distance from others really help? It's in the air and people and the virus are moving around in that same air. Unless you are going to stand in a place where no one else has breathed and where the virus hasn't floated to, how do these measures really help, speaking from a purely rational point of view?

Also, let's look at the stats for other infectious & potentially fatal diseases:

The 2009 swine flu pandemic is estimated to have killed between 151,000 and 575,000 people worldwide.

Ebola has around a 50% death rate.

In 2017 to 2018, the worst flu season on record in the U.S. outside of a pandemic, approximately 80,000 Americans died. (Do hear about that? Probably not.)

During this past flu season in the USA, the CDC reported 38 million illnesses, 390,000 hospitalizations and 23,000 deaths.

Yet in none of these situations did countries shut down their systems or deny necessary medical treatment to sufferers.

Furthermore, shutting down society, storm shelters, police services, medical treatment, and the economy is clearly causing more problems than it's solving.

People Playing God

A very real concerning & ethical problem is how many hospitals are postponing necessary procedures in order to clear space for potential coronavirus patients.

For example, a woman needs surgery to remove lung tumor, but is postponed because of the possibility of coronavirus patients.

It hasn't happened yet, but they want everything cleared out & ready.

Is that ethical?

Can a doctor decide that it's okay for a person to die of a lung tumor as long as they're not dying of coronavirus?

Patients dying of neglect & lack of treatment is not better than dying of coronavirus, particularly since coronavirus is only lethal for a specific part of the population, while someone in desperate need of a lung transplant does NOT have an 90% chance of recovery – a chance that a coronavirus patient DOES have.

Furthermore, a season prone to natural disaster is upon us: spring & summer.

Hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires.

In fact, America's South & Midwest have already been hit with tornadoes.

And their public shelters are affected by coronavirus-fear.

Meaning, not all shelters may open and those that do may not allow as many people to shelter within.

Again, this means you have human authorities playing God.

Basically, people in authority will decide that some people should die of a tornado rather than coronavirus.

And maybe that person wouldn't die at all, not even of coronavirus, but wasn't allowed in a tornado shelter.

Also, I still think Italy's high death rate is at least partly due to denying treatment to people over a certain age. They're playing God and by denying treatment, they're killing people who might not necessarily die otherwise.

They're also souring the Heavenly Judgement over themselves with such unethical behavior.

Also, if these economic lockdowns continue, many areas of the world will start to riot, which leads to property damage, injuries, and deaths.

A Variety of Problems Exacerbated by the Current Response

(Note: I'm taking this information from anywhere EXCEPT China; Chinese authorities are notoriously dishonest about reporting information that dishonors them.)

Finally, the actual coronavirus numbers:

80% of those infected experience a light illness: a fever, maybe snuffles & some coughing...

And hospitalizing those from that 80% could actually make them worse.

People with a slight fever need lots of rest and nutritious easy-on-the-throat-and-digestive-system foods, like a hearty chicken-vegetable soup.

Rest & nourishing foods are hard to come by in hospitals. (No offense.)

Good, nourishing rest is extremely hard to come by in hospitals, particularly in this era of the cell phone.

Also, hospitals are bastions of germs.

Around 10% experience severe symptoms...but most recover.

And around 10% die.

(In Israel, less than 1% of diagnosed coronavirus patients have died.)

To put in perspective, let's again look at the numbers for previous infectious illnesses:

The 2009 swine flu pandemic is estimated to have killed between 151,000 and 575,000 people worldwide.

Ebola has around a 50% death rate.

In 2017 to 2018, the worst flu season on record in the U.S. outside of a pandemic, approximately 80,000 Americans died.

During this past flu season in the USA, the CDC reported 38 million illnesses, 390,000 hospitalizations and 23,000 deaths.

However, the 10% coronavirus death rate reached in some countries a high percentage of a highly contagious illness.

And that's where our concern should really lie.

Except that it doesn't.

Even in Italy, where both the infection rate & fatality rate have been very high (around 10%), 85% of deaths occurred to those over age 70.

Most people over 70 have at least minor health problems. Not all do, but most.

Indeed, over 90% of coronavirus fatalities worldwide – regardless of age – occurred in people with pre-existing medical conditions.

In fact, 99% of Italy's coronvirus fatalities occurred in people with pre-existing medical conditions, which made them especially vulnerable to the virus.

Statistically speaking, this means that coronavirus is not fatal for people without pre-existing medical conditions.

Heck, even if you're over 70, coronavirus is only a problem in those with pre-existing medical conditions – statistically speaking.

In fact, the current quarantines are NOT protecting the vulnerable.

How can they?

By allowing the higher-risk population to shop, say, an hour a day around potentially infected staff and touching items that possibly infected people have touched and being out near people who are possibly infected...this still puts them at risk.

For example, several years ago, when my friend was immuno-compromised due to her kidney transplant, she did not go out at all and her family was careful around her themselves.

Likewise, she does not go out at all now – not during special hours, not with a mask & gloves, nothing. The only effective & logical way to protect herself is to not go out at all. And despite the fact that she's an active, extroverted person, she doesn't leave her home and is very careful about who enters her home. In fact, her married daughter lives nearby, but could not come to the Seder for fear of her husband/the son-in-law compromising my friend's immunity.

Now, the guilt trip has been that we all need to quarantine in order to protect vulnerable members of society.

But that is never the way this kind of protection works.

You cannot shut down society during every flu season or virus season ONLY to protect immuno-compromised people with pre-existing medical conditions.

Society would disintegrate if you did that.

Sort of like now.

What vulnerable people usually do is protect themselves.

For example, my friend mentioned above who, in her thirties, received a kidney transplant from her twin sister.

During her recuperation at home, there was a sign on the door warning potential visitors who've received a vaccine (which often makes people contagious for a bit) or any illness.

Her husband & children also needed to take extra precautions around her.

But please note: The municipality did not shut down the entire city in order to protect her.

That would have been silly and extremely harmful.

Then she was fine. But now she has needed to quarantine herself again for her own protection, and this has once again affected the comings and goings of her immediate family.

And that is how it should be.

Right now, people are under enormous stress (which also affects physical health and disease susceptibility).

People who are ill with other illnesses are NOT getting the treatment they need to survive!

And that's a crime of ethics.

Right now, societies are quasi-protecting POSSIBLE victims while abandoning ACTUAL CURRENT victims of other medical issues.

Again, that's ethically problematic and also irrational.

In some areas of America, police activity has been limited. Meaning, the police will not show up for certain crimes.

Furthermore, with this school year in the trash, children will need to repeat their grade.

And how to do that with the incoming wave of children for next year? My son is in the middle of gaining the critical skill of reading. He knows his letters and the vowels of kamatz & patach (ah), tzerei & segol (eh). But he's already gotten weak in the last 2 and it will be up to us to teach him shuruk (oo), cholem (oh), etc.

Or school next year...if it happens.

Medical students are been graduated early if they're willing to help the crisis in the hospitals. (This means they're less qualified to practice medicine. Is that a good thing in a hospital? Yeah, I get that the hospitals haven't much choice right now, but objectively speaking, is it beneficial?)

Vulnerable people should protect themselves.

And those of us who are not over 70 and/or with pre-existing medical conditions should help them by running their errands, leaving sterilized food packages by the door, walking their dogs, etc.

That would be the logical response to coronavirus.

Except that's not how nations are responding.

The question is why?

We Actually Don't Know Much

There is no clear logical reason for the contradictory quarantine rules, which are not ultimately so effective.

As described above, they're not being applied in a logical way that actually protects against and prevents illness.

Taking Eretz Yisrael as an example, Tel Aviv District (which includes Bnei Brak) & Jerusalem District have the highest levels of coronavirus, but the Center District (Netanya, Rechovot, Raanana, etc.) isn't far behind.

Yet they're primarily closing off the charedi areas.

In fact, one hospital is automatically detaining within a special coronavirus ward any person from one of the major charedi cities who comes, even if they don't display signs of coronavirus. By automatically placing a healthy person in the coranavirus ward, they are intentionally infecting that person with coronavirus.

Again, coronavirus is not lethal for the overwhelming majority of people, but it is highly infectious to the point that locking someone in a place teeming with coronavirus coughs and germs on the surfaces will mostly likely infect anyone who enters. (And anyway, as explained above, hospitalizing people who aren't so sick can actually make them sicker.)

BTW, the brings us to another issue: testing.

It isn't clear to me that, with such a new virus, the tests are so accurate. Remember, it's COVID-19. There are similar viruses, like SARS CoV-2.

In fact, the common cold, pneumonia, and MERS are all included in the coronavirus family, of which COVID-19 is one strain amid this virus family.

It was already reported in the USA that early tests for COVID-19 offered false negatives – sometimes multiple times.

Furthermore, all countries have reported a shortage of testing kits.

And I suspect the low reported incidence of COVID-19 across Africa has more to do with lack of testing than lack of infection.

So who's being tested exactly? And how?

And are the people who tested positive for COVID-19 actually infected with that and not another member of the same virus family (like the common cold – which is actually how COVID-19 expresses itself in around 80% of those infected)?

And how do we know the real rate in populations?

For example, no one in my family have been tested. I don't know people who've been tested. It could be that the rates in these seemingly low areas are actually just as high as the Tel Aviv or Jerusalem Districts, but people haven't been tested. (Or they received a false negative.)

Again, IF the test is actually accurate – and I'm not sure that it is. Literally, I'm not sure.

However, the result of the quickly mounting rules is that frum people are actually complying.

If these strictures were imposed out of clearly anti-Torah personalities and ideologies, then the frum people would rebel. For example, it would be a sign of courage & yirat Shamayim to continue holding secret minyans & yeshivot, etc.

But the way it's being done, including secular Israeli leaders and Leftist celebrities coming out protesting discrimination against charedi communities.

It's nice of them, but I do wonder what made them suddenly turn around and display such sympathy.

Theories abound, like how leaders secretly wish to crash their own economies, thus forcing their populations to be dependent on them.

Not sure about that one.

More logically, most world leaders are in the vulnerable group: They are over 70 with pre-existing medical conditions.

So maybe, in their own minds, it's a self-protection racket.

But here's what I really think...

A Clear Act of Hashem

To summarize the main points:

The quarantines & protective measures around the world are not being applied in an effective manner – meaning, it seems to be more for the sake of feeling like something is being done, rather than actually protecting against infection. Masks are not being used properly and social distancing is a joke with the way this virus operates & spreads.

This isn't such a dangerous disease (compared to other pandemics like the Spanish flu or the Black Plague); its lethalness really only affects a very specific population that is easily identifiable and thus possible to protect.

In other words, unless one is over 70 and have some underlying health condition that compromises your immunity, the death rate isn't anywhere near 10%. Hardly quarantine worthy.

The most effective way to protect people from death by COVID-19 would be to quarantine ONLY the vulnerable individuals (rather than the entire country) until the disease disappears. This is the obvious solution & the better one, yet no one is doing it.

These not-terribly-effective quarantines have resulted in a complete disruption of Jewish life, with the compliance of Jews themselves. If these dictates were coming from any other source in any other way, we would never comply. (Or we would comply outwardly while continuing to not comply in secret.)

The disruptions in Jewish life are eerily reminiscent of Nazi Germany and other edicts of the past (disruption of both religious obligations & being blocked from work). Even their rhythm, like how every day there's a new decree & we don't know what will happen next, is very similar to past Jew-hating edicts.

Certain segments of society are trying to blame specifically the charedi community, and target the charedi community, even though we don't really know how many people are really infected, both within the charedi community & without. (This also echoes anti-Jewish sentiment of the past.)

Despite the disease's non-lethal effect outside of vulnerable populations, the frum community has taken a severe hit with the ongoing deaths of our leaders: rabbis rosh yeshivahs, rebbetzins...especially in New York, they're leaving us one after another.

Putting it altogether, this is all clearly from Hashem.

And despite how it feels otherwise, it's actually a chessed.

Hashem has disrupted our lives in a way that is so similar to anti-Jewish edicts & attitudes in the past, but has done so without the actual hatred, persecution, and attacks (whether via missile attacks from enemy countries or a violent police force, like Nazis or Communists).

And He has sent us a disease which isn't actual so fatal for the vast majority of people.

In fact, it's not even experienced as so horrible for the vast majority of patients; chicken pox is a lot more annoying.

The truth is that at this point, unless you are over 70 AND already suffer a pre-existing immuno-compromising medical condition, it is totally unlikely you will die, chas v'shalom.

In fact, it's unlikely you will even become seriously ill.

And that's a big chessed because looking at previous pandemics (the Black Plague, the Spanish Flu, Ebola), a pandemic can actually be lethal.

This isn't (outside of the vulnerable populations).

Furthermore, Hashem has given us a massive wake-up call without actually having unendurably terrible things happen (like terrible suffering or death).

We're not in ghettos.

We're not being bombed.

We still have running water & electricity & all our nifty hi-tech stuff.

Yes, we are stressed-out with frayed nerves. We feel stifled. We are extremely inconvenienced. We feel frustrated, overwhelmed, exasperated, and worn-out both emotionally & physically.

We're being forced to live one day at a time.

But we still have a tremendous amount to be grateful for at this time.

So this is really a tremendous wake-up call from Hashem.

While the world response has been extreme, the actual impetus is not so extreme.

And this is the chessed in the wake-up call from Hashem: We're getting the wake-up call WITHOUT the severe suffering the exaggerated & ineffective response implies.

And now we get to the part of the wake-up call that is extremely painful & distressing:

We're losing our leaders.

Roshei yeshivot, askanim, older & wiser teachers, rebbes, rabbanim...Hashem is plucking them from our midst, particularly in the thriving frum communities in the USA.

Again, this is a bizarre and traumatic result from a virus that is actual not so fatal.

So why is it so fatal for them?

Chazal states several reasons for this kind of thing:

Hashem brings consequences upon tzaddikim in order to frighten reshaim into doing teshuvah.

Hashem plucks out good people (especially sinless people like tzaddikim or children, chas v'shalom) as a kapparah for the sins of society so in that way, only 1 or a few people die rather than thousands.

Hashem removes really good & caring people from the world so they won't suffer seeing the destruction of their beloved Am (like how He removed the Chafetz Chaim, Sara Schenirer, Rav Meir Shapiro of Daf Yomi & Lublin Yeshivah, and others just prior to the Shoah).

This is extremely distressing and should impel us toward teshuvah.

And regarding the irrational & not-terribly-effective quarantine measures, I'll be writing about those from a spiritual perspective in an upcoming post.

Because while these wacky quarantine measures are not so effective against such highly infectious germs that live a long time on surfaces and travel through the air quite easily (despite the feel-like-I'm-doing-something-effective-but-am-actually-not social-distancing formations), going out less IS effective against malachim mashchitim (destroying angels), as Rav Avigdor Miller has emphasizing and as Rav Yehudah Petiyah describes in Minchat Yehudah.

Note: I just want to emphasize something because on the Internet, people's eyes tend to skim rather than read carefully (mine are guilty of the same, BTW).

I do NOT mean to dismiss the very real dangers for those over 70 or who suffer underlying pre-existing medical problems. Every life is precious and even those in a vegetative state are completing vital tikkunim.

So I'm NOT saying to throw old or unhealthy people out the window.

NO.

I'm saying that this whole thing could be handled differently (and MORE EFFECTIVELY) without depriving both the over-70 and immuno-compromised AND everyone else of parnassa, medical care, quality of life, storm shelters, police protection, supplies, and so forth.

We can more effectively take care of vulnerable members of our society AND everyone else.

I want everyone to live and to experience a good quality of life as much as they can.

May Hashem keep us all mentally & physically healthy, and may we take the lessons learned now and do complete teshuvah.

Articles mentioned above:

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A Variety of Problems Exacerbated by the Current Response

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Myrtle Rising

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