Category: Coronavirus

Is Vitamin D the Medical Key to Fighting Coronavirus?

12/5/2020

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

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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.

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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

13 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 Short Message before Pesach

7/4/2020

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There is a lot to discuss, but no time to write it all out now.

Note: With Leil HaSeder coming up fast and Shabbat quick on its heels, blogging and posting comments will probably slow down temporarily. Sorry for any lags.

So, what follows are brief personal notes regarding the current situation...

First of all, I must thank all of the rabbanim who went out of their way to emphasize scaled-down Pesach cleaning this year, and also gave clear instructions about what is really necessary to clean for chametz only (as opposed to the Pesach "feeling" of spring cleaning), and they also emphasized the good of the children at home all the time now.

Their guidance really made things so much easier for me, both emotionally & physically.

Hashem should bless them for this chessed.

The inability to access items was a bit frustrating.

Many stores in Eretz Yisrael are doing phone-orders & deliveries, but I never managed to get through to them, so even though I wanted at least one more pot for Pesach (after discovering last year that I really didn't have enough), and a few more of those really good knives I recently discovered that cut through tomatoes and meat like butter (a serrated blade from the Swiss brand called Victorinox) and a new broom-head...no dice.

On the other hand, it was kind of a relief not to have to run around a buy tons of stuff before the Omer.

Just make due with what we have.

So when the option simply isn't there, it goes out of the mind. (Unless, of course, it's something one urgently needs. If the lockdown continues for a long time more, we're going to run into issues with clothing my growing 5-year-old; I don't have much saved for this age from his older brothers. Yet I think I have some and anyway, there are always good neighbors with hand-me-downs...)

And while the rest of the world was buying out toilet paper (which, really, is NOT as essential as so many other things in a pandemic like soaps, food, bleach, vitamin C, and FOOD; there are other alternatives to t.p.), I think many of us were making sure we had enough aluminum foil for Pesach!

I'm down to my last role, baruch Hashem.

Anyway, I feel this is Hashem really taking our emphasis of off material things.

(Although, on the other hand, I do feel for people who are forced to make a Seder on their own for the first time and really do NEED all the cooking utensils and either had a very hard time getting them or didn't get everything they needed. Or people who desperately need a haircut and cannot get one. That's exasperating.)

But a lot of buying occurs "l'khvod hachag" and even if old shoes or whatever are still perfectly decent, we like to buy new stuff – all for the honor of Pesach.

Not this year.

We need to enjoy Pesach for what it actually is, like it or not, and not for all that we usually invest in it materially.

Baruch Hashem, Pesach falls smack in the middle of the week this year, which is a lifesaver, else it would be so much more stressful to get the kitchen ready for Pesach.

Probably like a lot of other people, I actually needed to make challahs for Shabbat Hagadol because it was too much to have family members go wait outside for God knows how long just to buy a few challahs.

Also, no sending the older kids out to eat. No, I needed to get things cooking even before I davened this morning so that I could have the kitchen free for cleaning & kashering.

And because Pesach falls mid-week, it ends up being more conducive to all this extra work. So that's a chessed from Hashem.

Please find the time to read the dvar Torah from Rav Avigdor Miller put together by Toras Avigdor:

Pesach – Morning of Redemption

Even if you only manage after Leil HaSeder, it's still so worth it.

Rav Miller describes what Galus was like for the Jews throughout different periods of our history, including way back in Egypt, in Rome, and in early 20th-Century America, and more.

He brings it alive and emphasizes the cocoons frum Jews have successfully made in Exile.

For those who are alone this year, I hope your Seder will still be spiritually fulfilling.

I hope so, but I know it's hard. And disappointing.

And I sincerely hope this will be the last time you will ever be alone for Leil HaSeder.

If you're interesting in all the Pesach articles (including recipes) from this blog, please either click "Pesach" in the "Categories" section in the sidebar, or just click this link:
www.myrtlerising.com/blog/category/pesach

May Hashem please bless everyone with robust mental & physical health, and may we all enjoy a Pesach that is truly kosher & same'ach (joyous), and may Mashiach please come quickly & sweetly to rescue us from this crushing Exile.

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Alone at the Pesach Seder This Year

5/4/2020

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As much as I would really like to give chizuk & insight at this time because I think reading the regular news is already distressing enough, however...

...I can't stop thinking about my widowed mother-in-law in her mid-70s, but to due to a lifetime of stress and health issues, she's physically & emotionally even older than that.

So she's worn out, she had a stroke over a decade ago and diabetes now, plus pain in her leg.

But she's also a social person. She really needs people around her.

And she has neighbors in next-door apartments and more neighbors also just a few footsteps across the way.

And usually, we've all taken turns going to her for Pesach, or, in later years, she's taken turns coming to each of us.

But this year, she's alone.

And because of a traumatic event back in Morocco that caused her father's death when she was only 6, her formerly wealthy family lost much of their money and my mother-in-law was pulled out of school.

So she never learned to read.

And she's going to sit there at the Pesach Seder all by herself...and she can't read the Haggadah.

Yes, there are phrases here and there that she knows by heart.

"Bivilu yatzanu miMitzrayim..."

Upon saying Bivilu, Moroccans take the Seder plate and circle it over the head of each participant, ending with a gentle bonk on each head. (I was told this symbolizes Mt. Sinai being held over the heads of bnei Yisrael, but I'm not sure if that's the real reason.)

So she knows Bivilu, but I'm not sure what else.

And I know that even if that's all she's able to say, that's like a big rav saying it.

Whatever we do is precious in Shamayim as long as we're putting forth our best effort.

Hashem judges us by our own resources, and not those of others.

I also know that she does talk to Hashem & knows that He hears her.

Back in Morocco, it was common for multi-generational extended family to live in 2-3-story homes (the ground floor often being either the family store or a communal place for the whole family to hang out).

And that's normal for her.

You weren't really ever alone. And even in a situation like now, you wouldn't really be alone.

And now she is.

Maybe a neighbor will read the Haggadah out loud from a window (as far as I saw, they don't have porches in the poor immigrant neighborhood my husband's family ended up in and where my mother-in-law still lives).

So on one hand, the mental image of my older doll-like mother-in-law sitting at the Seder by herself unable to even perform the basics of the Haggadah lingers in my mind.

And it pangs my heart.

On the other hand, it makes me feel grateful for what I have, which are so common, I don't always think to appreciate them as much as I really should: immediate family at home – and the ability to read.

So, yeah, this is kind of a downer.

But maybe it's also good perspective for appreciating what we DO have (which might be less this Pesach than previous Pesachs).

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The Paradox of the Present Pandemic

2/4/2020

17 Comments

The results of coronavirus contain both positives and some very distressing negatives.

This post addresses the consequences for both Jews (whether religious or not) and non-Jews.

First of all, it first achieved infamy in a place known for its violations of all 7 Mitzvot Bnei Noach.

As one example: Rabbanim in Eretz Yisrael actually forbade receiving organ transplants from China when they realized the likelihood of an innocent person (aka, political prisoner) being murdered to provide the new organ.

(This never became Israeli law, as far as I know, so only people who care about halacha listen. But still.)

And yes, some of the mitzvot violations in China are against the people's will, but not all.

For example, no one is forcing anyone to eat ever min hachai – yet some Chinese people do so happily with the approval of their surrounding society.

And while the Chinese government forced abortions on women about to violate their former one-child policy, no one forced Chinese women to abort their unborn females so that couples could have the son more desirable in Chinese culture.

(This has also given China the unnatural result of more males than females. Naturally, a society should have more females than males. China's ratio of males to females is the highest in the world: around 115 males for every 100 females. And yes, this is causing social problems.)

Furthermore, growing research shows that an increasing number of Chinese babies available for adoption are actually kidnapped from their families of origin. This is a particularly serious violation against the Noachide prohibition against stealing.

And again, very few within Chinese society seem to care about this. Some do (and it's unfortunate that they're suffering along with everyone else), but most don't seem to.

And so on.

A Change in Values

Secondly, many venues reflective of ancient Greek culture are now either banned or limited.

A very happy result of coronavirus is the increasing shut-down of ancient Greek cultural activities, the shut-down of the Olympics being most symbolic.

Increasingly, people can also no longer gather together to watch young men chase leather balls across a wide swathe of green or across a polished court (AKA soccer & American football & basketball).

People can no longer watch the licentious half-time shows performed by young women who have no respect for their own tzelem Elokim.

They no longer have an excuse to brawl and commit other senseless harmful acts in their great enthusiasm for watching guys in funny uniforms assault leather balls with their feet or bats.

Music performances, especially those known for their degenerate lyrics & acts, accompanied by rampant drinking & drugging & violent or lewd behavior, are being cancelled one after the other. (Yay!)

Movie theaters are emptying out.

And bars & dance clubs? These are the scenes of so many crimes (and are, in fact, the main source of college girls being violated — though most liberals refuse to acknowledge this), in addition to drinking & drugging & licentious behavior — and now they're emptying out.

How many lives have been harmed by the whole bar-hopping culture?

That's all coming to an end.

Certainly, if people have stored a supply of alcohol at home or know how to make their own, they can still act like drunken chimpanzees in their own home.

But bar brawls that spill out into the street & prowlers looking for female prey are coming to an end (at least temporarily).

And who knows? Maybe drug addicts & alcoholics will have no choice but to dry out during quarantine.

Also, I heard about one couple with a young child from which the husband walked out and went to live with his brother.

But when the lockdown started, the husband decided he preferred to be with his child and decided to do his best to get along with his wife.

And so he moved back home.

As Per Tanach, Hashem has Distracted Our Enemies from Their Genocidal Plans

Our enemies in Iran are being decimated.

Interestingly, it seems to have hit the leaders first. During the Obama administration, the Iranian people themselves tried to change their government. Also, Iranian Jews repeatedly claim that your average Iranian does not suffer from Jew-hatred & are actually pretty nice in general.

The desire to destroy the Jews of Eretz Yisrael lies with the leaders of Iran, not the average citizen – and that's exactly who got hit first.

Furthermore, with Iranian leaders consumed with the virus now among their general population, they can no longer afford to focus on destroying Israel or funding terrorist groups.

Having said that, I'm still sorry for the suffering of those who wish to live moral & peaceful lives.

Showing One's True Colors

I still think Italy's high death rate (around 10%) is because the hospitals are making unethical selections, as per Rav Moshe Heinemann's Q&A session, in which (using well-known examples from the Gemara) he states that you cannot turn away a patient simply based on age.

Italian hospitals have been turning away people over 60 – just because they're not 59. Or 22.

If a person reaches the point where he or she needs hospital treatment (whether a respirator or a vitamin C infusion or other effective treatments unable to be performed at home), and that person is turned away...well, that naturally increases the chance the person will die.

And by behaving with such a lack of integrity, a nation sours the din against themselves even further, which also increases illness & fatalities.

Italy is also the birthplace of Rome.

Chocolate, wine, opera, fashion, a powerful mafia, and unholy religious practices had and still have their root in Italy.

There's nothing innately wrong with chocolate or wine, of course. By their focused excellence in these areas, it becomes a symbol of indulgence (rather than a criticism of the actual food itself).

Also, while opera is considered a classy activity, have you ever read the opera storylines? They're silly at best & immoral at worst, as are some of the costumes.

And all these activities have drawn to a halt. (Well, mostly anyway.)

And now this center of Rome is singing self-aggrandizing songs (patriotic or sports anthems) from their porches to keep their spirits up while their hospitals turn away desperate people simply due to their lack of youth.

It's all rather Edomite, if you think about it.

I'm sorry for the innocent there who are suffering along with the self-indulgent.

Just Say NO to National & Continental Unions

Countries must be more independent now.

The current situation forces them to enforce their borders.

Even within a country, they are enclosing cities and states.

In America, despite its lack of physical boundaries around each individual state, some states (like Florida) are enforcing its boundaries by placing checkpoints at all incoming roads and the airport.

Because most of Florida is surrounded by ocean, it only has states on its northern boundary. States surrounded by other states (like Wyoming, which has 6 states along its boundaries) will have a harder time doing this.

We learn in Parshat Noach that Hashem does not approve of mass unification.

Along with the plain text of the Torah regarding Migdal Bavel (the Tower of Babel), the commentaries are quite clear on this point.

You can see the Kli Yakar detail all the problems with mass unification in The Kli Yakar on Parshat Noach, in which he explains the despite the nations' proclamations of peace as their objective for mass unification...in reality, mass unification leads to more war.

Remember, prior to World War I, Europe was led by monarchies who were related to each other – some several times over.

For example, Kaiser Willhelm II of Prussia & Germany was a first cousin to the British King George V of England; both were the grandsons of England's Queen Victoria. The monarchies of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark intermarried with each other and siblings ruled bordering countries.

The Queen of Greece had a royal British mother (Princess Victoria) and a royal German father (Frederick III).

Queen Marie of Romania was the daughter of a Russian princess and a British prince.

Even today, European royalty consists of second- and third-cousins.

Yet all those marriages and intertwining sibling & cousins did not prevent WWI.

The only time unification leads to peace is when it consists of tzaddikim.

When Hashem disperses people, it's for their own good.

Likewise, you can peruse An English Translation of the Malbim on Parshat Noach to see that Malbim makes the same points as the Kli Yakar.

Most of the leaders of different countries (maybe all) are not good people. They operate out of self-aggrandizement and the desire to perpetuate anti-God ideas throughout society – just like Dor Haflagah.

All their ideas for mass unification and being "one big happy family!" and creating "a global village" actually lead to destruction, as detailed by the Torah commentaries.

Via coronavirus, Hashem has put a stop to this.

If you think about it, it could easily be that the number deaths from coronavirus is actually less than deaths resulting from mass unification, and this is Hashem's Chessed, even though it doesn't look like a chessed on the surface.

But it is.

Making Room for Compassion

Despite the obvious fairness of the din and the positive results from the lockdowns, there is also a painful & difficult side to the whole situation.

And that shouldn't be ignored.

And while I haven't written so much about my personal experiences within one of the most intense lockdowns in the world (Eretz Yisrael), there are definitely very challenging aspects to it, believe me.

I've had my moments in which I feel seized with fear. Baruch Hashem, they've been moments and not entire days.

And there are other challenges too.

And I also know that people who live alone, or who live in cramped conditions within a large family, people who live with at least one difficult family member who refuses to try to get along and behaves even worse due to the situation, people with existing health problems, people who were dependent on cleaning help, people who naturally possess bundles of energy and are now confined to their apartment, people who find it exceptionally difficult to endure the current grocery-shopping challenge (waiting outside for a long time while maintaining the proper distance from other shoppers) only to enter and discover there are no eggs or pasta or band-aids left, people who need a constant supply of essentials like diapers & baby formula, people who've lost a family member & cannot receive the support they desperately need right now, and all sorts of other situations...

...so by focusing on the positive outcomes of coronavirus, I certainly do not mean to tromp all over the very real suffering of people.

It's just that we should realize that this pandemic and its bizarre consequences did not come for no reason.

For example, it's good that all the stupid sports events that lead to pritzus & violence & animalistic behavior have been nullified.

Some couples with poor shalom bayit have actually been treating each other better & helping each other more because they can't afford NOT to get along in the current lockdown. Also, there's more appreciation because of actually being at home & seeing what the other spouse actually does. (The ones I've heard from aren't saying that things are perfect — they still have their snapping-turtle moments — but there has been overall improvement.)

Another benefit is that people who (consciously or unconsciously) built their self-worth on tremulous values (such as the ability to run a pristine home or produce amazing meals or excel in their career or sculpture themselves with gym workouts, etc.) are finding themselves trapped in limiting circumstances that are forcing them to redefine themselves.

In other words, people who (consciously or not) defined and/or esteemed themselves by their outside activities are now having to adjust themselves to their home & immediate family.

This is ultimately a good thing, but understandably very difficult & even painful in the beginning.

Another example: For some people, the sudden opportunity to run their own Seder for the first time this year is the chance they've been waiting for.

For others, it's an overwhelming duty rife with disappointment & stress.

So again, the obvious good & seeming bad run in parallel lines.

What's more, it's very distressing that people are sick & dying, and that the bereft cannot receive the support and comfort they need.

It's also very distressing that people whose livelihoods depend on outside activities (like musicians, caterers, store owners, store clerks, plumbers, electricians, house cleaners) or people whose livelihoods depend on people coming to their home (ganenets, in-home daycare, health & cosmetic practitioners, in-home sellers, etc.) can no longer earn a livelihood.

VERY distressing. (That's somewhat our personal situation right now too, BTW.)

Yet even when we can't physically help people, praying for them helps tons.

The Pandemic Paradox of Seeming Bad & Revealed Good Mixed Together

By seeing the results of coronavirus pandemic (especially the positive results), we get a better idea of what Hashem wants from us (both Jews whether religious or not & non-Jews) – ideas we can take with us for the long term.

He wants us to get along better – especially being nicer to those with whom we make our home.

He want us to enjoy all aspects of life, including chagim & simchas, just for themselves without feeling that extra extravagance is vital. (It might be more fun and more attractive, but we can still be perfectly happy without ice sculptures or crazy music or a limo, and so on.)

He wants us to become more inner-focused.

He wants us to focus on ridding ourselves of actual chametz (and all the spiritual meaning that implies) rather than the non-essential spring-cleaning aspects (which, again, add a nice feeling for Leil HaSeder, but are not essential to Pesach).

He wants us to let go of our taavot. (I suppose I'm not the only one who bought lots of essentials without having the room or the money to stock up on cookies, candy, white flour, and chocolate?)

He wants us to give up our addictions. (With increasing lockdowns, alcohol & drugs are much harder to come by, if not impossible. Online gambling is unfortunately available – though increasingly limited finances discourage it – but casinos are no longer an option. Other unmentionable vices are also unavailable.)

He wants us to pay attention to how we pray.

He wants us to be careful about our speech and what we do when we interact with others.

There's more messages from Him, but you probably have your own good ideas.

Also, we probably all realize that in some ways, people might also behave increasingly worse, despite the obvious messages to behave better.

When isolated or cooped up in stressful environments, people also immerse themselves even more deeply in hi-tech outlets. (How many people are surfing, tweeting, texting, uploading "stories," playing video games, and watching videos even more than they were before?)

People are also sinking into less ideal behaviors, like drinking more, oversleeping more, smoking more, eating more, snarling more, fighting more, depression, paranoia, etc.

So yeah, again, there's the good and the bad together.

However, by conforming ourselves to Hashem's messages, we can avoid a worsening of the situation and hopefully halt the negative consequences in their tracks.

May Hashem eliminate coronavirus from our midst and grant all the cholim a complete & speedy refuah. May He also return us to our schools, yeshivot, and schools. May we experience true "simcha shel mitzvah." And may we always gather together for good reasons!

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The Spiritual Epidemiology of an Epidemic

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What's Up with the Black and Red Uniforms?

How Striking "Innocent" People is an Act of Compassion

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

The Connection between Pestilence & Hail

Some Final Theories

Hashem is the Only Address

Some Current Facts about Coronavirus

Don't Confuse Us with the Facts!

Why Our Rabbis are Right

"Go, My Nation, Come into Your Chambers...until the Wrath has Passed"

Where is the Love & Compassion?

We're on the Right Path, But We're Not Out of the Woods Yet

Irrational Quarantine Strictures

People Playing God

A Variety of Problems Exacerbated by the Current Response

We Actually Don't Know Much

A Clear Act of Hashem

A Change in Values

As Per Tanach, Hashem has Distracted Our Enemies from Their Genocidal Plans

Showing One's True Colors

Just Say NO to National & Continental Unions

Making Room for Compassion

The Pandemic Paradox of Seeming Bad & Revealed Good Mixed Together

Myrtle Rising

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