UPDATE: Please see Rav Itamar Schwartz's Q&A (Source For Corona-Virus & The Tikkun), in which he focuses on how the kor in the Hebrew spelling of Coronavirus hints at the kind of cold related to feeling emotionally or spiritually distant.
Amalek also represents "cold," as in chilling someone's passion for mitzvot or closeness with Hashem.
Rav Schwartz also mentions that today, we spend a lot of time in back-to-back communication via social media than we spend in warm face-to-face communication.
Therefore, he says, the rectification is to facilitate warm connection with good purified people — each person according to his or her own level.
*
Our Sages tell us that when a disaster happens in the world, it's a message for Am Yisrael to mend our ways.
(This is yet another reason why, if non-Jews realized how much THEY would benefit from Jews wholehearted observance of Torah & mitzvot, they would be passionately supportive of us being frum in every detail & very discouraging of us assimilating at all.)
On the other hand, the Kli Yakar in Parshat Shemini tells us from the Gemara that tribulations come to tzaddikim as a warning for intentional sinners.
So if we see something happening with the frummer Jews or innocent children or our true talmidei chachamim (chas v'shalom) — like how we're seeing coronavirus hitting a yeshivish community in New York — we should also take that as a strong message to improve our own behavior.
If we truly want to show our love for each other, improving our own middot & behavior, and working on our own level of emunah & simcha is the best way to show that love.
Because it's so mysterious & contagious, this coronavirus is such a strong call from Hashem.
For example:
Baruch Hashem, many people go through coronavirus as they would any cold or minor virus, with no complications. For many people it's more infectious than it is dangerous, chasdei Hashem.
With all this mind, how exactly is it meant to be stopped?
It's very much in the Hands of Hashem.
Ta'anit Esther was the day when Esther Hamalkah's prayers were answered.
May Hashem also answer our prayers l'tovah.
Amalek also represents "cold," as in chilling someone's passion for mitzvot or closeness with Hashem.
Rav Schwartz also mentions that today, we spend a lot of time in back-to-back communication via social media than we spend in warm face-to-face communication.
Therefore, he says, the rectification is to facilitate warm connection with good purified people — each person according to his or her own level.
*
Our Sages tell us that when a disaster happens in the world, it's a message for Am Yisrael to mend our ways.
(This is yet another reason why, if non-Jews realized how much THEY would benefit from Jews wholehearted observance of Torah & mitzvot, they would be passionately supportive of us being frum in every detail & very discouraging of us assimilating at all.)
On the other hand, the Kli Yakar in Parshat Shemini tells us from the Gemara that tribulations come to tzaddikim as a warning for intentional sinners.
So if we see something happening with the frummer Jews or innocent children or our true talmidei chachamim (chas v'shalom) — like how we're seeing coronavirus hitting a yeshivish community in New York — we should also take that as a strong message to improve our own behavior.
If we truly want to show our love for each other, improving our own middot & behavior, and working on our own level of emunah & simcha is the best way to show that love.
Because it's so mysterious & contagious, this coronavirus is such a strong call from Hashem.
For example:
- It's still not completely clear whether it's an escaped bioweapon or animal-produced disease (either way, its message of not eating certain kinds of meat, especially meat from a living animal, still holds because the place it originated was a place known for violating all the 7 Mitzvot Bnei Noach).
- Its true incubation period is still not known. (Do symptoms show 14 days the initial infection? 24? 40? Who knows for sure? So who knows how long people really need to be quarantined?)
- Everything can be fine in the morning, then an entire city is suddenly quarantined in the afternoon, complicating lives in an instant.
- Tests haven't proved fully accurate. People who were actually sick with the virus received false negatives, even numerous times.
- And the fact that a coronavirus infection in no way provides inoculation against repeat infection? Somewhat unusual in the history of infectious diseases, according to what I've read.
Baruch Hashem, many people go through coronavirus as they would any cold or minor virus, with no complications. For many people it's more infectious than it is dangerous, chasdei Hashem.
With all this mind, how exactly is it meant to be stopped?
It's very much in the Hands of Hashem.
- And while many people already know to stock up on supplies, it's also a good idea to get any home repairs completed now. Repairmen might end up being unavailable or overbooked when other workers aren't available. This is, of course, IF you can. If you have the time, if you can afford it. Hashem helps with everything and panic is counterproductive to emunah.
Ta'anit Esther was the day when Esther Hamalkah's prayers were answered.
May Hashem also answer our prayers l'tovah.
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