By the way, some claim that many of the infections happened specifically at Purim celebrations, which is also a certain theological problem.

Aharon, it’s specifically very strange that you say that.

When there were major national events, like Operation Protective Edge or the Second Lebanon War, I don’t remember the rabbis talking nearly this much—certainly not like with coronavirus. In fact, I don’t remember hearing even one religious interpretation of the Second Lebanon War (I assume there were some, but they really were negligible). During Protective Edge there were a few more, because of the three boys and so on, but it was still negligible compared to coronavirus.

And specifically now with coronavirus, I don’t think there’s a single rabbi keeping silent (well, maybe only Rabbi Michi).

The Hebrew Bible, until the point where the formation of the Jewish people begins (the portion of Lech-Lecha), tells us clearly that problematic behavior is supposed to bring destruction to the world—the reality speaks to the whole world when people behave immorally. (Like the post Rabbi Michi criticized a few days ago.)

Likewise, there is no shortage of sources showing that when calamity comes, it affects everyone—righteous and wicked alike.

Haim, we experienced the destruction of the Temple twice. I’m guessing a pretty significant part of the dead died right on the site of the Holy of Holies. In the Holocaust, Jews were burned in synagogues, not once and not twice.
So I didn’t really understand your question. It is well known that a physical place does not necessarily protect.

Shabbat shalom!

Hello Ehud.
It was published that Bnei Brak is leading by a significant gap in the percentage of infections—a full percent of the population, compared to half a percent in the city after it, Tel Aviv.

I assume you’ll explain this by the rule that “the Holy One, blessed be He, is exacting with His pious ones to a hair’s breadth,” right?

According to that, is the catastrophe in Italy also connected to that same rule, that “the Holy One, blessed be He, is exacting with His pious ones to a hair’s breadth”? Maybe because that’s where the Vatican is located? Or is it connected to some other rule?

https://www.bhol.co.il/news/1090514
https://www.maariv.co.il/corona/corona-israel/Article-756647

I reread your words.

You’re basically claiming that the world as a whole sinned (in what?), and therefore “permission was given to the destroyer,” and from that point on the rule is deterministic, right?

Hello Aharon,

According to the teaching of Rabbi Kook, all reality is one unity (unity, not uniformity).
And therefore everyone depends on everyone else, and we see that now—from a technical perspective, this whole enormous thing apparently started from some Chinese man who ate an animal he hadn’t cooked properly. Like chaos theory—the butterfly effect.

As someone who believes in a divine will operating in reality, indeed my opinion is that a certain threshold of sins was crossed. And here it may be a general threshold of sins, one attributed to humanity as a whole.
But as a believing Jew I am optimistic, and therefore every decline will also end with an ascent (that is, above the point from which the decline began).
In any case, the world needs to keep moving forward, and if there had been no sins, the world would have progressed in more pleasant ways, without the drastic decline we are experiencing today.
The difference between me and the rabbis who tell us specifically what we sinned in (“evil speech,” “licentiousness,” “forbidden foods,” etc.—each according to his own view) is that I don’t know what we sinned in. Again, I only believe that a certain threshold was crossed.
I can say that it is worthwhile for each person to correct whatever he can. That is always true, and especially now, in a time of crisis, and then things will definitely be better.

As for determinism, I personally hold the opinion (which of course also appears in the Sages) that when there is illness, the chance of divine involvement is not high, because the attribute of judgment has already been sealed. Therefore, in my opinion, if we take 100 chronic atheist patients that no one prayed for, and 100 chronic religious patients whom people prayed for a lot, and check who survived, we might not see a statistically significant higher percentage of religious people surviving.

The great wisdom, in my view, is not to become sick in the first place. That is where prayer mainly matters.
By contrast, when a person is already sick, then perhaps the attribute of judgment has already been sealed (whether it is a mild illness or a serious one).

Why should a person still ask for healing even when he is already sick?
Because “even if a sharp sword rests upon a person’s neck…”

What is that like?
Imagine a man was convicted of a crime he committed, and afterward he was sentenced to 3 months in prison.
Has the attribute of judgment been sealed? Yes.
Is his punishment justified? Yes
Is the chance that things will change high? Probably not.
Is he still allowed to send a pardon request to the president? Yes!
And maybe, despite the fact that the attribute of judgment has been sealed, there will still be mercy here.
But we need to remember: the Holy One, blessed be He, is compassionate and gracious, but as I understand it, He is not indulgent.

It’s important to me to emphasize that this is only my opinion (based, as mentioned, on the Sages), but there are also views that prayer for healing will necessarily help even when a person is already sick. But that is a tautology, because whenever prayers for healing don’t help, one can always say, “You didn’t pray enough.”

If you have 45 free minutes and want to absorb some optimism, you’re invited to watch this:

I accept what you say, even though I don’t agree with it.

I’ll just ask: according to your approach, if the plague came because a “global threshold of sins” was crossed (precisely now), what benefit will the plague bring?
Will the Chinese repent?
Will the Germans and the Italians repent?
In what are they supposed to “strengthen themselves”?
Suppose you know in what they need to “strengthen themselves”—are they also aware of that? Do they have any way to become aware of it?
If the plague is a higher response to behavior, and it is not useful in changing that behavior, then it is just an “outburst of anger” by whoever sent it.

Hello friends,
If I understood correctly, there is a hidden assumption in Aharon’s question—that religion is God’s emissary for explaining all newly occurring events in reality.
That may have been true in the time when there were prophets, or the Urim and Tumim,
but ever since there is no priest and no prophet, we really have no way of knowing what happened because of what.

But all that is only one aspect of what religion is.

There is something else in which religion is still very relevant: its consistent demand to be good and to do good.
And that is true in this event, just as in every event—the event of “corona” as well. Maybe especially so.

For most of us, such an event, more than it threatens physical harm, is a basic destabilization of the “collective identity” we tend to develop.
Suddenly we have been cut off from the automatic social mechanism that set our daily schedule; suddenly it has become impossible to escape from home to work; suddenly there are no educational institutions that used to spare us from really dealing with our own children; we’re shut up at home, so it’s also impossible to ignore unresolved marital problems; and all the religious services built on gathering and social company are closing in our faces.

This is an excellent opportunity to stand before yourself and ask, maybe for the first time in your life: wait, so who am I really?!

And here religion comes in its purity, and invites you to be the you that you really are. To discover the good within you. To bring out the love. To bring out the inwardness.

To return to the source of “Abraham was one.”

It is indeed an opportunity for all humanity. But religion has prepared a beautiful prescription for the refined human being.

Hi Aharon,

What was added now may be right—an opportunity for a person for inner reflection. I can’t say for certain whether it is true or not, again, because I don’t know what God wants. Let everyone make his own effort.

As for what the nations have to learn—as a nation/people I don’t know what level of general providence applies to them. In contrast, with the Jewish people, it is clear to me that there is a divine will involved on behalf of the Jewish collective (for example, it is possible that God would even help a wicked Jew succeed if it serves the collective).

Therefore, it is hard for me to say specifically what they need to improve as a nation. As far as I’m concerned, let each of these nations look at the 7 Noahide commandments + do the deepest soul-searching possible and see what he can improve.

How can the Jewish people help in this?
To reveal God to them. To cry out His name and crown Him over the whole world. “May all the inhabitants of the world recognize and know…”
We too need to have a part in publicizing His blessed name.

With God’s help, 4 Nisan 5780

As a result of the coronavirus, the close connection between the “open society” and the repetition of the Amidah has been revealed. True, because of the insistence on limited prayer quorums, it is no longer possible to continue the custom of reading Popper’s The Open Society during the repetition of the Amidah, but there is no need for that. Since prayer must take place in the open air—the praying community must be an “open society” 🙂

And indeed our society is becoming open, and the barriers are gradually being removed. Secular people are not going out for Sabbath entertainment, and religious people are not going to synagogues, and everyone has no one to rely on except our Father in Heaven.

With the blessing of Aviv Kochavi,
Prayer Leader

One of the advantages Torah people have these days, when everyone is gathered in their homes, is that we have learning material around which we can come together for shared study—the Bible, the Mishnah, books of Jewish law, and books of faith and ethics can serve as shared study material connecting “the whole house of Israel, the elders with the children.”

With the blessing, “May the Lord increase you, you and your children; blessed are you to the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth,”
Prayer Leader

Ehud,

You claimed that the message to the nations is to improve in the 7 commandments.

The Chinese had no opportunity to be exposed to the 7 commandments, since the Hebrew Bible was not familiar in their culture (all the more so since the 7 commandments are not explicit in the Bible).

Therefore I would suggest that representatives of the Jewish people send them the 7 commandments, with an explanation and some friendly advice: keep the 7 commandments so that you won’t get hit with another coronavirus.

With God’s help, 4 Bnei-Sang 5780

Leah-ha-rong, greetings,

Besides many from the Ten Tribes who were exiled to the “land of Sinim,” there were also people from Judah in China who got there via the trade routes from Persia and Afghanistan. Among them are known the members of the Kaifeng community, who maintained Jewish communal life for hundreds of years, read the Torah in Chinese, and were called by Chinese names (including a Jew with the characteristic name Ai-Wei-Yi 🙂

While searching for the roots of his Loewinger family, the undersigned discovered that there was a village in southern China (on the Burma border) called Loe-Wing (where in 1941 Volunteer Squadron No. 113, “The Flying Tigers,” operated, assisting the Chinese in their struggle against the Japanese; see the Wikipedia entry “Flying Tigers”).

I therefore conjectured that in “Loe-Wing” there had been, hundreds of years ago, a Jewish community, in which among others lived the paprika merchant Ching-Chong-Chi, who arrived there for commerce from Hungary and was forced to remain there due to the Mongol takeover of the road to China. On the Sabbath, Ching-Chong-Chi went to the synagogue in the manner of mighty Jewish men, and when the sexton asked his name in order to call him up to the Torah, he answered proudly, “Ching-Chong-Chi,” and immediately the sexton called out: “Let Raev Shimshon Tzvi arise,” and from that day the man was called “Shimshon Tzvi Loe-Winger,” the ancestor of the Loewinger family to this very day.

To our Jewish brothers who assimilated among the Chinese, the voice calling through the generations cries out: “Wu-Han” (that is: “Where is the rooster?”). How long will you defile yourselves with bats and pangolins and other creeping abominations? Return to the ways of your forefathers and eat only the pure species that are kosher for Jews.

With blessings,
Ching-Chong-Chi of Le-Wing

Simply put, it is not our job to search for hints as to why God did this to one nation and not another. Each person should “clean his own yard” and look in his own close circle, in himself and his immediate surroundings, at what he needs to correct and improve, and when each person works on “his own yard,” the whole world will look much better.

This is especially true regarding the Jewish people, who stand in relation to the nations as “the heart among the limbs.” The heart, unlike the brain, cannot give “specific instructions” to each and every limb. What the heart does is supply energy—life forces that empower the whole body, and thereby strengthen the natural resilience of the whole body.

Let us strengthen ourselves in faith, and strengthen ourselves in kindness, in attention to our family, and in attention to individuals in our community who may need help and encouragement. Let us strengthen ourselves and strengthen others through Torah and prayer, while keeping the health restrictions. Let us act cautiously but not nervously. And as Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh remarked, “corona” has the numerical value of “and he saw that rest was good,” like the blessing of Issachar, who engages in Torah out of inner calm.

With blessings,
Prayer Leader

Hello Aharon,

I don’t think there is any cultured person today who has not been exposed to the Hebrew Bible and to the obligations that stem from it.
Second, I know there are those who are concerned with conveying the messages (including to the Chinese).
My rabbi, Rabbi Uri Amos Cherki, may he live long, is engaged in spreading Jewish faith throughout the world, and in my opinion he has reached the Far East as well (though apparently his words did not fall on too many ears).
You’re welcome to go to his site and have a look:

https://noahideworldcenter.org/wphebrew/

By the way, I assume that those in the Far East who did listen to him do not eat a limb torn from a living animal.

From here comes our importance.
And indeed you are right: the Jewish people have a role in the world, and our role is to proclaim His blessed kingship to the whole world.
The time will come when we will cry this out as a state.

By the way, there is no need to threaten and frighten, because we do not know the calculations of Heaven explicitly (as I have written more than once). We need to persist in spreading faith in the world in the most pleasant ways possible.

With God’s help, 5 Nisan 5780

And maybe we’ll learn something from the Chinese? It turns out that when SARS broke out, the Chinese sent experts in traditional Chinese medicine to the places where the plague was spreading, and they contributed to stopping it. And likewise, when the coronavirus plague broke out, the Chinese sent experts in traditional Chinese medicine there, who outlined ways of coping with and treating coronavirus.

For the insights of the traditional Chinese doctors, see the article “Coronavirus – The Coronavirus and the Chinese Medicine Opposing It – A Fascinating Interview with a Chinese Expert,” on Tom Rotenberg’s website.

With blessings,
Prayer Leader of Le-Wing

From the little I understood in the article, it seems that the combination of humidity and pollution helps the outbreak and spread of the plague. Maybe it would be worthwhile to direct people who are at high risk to move, “until the wrath passes,” to the dry and clean areas of the Negev?

According to what was brought above – https://bshch.blogspot.com/2020/03/blog-post_4334.html the plague broke out following the offense committed by the Ger Hasidim against the yeshiva head, the gaon Rabbi Shaul Alter, according to the claim of Rabbi David Abuchatzeira.

The suggested advice is that Prayer Leader of Le-Wing should turn to the celebrity “Itzik the Chinese,” who speaks both languages.
Itzik the Chinese should write a petition that all one billion Chinese will sign, and its content will be support for Rabbi Shaul Alter.
Also, the People’s Republic of China should send a delegation to Rabbi Shaul Alter at the “Yeshiva of the Embittered” in Jerusalem, with a letter of ordination appointing him rabbi of the state. At the coronation feast they will place twelve loaves made of high-quality sushi, and for the raising of the wine at the toast they will serve baijiu in royal abundance.
The Rebbe, may he live long, will wish life and blessing, and with God’s help there will be salvation and healing for the whole world.

When our honored Rabbi Prayer Leader performs this great rectification, he will be worthy of his office and role, for his hands will work signs and wonders.

With God’s help, 5 Nisan 5780

To Hazon B — greetings,

The idea of a plague coming among Torah scholars who did not treat each other with respect was already expressed in the words of the Sages about Rabbi Akiva’s students, who died between Passover and Shavuot because they did not treat each other with respect. So without entering into this dispute or that one—it really is worthwhile that we be careful to treat one another with respect even when there is disagreement.

And perhaps for that reason the days between Passover and Shavuot are especially suited to strengthening ourselves in this matter, because the feeling of freedom naturally increases a person’s insistence on his own opinion, and from that disputes grow. But we must remember that the foundation of everything is that we all stood before God to receive His Torah in unity and humility.

This consciousness of unity and humility in receiving the Torah should bring us to cleave to one another from within appreciation and respect, and then the Torah—with all the development of independent thought involved in studying it—will be an elixir of life. The correction, then, will not come from China—but from Sinai 🙂

With blessings,
Prayer Leader

Though the time is not fit for “cleaving to one another with appreciation and respect,” since by decree of the authorities we are prevented from coming within four cubits of another person (a two-meter order, in the vernacular), still, showing extra honor toward Rabbi Prayer Leader is anything but unnecessary.
For in his role he serves as a kind of “certifying rabbi” for this holy site, in the aspect of Abraham the Hebrew—for the whole world is on one side and he is on the other—an aspect of the unknowable head, secret of the highest secrets from the hidden world, far, far beyond the shortness of our understanding.

Did the people of Nineveh have a connection to Israel?
Was Job from the Jewish nation?

A person shall die for his own sin!

And yet, the Chinese may have no historical memory with the people of Israel, but they do have a present-day memory.
(Assuming they didn’t stage the spread of the virus…)

They sanctified industrialized culture, the shallow ordering of purchases from abroad that causes the people of Israel to sink even further into Western culture.

But even so, it is not in that context that the Chinese deserve punishment, but rather for the cruelty that has developed among them, and I will detail part of the horrifying culture of that terrible people.

Eating aborted human fetuses, eating animals while they are still alive, skinning fur and hides while the animal is still alive, roasting the hind part of the animal while the animal is still alive and eating the roasted part, trampling human dignity by the government.

And despite all this I do not think we still have a prophet who can translate the word of God for us. Sages interpret the words of prophecy handed down to them, not the word of God itself. Therefore a sage who tries to provide a translation of the word of God should be reminded to whom prophecy was given.

But if we continue with the religious interpretation of punishment for humanity, we will have a hard time understanding why it also strikes skullcap-wearers and beard-growers from the Haredi community. We will come out hypocrites if we think that human beings are clean before God. Every day in prayer we confess sins, and there is no righteous person on earth who does not sin. We all sin, but God is slow to anger and abundant in kindness and truth.

If I were to act foolishly and look at reality with prophetic eyes, then first of all one must not accuse the Jewish people, but we would come out arrogant if we think there is a sector that fulfills the word of God precisely. I have many difficulties with the sectoral religious conduct of our brothers from the Haredi public, with all the understanding I have toward them. I think these difficulties have a basis in truth, to the point that the Holy One, blessed be He—the great, mighty, and awesome God who loves every creature—gives all of us an educational punishment. He starts with the Haredi sector in order to awaken it. Get out of your closed frameworks. You who love My covenant—go, get out and spread My covenant, influence your secular brothers instead of shutting yourselves up in yeshivot and being privately religious. But the Haredi public did not pay attention to this, just as it did not pay attention to the arrival of the plague, and its isolation from the people prevented it from receiving guidance from professionals, and therefore this is an educational punishment of measure for measure.

I believe that the Holy One, blessed be He, hides in history, and our role is to reveal Him. In order to reveal Him, we must not shoot from the hip, but investigate seriously, pray from the heart, observe carefully, and only then hope that people of truth will reveal to us some trace of His will. “Teach me Your way, Lord; I will walk in Your truth.”

I hope I phrased things in a way that managed to answer the question. I wish health to the whole world, with God’s help. Amen!