[Avodah] How To Religiously Respond to the Pandemic

[Micha Berger]

In a thread brought over from Areivim titled "Report: Orthodox Weddings
to Resume with 'Approved Model' in New Jersey: Rabbi Aaron Kotler",
on Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 2:35pm +0100, Rt Chana Luntz wrote:
> I confess that one of the most powerful religious responses I have seen is
> the piece in the link below by R' Gideon Rothstein - or at least the section
> about nidui (not so much to my mind his attempted answers as to why G-d
> might have put us into nidui, but the halachic description itself, including
> the reference to being menudeh la-Shamayim):
> https://www.torahmusings.com/2020/04/the-best-way-out-of-nidui/
...

A co worker commented today (given the parashah) about Tzora'as and the
need for social distancing. One can draw a similar comparison, but with
tzora'as there is a complication. Tzora'as has a well-known cause, as well
as 6 other things less often discussed. (All given by R Shemu'el b Nachmani,
Eirukhin 16a.) But I wouldn't hazard associating our current tzarah with
something that suggests a cause.

And this opens the door to having a conversation about how to respond
to the CoVID-19 epidemic. I am going to share a blog post of mine, and
then in the next post, an article by R Avraham Gordimer.

    Aspaqlaria
    How To Religiously Respond to the Pandemic
    by micha
    Published Sun, Apr 5, 2020   Updated Thu, Apr 2, 2020

    So many others wrote about THE correct way to respond to the CoVID-19
    pandemic, how could someone like myself -- Micha Shmuel -- named
    for not one but TWO nevi'im not join the fray with my opinion?

    I think that identifying causality of the kind so many suggest,
    "Hashem brought this because ..." is impossible for us. Read Hashem's
    words at the end of Iyov. It's beyond us to figure it out, and the
    hubris of trying angers Him. Never mind thinking we succeeded. Look
    at the opening snippet (38:1-5 <https://www.sefaria.org/Job.38.1-5>):

	Then Hashem replied to Iyov from the tempest and said: Who is
	this who darkens counsel, Speaking without knowledge? Gird your
	loins like a man; I will ask and you will inform Me. Where
	were you when I laid the earth's foundations? Speak if you
	have understanding. Do you know who fixed its dimensions Or who
	measured its diameter? ...

    Chazal presumed we had a firm grounding in Tanakh before moving on
    to their works. So, it is safe to assume that where it looks like
    they are violating the thesis of a book of Tanakh, they're not.

    So, I take Chazal (and the Rambam) as demanding we take lessons from
    what happens to us. Whether or not we find THE cause. What did the
    pandemic and current lifestyle bring up for you? The thing you are
    already motivated about is the ideal thing to be working on.

    For R Aharon Lopiansky (watch here
    <http://torahweb.org/audio/rlop_032920_video.html>), and he assumes
    this is quite common / typical, the thing that has us all in a tizzy
    is the fact that the news changes faster than we can get a handle on
    it. We feel out of control, and we are in a society that has gotten
    used to successfully engineering control -- from tech to getting
    insurance to cap our loses.

    An idolater goes and gets himself a god he can appease. It gives him
    control. But Hashem's presence is always within a cloud. We don't
    know what's going on. We need bitachon to manage, because we are
    not in control.

    And therefore, RAL suggests, this need for find a segulah to make
    everything all better is itself the exact opposite of the experience
    should be teaching us.

    As for my own experience, one of the things the whole situation
    drove home was how one person infects two or three, and they, 6 or
    7... So to me the realization of social interaction, rechilus, or
    just plain spreading negativity, was driven home more than feelings
    of loss of control. (And there is a project doing that, as well:
    Stop the Spread. <https://www.stopthespread.com/>)

    But whatever it is you are naturally moved by in all this, and
    if nothing comes on its own, what you hear that resonated. Those
    responsible for their community's spirituality (typically a rav,
    rosh yeshiva, rebbe or for one definition of "community", a parent)
    should view their need to provide guidance in those terms -- in my
    humble opinion.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Today is the 14th day, which is
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   2 weeks in/toward the omer.
Author: Widen Your Tent      Malchus sheb'Gevurah: How does judgment reveal
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF                          G-d?