[Avodah] Report: Orthodox Weddings to Resume with 'Approved Model'

Chana Luntz Chana at kolsassoon.org.uk
Mon Apr 27 12:13:40 PDT 2020


RMB writes:

  <<  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.>>

I agree.  And in addition, as I said in my comment on R' Rothstein's piece,
there is a strong tendency to point the finger at others as being the cause
(the "women wearing sheitals" or the  "woman gave me the apple" type logic).

<<    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?>>

That also makes sense to me.

<< The thing you are
    already motivated about is the ideal thing to be working on.>>

I wonder about that though.  A plague seems a bit extreme as something
merely to give you a push along the lines that you were already working. 

  <<  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.>>

Rabbi Reuven Leuchter says something similar -
https://iyun.org.il/en/article/coronavirus-the-charedi-response/covid-19-a-v
iew-from-above/,  but not quite the same, I think.

" In this, too, we find a correlation between the physical and the spiritual
aspects of a plague. On the physical level, the fear of plague-certainly
that we are currently facing-is not necessarily a fear of personal infection
and illness. Some, the young and the fit, do not see COVID-19 as a personal
threat (justifiably or otherwise). The fear, rather, is of spread, of an
indiscriminate contamination that will bring the world to a standstill.
Divine supervision reveals something beyond those regular orders that govern
human activity; it demonstrates that notwithstanding our tremendous
scientific advances, we are still helpless in the face of such calamity.
Human advancement, however impressive, has its limitations; our collective
"strength and might of hand" has its boundaries.

Alongside this lesson, the plague projects a corresponding spiritual
message. Hashem shows us-specifically us, we who generally believe that we
are not partners to the global game of kochi ve'otzem yadi-that we are
deeply mistaken: We too share in the very same hubris, just in the spiritual
rather than physical sense. Even we tend to think that we have control over
our situation-control by means of studying Torah and performing mitzvos, by
davening and by donating to Kupat Ha-Ir. The condition of plague rails us
in. No merit, even that of Torah and mitzvah performance, can save us; those
who believe otherwise share the same arrogance as the Western disposition to
control the world by means of scientific advancement. Neither they, nor we,
wield the reins of absolute power."

<<    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.>>

But what if what resonates most easily involves pointing the fingers at
others or moving within the same narrow rut?  That is the risk, isn't it?
That is why starting with the halachic idea of nidui seemed to me a more
appropriate option.  Regarding tzaraat, as you say, it is associated
particularly with lashon hara, but also it is a biblical disease.  A disease
that is regarded as appropriate for them, on their level, and not for us.
While nidui has its own Siman in the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh Deah 334).  It's
a "live" concept, even if being menudeh la-Shamayim is drawing on biblical
roots.  And starting with a premise of being Halachically socially
distanced, mirroring the physical reality of social distancing, on an
individual level, seems to me a little more humble than launching into grand
causes.  The common theme between R' Rothstein and Rabbi Leuchter, it seems
to me, is that we are being punished through our performance of mitzvot.  A
very significant percentage of our community has been infected by a) shul;
b) Purim; c) being mesameach chatan v'kala d) levayas; e) the beis medrish.
Throw in bikur cholim and hachnasat orchim as well I imagine.   As someone
pointed out to me: how many of the mitzvot set out in that Mishnah in Peah
do we have left?  What nidui does is makes those mitzvot precisely what is
assur to the person in nidui!  And that seems to be what we have here.
Obviously it is a different situation for us than for most non-Jews - for
while the wet markets does sound like they might have been violating ever
min hachai,  the ever increasing toll includes so many who were involved in
being rofeh cholim.  Why is a very much harder question.

-Micha

Regards 

Chana



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