Today (Tamuz 23/Wednesday July 15 2020) is the
Yahrzeit of Rabbi Moshe Cordovero (1522-1570). He felt
so passionately about the shared responsibility of each Jew that he said:
“All Israel is related one to the other, for their souls are united, and in each soul there is a portion of all the others.”[1]
The Holy Rashbi (Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai) is reputed
to have taught that a person who places his own needs above the
needs of the community resembles
a man drilling a hole in a
boat—unconcerned that he is endangering the lives of each and every other passenger.[2]
In these times when we are being asked to bear
the anguished nisayon (challenge) of the
Coronavirus, we would do well to
remember that even our smallest actions have an enormous impact on the entire Kehal Yisroel.
Our positive and negative actions always have far-reaching consequences, and this is especially true when we are considering the transmission of this particular viral infection: the details of which are only recently being discoverered and understood by the scientists and medics who are our guardians and protectors.
Nobody likes wearing a mask, but it saves
lives.
Nobody likes giving up familiar religious or
social activities, but it saves lives.
Nobody likes staying indoors unless it is absolutely necessary to go out in public areas, but it saves
lives.
Nobody likes remembering how easily a virus can
be a death sentence if we forget our place as part of the Jewish Nation, our place
as a light to the Nations, but
keeping all those small restrictions saves lives.
The
alternative is a selfish disregard for the
lives of all the people we encounter.
The
alternative is becoming a “rodef”—someone who pursues people in order to murder—someone
who places personal or family, or tribal selfishness over authentically selfless care and compassion for the
Nation and for Humanity.
People are
only now realising just how deep-rooted and virulent, how insidiously long-term
and shape-shifting this plague of Covid19 truly is. Please G-d, it’s not too late to do something about it.
If you listen to the voices of R' Shimon Bar Yohai and R' Moshe Cordovero and you truly believe in the
unity and shared responsibility of the Jewish People—if you truly care for Humanity and not just for
your own totems, or external religious practices, or political
obsessions or chummy gatherings—
You will do whatever you can, however small, to try to save lives.
It’s not too difficult to do, it’s not rocket science:-
- Stay home as much as possible
- Wear a mask and guard your cleanliness
- Try to be aware how each little carelessness of touch and speech in public has repercussions throughout our world...and through all the Worlds of Creation.
Pray that it’s not too late.
Pray for patience and compassion and strength
for all those who fight for others in
our hospitals.
Pray that Hashem may have mercy on the thousands of those suffering and dying.
Pray that the
eyes of the blind may be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
May the
merits of R’ Moshe Cordovero and
of all the tzadikim shield us.
Nachman Davies
Tsfat July 2020
[1] Tomer Devorah 4:6,
R' Moshe Cordovero, trans Moshe Miller (Targum Press, Southfield-Michigan,
1994)
[2]
Midrash Rabbah Vayikra 4:6
