Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin
Having lived in the shadow of COVID-19 for the past two months, our sights are now set on the gradual return to a new normal, as close as we can get to what we called normal life.
There are public discussions and debates about the nature and pace of our reentry, but I’ll leave that to the experts.
What is certain is that we will need all the emotional and spiritual support we can get as we move forward.
I gained insight from a teaching by the 12th-century Rabbi Ephraim Bar Isaac of Regensburg, Germany (Nachal Kedumim on Torah, Numbers 1:1).
He uses the ancient school of Hebrew numerology (gematria), which assigns a numerical value to each Hebrew letter.
Words with the same numerical value are perceived to have a connection.
He analyzes the opening verse of Numbers, “The Lord spoke to Moses in the Sinai Desert.” The Hebrew word desert (b’midbar) shares a numerical value with the name Abraham.
The word Sinai has the same value as “oni,” which means a humbled person. Together, the numerical value of the words ‘in the Sinai desert’ (b’midbar Sinai) is the same as the word b’shalom — which means “in peace and unity.”
These three “code words” provide us the attitudes we need as we focus on our personal, communal and collective recovery from the pandemic.
1. Faith to Recoup
Abraham is recognized as the father of monotheistic religions.
During his time, the world had fallen to idolatry, and people looked to be comforted by the false gods that they could touch and feel. He reintroduced the belief in one G-d to the world, in spite of enormous hurdles and challenges.
The virus is a powerful adversary. Many lives have been lost (a few I personally knew), our individual freedom has been restricted, education has been curtailed and jobs vanished.
It will take sheer faith in the Creator and determination on our part to recuperate from these losses and confront the unknown that lies ahead.
2. Humility to Recover
Mount Sinai was chosen as the location for the giving of the Ten Commandments as a lesson in humility — it was the lowest mountain in the range, and from there we were able to rise up and head to the promised land.
We are also experiencing a lesson in humility. Life before the pandemic had been a showcase of extravagance.
Enjoying the highest economic prosperity, we flaunted our vacations and luxuries. Now we face a recession and uncertainty. Our humility will help during recovery and bring us through this time.
3. Unity to Revitalize
The Torah described the Jewish people encamped near Mount Sinai with the singular verb “vayichan.” Commentators (Rashi on Exodus 19:2) explain that other encampments “were made in a murmuring spirit and in a spirit of dissension,” but the one at Sinai functioned “as one person and with one mind.”
In many places in the world, including the United States, the pandemic broke out at a time of ideological division and partisanship.
Our self-isolation has triggered a yearning for social interaction and connectivity.
By setting our differences aside, we can use this opportunity to focus on common ground and revitalize ourselves as one nation, under G-d.
Our nation has been hit hard. But with faith, humility and unity, we will recover.
