Practice for Moshiach
What is Hashem teaching us with the coronavirus? Here’s my take:
When Moshiach comes and we can fulfill all 613 mitzvos, one mitzvah will be harder to keep than the rest: taharah. Not only is it not understandable; it inhibits movement. Don’t touch this! Don’t go there! Dip your clothes in the mikveh! It’s a hard sell.
How do you get the world to accept it? It seems impossible! So along comes the coronavirus, and all of a sudden the whole world is practicing similar restrictions, religiously, as if it were second nature.
Moshiach is preparing the world for a new elevated life of taharah and kedushah! Get ready! It’s coming!
Rabbi Sholom Blank
What About the Rest of the World?
Many Jewish leaders are writing articles and giving speeches about how we Jews must improve our ways. That’s great, with or without a pandemic. But the coronavirus is a global problem. Do we have no obligation to censure mankind in general? And are non-Jews free to behave as they please?
Noach was admonished for not rebuking his generation for their bad behavior. No one in that generation was Jewish. Neither did Sodom have Jews in its midst, yet it was also destroyed because of its people’s evil behavior.
In our generation, there is a strong rebellion against G-d. Many atheists today not only do not believe in G-d, but actively encourage others to join them in their disbelief. People who condemn, for example, homosexual behavior are ridiculed as being behind the times and “immoral” while people who’ve abandoned all traditional moral tenets are considered progressive and praised.
To many people today, belief in G-d is considered some kind of superstition of the past. Is this not a Jewish problem? It may be politically incorrect or uncomfortable to point out to the world that there is a G-d and that He punishes bad behavior, but that discomfort is a whole lot better than a pandemic.
Simon Wexler
New York, NY
Opportunism of the Worst Kind
Can politics get more unreal? I’m referring to the laundry list of far-left items that Nancy Pelosi put in her version of the stimulus bill to help Americans survive economically.
They were all of a piece in that none of them had any relevance to the current pandemic. Not one.
This disgraceful attempt at pushing the socialist agenda during this time of crisis insulted us all. It was a repulsive and cynical answer to a major health problem. G-d help us all.
Myron Hecker
Stow Sowing Division
Anti-Trump extremists are damaging efforts to fight the Covid-19 plague when they attempt to highlight a “falling out” between President Trump and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Dr. Fauci denies any substantive disagreement between him and the president. He told Science Magazine that “even when we disagree on some things…on substantive issues he does listen to what I say.” Dr. Fauci said he hopes media attempts to sow division between them will stop because it makes both of their jobs harder.
We must avoid partisan politics at this critical time. To act otherwise is contemptible.
Jerry Terdiman
Woodcliff Lake, NJ
China Should Pay for What It Did
Identifying this coronavirus as the Wuhan virus is not racist or xenophobic. Many previous worldwide endemics were named after their geographic place of origin. Remember MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) and the West Nile virus?
The evidence points to China experiencing the first case of the coronavirus in its Wuhan province in November 2019. Is it a coincidence that China’s one and only military biological warfare lab is located in Wuhan? Could there have been an accidental release of the virus? We may never know.
Why did China wait until January 20 before confirming that this virus spread human to human? Even worse, the World Health Organization declared on January 15: “there is no clear evidence of sustained human-to-human transmissions and there are no infections reported among health care workers.”
Because of these statements, which hid the seriousness of the situation from the world, many nations did not take preventative action. If China had acted a month or more earlier than it did, the outbreak could have been significantly reduced.
China owes financial reimbursement to other nations for the deaths and monetary costs incurred due to its obvious negligence. When this crisis is over, let the International World Court decide what financial penalties China should face.
Larry Penner
Great Neck, NY
No One’s Above the Law
The hypocrisy of the left is remarkable. Its motto is “No one is above the law!” What it should be, though, is: “No one is above the law except illegal immigrants and mayors and governors who help them flout federal law.”
Arthur Horn
Fort Lee, NJ