On exiting the ark of COVID-19
We don’t know for sure how and when the current CoVId-19 crisis will actually end. But as real conversations begin about reopening establishments and institutions, serious preparation is appropriate.
the world will probably sing on a different note, what my musician friends call a modulation. We will build a new civilization, play a similar tune to a new note, we hope on a higher plane than we’ve been before.
many call for new attention to climate change. this, too, can be considered spiritually and communally, making more permanent the “enhanced climate” with “cleaner air” of understanding and selflessness we have seen by so many, especially first responders, during this trying time. When we do that we will not only feel better, we will Be better.
the unprecedented, required and governmentally and rabbinically mandated shuttering of synagogues and communal infrastructure caused prayer and torah study to increase but plunge without notice into a personal dimension never before experienced. each individual or family had to make their own designated spiritual place.
as a result of this unanticipated social distancing and isolation, many of us now certainly know a lot we didn’t know before. at the very least, we know ourselves better, more deeply and are more aware of what we truly care about and who truly cares about us.
We will slowly return to normal – whatever that word will mean – hopefully at some point soon, but the opportunity for some very real introspection and coming closer to our loved ones and to God as a result of even this experience is spiritually welcome and conducive.
as Noah in the times of the biblical flood, we too have in a sense built ourselves an ark over the past number of weeks. the lubavitcher rebbe reminds us of the dual meaning of the hebrew word teivah, or ark, to also mean “word,” namely the words of torah and prayer. When the storms and floods hit, figuratively, we head for shelter of that ark, those “words” which provide us the refuge we need.
But when the flood ends and the torrential rains subside, we need to take the cue and “exit” the ark, or in this case, the “word,” and the comfort it was able to provide. one can’t stay sheltered forever.
We need to go back out into our world and our routine, as it were, and get to rebuilding civilization. If we do know one thing, it is that the world we face will not be the same as before, and in very real terms. sure, the buildings, roads, buildings and other infrastructures survive, but we and our world are different and will remain so for a very long time.
having done without so many previously perceived necessities for a good while, some things will now become all but obsolete. relationships and priorities will reshuffle into a new order of priority.
WatChING so many people pass so suddenly from among us will certainly give us pause, individually and collectively. too many watched relatively healthy friends and relatives felled by the coronavirus, suddenly unable to even breathe well and then just literally taken from us in a matter of days.
the psalmist, King david, says “may every soul praise the lord” (psalm 150). the hebrew word for soul, neshama, is also the root for the word neshima, or breath. With every breath life continues every day, seven billion times around the world, every few seconds. When that is taken from someone, especially suddenly, life stops. let us then cherish every breath we are fortunate to take, better appreciating he who gives it to us and what we are expected to do with the life force it enables.
my father once told me how he saw a bird flying around an empty storefront near his office. he wondered how the bird survived in there. after some time, he noticed it merely hopping somewhat, unable to move very far. he called the owner to alert him that a little bird seemed to be suffering in his store. When he came to unlock the place, the all but dead-looking bird, barely able to move, shuffled itself to the open door with its last strength, and with a breath of the new fresh air, just flew away!
yes, we’ve been cooped up, losing our routines, and some people their very minds. (a friend of mine who is a mental health professional reports skyrocketing prescriptions for medications to treat panic, anxiety and depression.) But the breath of fresh air is coming and it’s time to muster our new strength when it comes, and fly.
the biblical Noah is the father of all mankind today, as all who lived at the time of the great flood in his time were destroyed. We might take his cue to be bold and unafraid. the torah notes that Noah, who was so great he even walked with God, was great “in his time.”
But the sages teach it cuts both ways. either he was great despite all the immorality and idolatry of his time, or was great only because of the contemporary dereliction of his day but would not have been as prominent in the time of say, abraham, who acted with greater alacrity and without challenge to God’s will. abraham also reached out to all those who reached him while they were spiritually unaware, with openness and kindness, enlightening them with love and compassion.
We also need to be wary of Noah’s apparent error of promptly “planting a vine” and “drinking the wine” soon after the flood ended, and ensure that we avoid the intoxication and missteps which can also follow the giddy relief of returning to (even the new) normal.
perhaps we should be abrahamic, find the way to be more open and honest and kind and faithful and help bring the world closer to an undisputed awareness and greatness like abraham did, (which Noah, despite his noted piety, sadly did not).
We will persevere until the day will soon come when we see the ultimate fulfillment of the promise made to abraham by his and our creator, and get to that ultimate “normal” we have prayed for over the course of painful millennia, with the world redeemed and sorrow forever gone.
The writer is the executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad) in Washington, DC. His upcoming book, Capital sparks, is to be released in the Spring of 2021.