In February this year, the famous refusenik, Rabbi Yosef Mendelevitch, spoke for our yeshiva at a community shiur hosted by the Agudas Yisrael Bircas Yaakov. He related how decades ago he was imprisoned in the Soviet gulag for 11 years, often in solitary confinement, for “heinous crimes” such as wearing a yarmulke or keeping Shabbos. For many, this would be torture, but he described it as a “great delight!”
“I was able to spend as much time davening as I wanted to. Sometimes I would spend three hours davening Shacharis. I was free.” He also had no worries there about keeping Shabbos. The frustrated authorities couldn’t figure out the reason for his contentment.
I think of Rabbi Mendelevitch’s experience in solitary confinement as we find ourselves “trapped in our homes” amidst the coronavirus pandemic. Is confinement a punishment or really freedom?
Parshas Tazria-Metzora discusses a person stricken with tzara’as (often translated as leprosy) who is referred to by the name metzora. However, Onkelos and the Zohar translate the word metzora as s’gira—someone who is trapped. This gives us a different insight to tzara’as. Today we might not have the actual physical affliction of tzara’as, but we are currently living with the isolation of a metzora. Each family or individual is secluded, apart from their neighbors and community.
Rav Wolbe would often bemoan the fact that many people are afraid to be by themselves, as they might meet up with someone they don’t want to meet—their true self! He wrote an entire section in his magnum opus, Alei Shur, titled “Knowing Oneself.” In truth, it takes a lifetime and some brutal honesty to find the inner self that makes us tick. Rav Wolbe says it’s the key to success in life. He encourages people to take time twice a week to just spend 30 minutes by themselves, without distraction or interruption. Think about your strengths and how they can best be used for your own good and the good of others. Think about any weaknesses and negative qualities you have, in what situations they arise, and resolve to work on overcoming them. At each 30-minute session of introspection, note your progress in developing the positive and overcoming the negative. Your soul will thank you.
So, is isolation a punishment or a benefit?
It can be both. For those who can’t stand to be by themselves, it’s a bitter punishment. They don’t know how to appreciate themselves and often cope by speaking disparagingly about others—the very source for the affliction of tzara’as! A person who is comfortable and healthy has no reason to deride others.
The Maharsha says Torah punishments are middah k’neged middah (measure for measure) to enlighten a person about the area of deficiency they need to rectify. Isolation is really needed for such a person to repair himself. Time alone will help each person reflect on his own deficiencies and better appreciate those around them.
And what about us…today? We’re alone at home but also connected. We have our phones, our texts, our Zoom, our WhatsApp. Are we using our time to change, to grow? When I think back on social functions I attended before the COVID-19 lockdown, I picture a lot of people sitting with their phones, talking, texting, emailing and/or googling. They felt they needed to occupy themselves, even while at a simcha.
Since Hashem put us where we are today, we need to maximize the potential we were given. It’s not a time for “busy work.” The time can instead be used as a gift to do some real inner soul searching, to get to know our inner selves, as Rav Wolbe suggests above. And we can also look around, perhaps at family members in the house, and see how we can use this time to reinvigorate our relationships, engage in meaningful conversation, and learn and grow together.
Isolation is what we make of it. It can be a golden opportunity. Good Shabbos!
Rabbi Baruch Bodenheim is the associate rosh yeshiva of Passaic Torah Institute (PTI)/Yeshiva Ner Boruch. PTI has attracted people from all over northern New Jersey, including Teaneck, Paramus, Fair Lawn, Livingston and West Orange. He initiated and leads a multi-level Gemara-learning program. He has spread out beyond PTI to begin a weekly beis medrash program with in-depth chavrusa learning in Livingston, Fort Lee and a monthly group in West Caldwell. Rabbi Bodenheim can be reached at [email protected]. For more info about PTI and its full offering of torah classes visit pti.shulcloud.com.
