Editor’s note: Rabbi Wiener was quarantined for two weeks.
Many have asked how I survived
The boredom of quarantine
My response, I highly recommend it for each of us
For the lessons I did glean
Not unlike Moshe’s experience
Sequestered on Har Sinai
Time to meditate and reflect
Without an abundance of distractions nearby
To pray in complete silence
Albeit with no congregation
Although devoid of the benefits of public prayer
Time for unprecedented meditation
But this is not about me
Or my enjoyable vacation
It’s an epidemic claiming lives
Across every nation
What is the Torah view
With a crisis of this sort
One that has begun to close schools
And impacted every airport
Response to suffering many wish to believe
Is divorced from all religion
When the Jewish community is so predominantly involved
Many suffer from tunnel vision
In our advanced scientific age
Many are religiously naive
The culture chalks it up to coincidence
We are so easy to deceive
The link between suffering and sin
Even for the religious is hard to swallow
That a pandemic promote reflection
Seems artificial and hollow
Such is the approach of our arch enemy
It’s the Amalek ideology
It remains at the opposite pole
Of Israel’s axiology
Moshe knew this well
That suffering and sin have a link
But that the righteous can suffer was beyond his grasp
That deep he just couldn’t think
How young children take ill
The loss of a young parent so devout
Watching young children try to cope
Who could blame them for their doubt
In a God whose attribute is compassion
A God exalted with grace
But we have no answer when a child asks
Hashem, my daddy can You ever replace?
In our parsha Moshe asked this very question
“Hareini Na Et Kevodecha”
God, how can we truly love You
“Uvechol me’odecha”?
God’s response was deafening
“Ufanai Lo Yeira’u”
You’ll never fully know
Why this one dies from the flu
Or this one is disabled
And the other in perfect health
This one so impoverished
And this one with abundant wealth
The human body is miraculous
A gift to mankind God did lend
But our frontal lobe has limits
Of what it can comprehend
Our revered teacher the Rav
This answer he could not attain
He struggled like us all
But at least he tried to explain
That at the same moment we see suffering
And break down and just cry
The question that we should be asking is
What? and not Why?
What can I do when I experience
A threat that’s existential
I must turn inward and inquire
As to my spiritual potential
Don’t waste “passional experiences” he writes
Capitalize and utilize them
For a “loftier nobler life”
And not to profane God and condemn
So what is my perspective
As the news consumes me so
What lesson have I learned
So as we make history I can grow?
As a virus spreads across the globe
An infection so pervasive
It reminds me of harmful words
Which are equally invasive
They spread so far and so wide
And yes often without malice
But the negligence of the sender with little forethought
Is almost equally as callous
The damage is done, the ubiquitous remark
Has now claimed another victim
As Jews we must be mindful of
Our Sages’ famous dictum
When the body seeks spiritual health
On its quest for the virtue that’s ideal
Silence is the golden standard
If we truly care how people feel
So as we contemplate the virus’ journey
And plead for not another fatality
As Jews we’re called upon to integrate
Our faith and commitment in its totality
Our approach is not prophesy
To point to the cause and effect
But to ignore God’s role is heresy
And our actions we must duly inspect
When we look to a future with hope that soon
From this pandemic mankind God will redeem
We will be asked did we give any thought
To the One who reigns supreme
Did I respond and answer the question, What?
What is it that I can I do?
And leave aside the question, Why?
That’s not the first question of a Jew
I hope in years from now in retrospect
I see how I have spiritually matured
That this pandemic was not for naught
Rather I have been spiritually cured
Rabbi Ezra Weiner is principal of Judaic Studies at TABC and assistance rabbi at Congregation Rinat Yisrael.
