By the Grace of G-d
Dear Friend,
Wouldn’t you have liked to be there?
At the Exodus from Egypt.
Ten plagues that rendered the superpower Egypt harmless.
Watching the powerful ‘Sea of Reeds’ open up and two wall of water standing firm, creating a path of dry land.
It would be incredulous to personally experience the miraculous experience of walking through a sea that has split.
And the miracle bread or forty years would have been a spectacularly liberating experience. After finishing their provisions, thirty days into the dessert journey, Hashem rained down food in the form of Manna. Literally ‘Heavenly Bread’.
Well, in a sense we were all there. We remember these events daily and repetitively thank the Almighty for His benevolent kindness. Or daily prayers remind us to be gratitude filled for all the steps of our history that led us to where we are.
But now I am talking about actually being there.
What do you think it would feel like?
Let me ask you about something contemporary.
About something that you did experience.
Like Covid.
In some time from now, this virus will please G-d disappear, or as some medical opinions say, it will continue to exist but as a ‘regular’ seasonal virus that needs to be lived with and not feared to the point of panic.
At that time, the children that don’t have any memories of it, will look to us to recount our experiences.
Anyone who lived through these past two years will have an angle to share. Whether or not they got infected by Covid, every single person has been affected.
But there will be those who actually experienced the sickness and those who Hashem protected and didn’t actually get sick but suffered the side effects of the virus on the economy and other domino affected infrastructures.
Let us talk about those who did experience Covid. There will be many different experiences depending on who you ask.
Take my family for example.
I am thankful to the Almighty that I didn’t contract Covid till last Friday at the onset of Shabbat.
With Covid, the later the better.
Our daughter had it in March 2020 in NY. She is young but felt horribly sick for almost two weeks.
My father had it in April 2020. He was hospitalized in a usually effectively run NY medical institution. His experience was horrifying. In terms of the medical aspect, there were a flurry of deaths from the virus at that early stage. Being hospitalized with Covid was a very scary notion. And in terms of the inability of the hospital to be adequately on top of the nursing care for the inpatients. Remember, families were not allowed in. Patients were vulnerable and alone. The medical providers are heroes, but the system couldn’t cope or keep up.
Thank G-d my father came home after ten days in hospital just in time for the Passover Seder and still quite unwell.
Getting Covid in January of 2022 is a different story thank G-d for the vast majority of cases. (Sadly there is also a minority who have gotten seriously ill, may Hashem send healing to all those who are acutely ill and hospitalized)
Yes, I did get two days of fever and was feeling quite ill. I would not wish it on others and certainly we need to make every effort to curtail the spread of this, and any disease, to the best of our ability.
But by all accounts, thank G-d the virus seems to have developed into something closer to a bad cold or a flu, in terms of symptoms, without the attack on the lungs that had us all in a state of high alert.
After two days I started feeling better thank G-d.
A few of our fellow community members have reported to me that they tested positive but thank G-d did not suffer anything more than a sniffle.
It seems that there are varied experiences ranging from very serious to remarkably mild.
In several decades from now, we will recount stories to the youngsters.
Many of us will furrow our brows, lean back with a sagely inward gaze as we share stories recalling the pandemic of 2020/1 and regaling the kids with episodes from how life was ‘back then’.
I will be one of those who ‘had Covid’.
You may be one of those who ‘had Covid’.
Millions have had Covid. Fifty million in the USA alone.
Yet, the individual experiences may be totally different.
‘Having Covid’ can be as harrowing as lying in a hospital bed attached to oxygen thinking the only way out of hospital is in a hearse.
‘Having Covid’ can be as benign as testing positive and having a sniffle and a cold-like feeling.
Applying this back to Exodus, splitting the sea and eating Manna.
The experience was not a one size fits all. There were also varied experiences within those who benefited from this miracle.
For example, when it came to the manna.
The manna was a pure white food and tasted like the finest and most delicious foods imaginable: Whatever taste one desired, the manna tasted like that food.
Yet, not everyone received it in the same way.
The manna would fall in such a way that the righteous would find it at the doors of their tents; the average people had to go out of the camp to gather what fell there; and the wicked had to go far out to find their portions.
Additionally, for the righteous it fell ready-to-eat, similar to baked bread; for the average person, it fell as unbaked cakes, requiring minimal preparation; and for the wicked it came in an unprocessed form, and consequently they had to grind it in a mill.
Even when it came to crossing the sea it would seem that not everyone had the same distance to walk.
The Jews crossed the sea following a semi-circular path. They didn’t go in on one side and come out on the other side of the sea. Rather they entered the sea and exited the sea on the same side, further along the coast. In that semi-circle, each of the tribes had its own path. In other words there were twelve paths that comprised the semi-circular path that the Jews traveled.
Close your eyes and imagine a semi-circular highway divided into twelve. The innermost track will be a shorter distance in length than the outer track.
This would mean that the tribe that was walking on the outside track had a longer walk than the tribe on the innermost track.
Fascinating.
Can it be perhaps like two people who come off a fifteen-hour flight. One comes off from a cramped economy class while the other comes out of a fully equipped first class. Same journey. They took off from airport A and landed in airport B. They did not necessarily have the same experience though.
I have had time to ruminate this week.
Staying at home waiting for Covid to clear is a fine time to meditate and think about life.
And realize, that although now I have joined the ranks of those who have ‘had Covid’, I needed to realize that I still couldn’t consider myself fully understanding of what others have gone through or are going through.
Thank G-d I had a mild case, and I am back to myself please G-d and just finishing up the requisite isolation days before ‘reentering’ society.
I realize that I cannot truly comprehend or feel empathetically what others have gone through. They may have had a more difficult case. More painful symptoms. The aloneness may have been very difficult for them alongside a host of other differentiations.
This leads me to the point that really hit home.
Our Sages tell us ‘don’t judge your friend until your reach their place’.
Why not?
I see someone else do something wrong. Why shouldn’t I be judgmental?
Because life is not easy?
I am also a human living in that same life as him.
If I don’t stumble and mess up with acting improperly, why shouldn’t I expect the same thing from him? We both walk the same earth and live under the same life conditions. We may even be neighbors and live on the same block.
The Tanya deflects this question.
You don’t live the same life as your fellow, says the Tanya.
Yes, you are a fellow human living here on earth.
But the circumstances of your life are totally different.
And that changes the experience totally.
His life circumstances may bring him into positions of temptation that you have no idea about. You don’t ever feel that urge to do that improper thing because you haven’t been required to earn your livelihood in that environment.
Let us learn how not to be judgmental.
Judgementalism comes when we think we understand. We have experienced what our fellow is going through and reacted better. We feel happy about our behavior in the face of challenge and temptation. Sometimes even smug. And we look down wish disdain at the fellow who didn’t come out as positive.
But we may have it totally wrong.
We THINK we understand.
But we don’t TRULY understand. Because the circumstances were different.
Just like the person who tests positive to covid and has a sniffle.
The sniffler cannot truly understand the one who suffered the loss of a loved one to Covid, or was sick to the point of being in fear of losing their own life.
Throw out the judgmentalism.
Let us be accepting of our fellows. Laudatory. Complimentary.
This will help them raise themselves to be better and live up to the complimentary way they feel others perceive them.
The Rebbe taught by example how to look at others. In Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z”l words, “You saw your reflection in the Rebbe’s eyes, and you were suddenly much bigger than you thought you were.”
We are all on our individual journey.
In the same world. Perhaps even living in the same city and on the same block. But markedly different experiences. Each of us having their life tailored by the Almighty.
On the one hand, when it comes to being self-introspective, we need to hold ourselves accountable. We dare not create short cuts for ourselves. We should not stop trying harder as we utilize the gifts G-d has endowed us with to their maximum.
And at the same time, when it come to the way we view others, we need to be totally non-judgmental, giving them our love and empowerment to do the best that they can do.
This Shabbat is called the Shabbat of Song.
Too often, great things happen to us, which we may say “thank you’ to Hashem for, but we don’t sing enough.
Singing to Hashem, means letting your emotion spill over into melody. Sing, clap, dance, and raise your voice in jubilance to G-d.
Above all we must sing together. In praise to Hashem for all the goodness and kindness that comes our way.
We all have voices that are different.
Sopranos, tenors, baritones and everything in between.
When we sing together, we create a harmonious melody that uplifts and inspires.
The ultimate song will be sung when Mashiach comes speedily in our days AMEN.
But even now, when we eagerly await Mashiach, we need to SING MORE!!!!
We ought to sing for EVERY BREATH that the Almighty gives us.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Yosef Kantor