Perhaps, Perhaps...

by a Resident of Bet El, Israel

Many Jews praying at Kotel

Jews living in Israel are in tears at the heavy toll that Coronavirus has taken on the religious Jewish community in the United States, particularly in New York and New Jersey.

It is especially shocking in light of the lopsided comparison between the price Israel is paying and the tremendously higher cost borne by Americans in these areas. New York City, New Jersey, and Israel all have approximately the same size population, yet as of this writing, over 5,000 New Jerseyites have died from the disease, nearly 11,000 have succumbed in New York City – and in Israel, 191. Yes, that is correct; there's no digit missing there…  

These numbers cry out to the Heavens!


For every 60 victims in NYC, there were nearly 30 in NJ – and just over one person in Israel.

Not five times as much, or ten times – close to 60 times!?

Is there any rational way to explain this?

Perhaps not; maybe that's "just the way it is."

Or, it could be that Israel was quicker to enact certain safety measures, spiced with its extra concern for human life.

Or, it could be for other reasons, possibly geographical, climatic, epidemiologic, biological, religious/national, or geopolitical. It could be; we might never know.

One second, please. What's that? One of the suggested reasons was of "religious/national"?! How can that possibly have anything to do with what's happening here on the ground?

Note that none of the reasons suggested here appear at first to provide either solace, or the confidence that they are correct. We're all in the dark. Let us therefore look humbly at the situation in all its complexity, accept that there are countless factors that might be taken into consideration, and allow our intuition to take over.

Let us also take one other thing into account: We are Jews; G-d speaks to us in history; and we generally pay attention. (It's true that sometimes we daydream, and begin to pay attention a bit out of sync with the actual events…)

Could G-d now be speaking to the Jewish People via the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020?

Well, why not? Why should we assume that He is not communicating with us? Since He cares about us and loves us, as the Bible tells us many times, why would He bring a plague upon the world without regard to how it affects His People?

If Jews had been spared this plague, would we not have thanked Him profusely in our prayers and made a holiday? And if the Jews of West Apple had been nearly decimated by the pandemic, while those of neighboring East Apple been untouched, would the residents of all these towns not be roused to take strong notice? If Kiryat Shalom West had been hit hard, while Kiryat Shalom East remained safe, would either of them have remained passive?

Certainly not.

As such, given the above statistics, what choice do we, the entire Jewish People, have other than to look Heavenward and ask: "Why? What's the signal here? Please tell us!"

Can we expect a direct, conclusive, absolute answer? Probably not. In fact, we might not ever know the answer, or answers, until the Mashiach comes. 

But if we juxtapose the specific, lopsided data before us with the fact that G-d's messages to us in history, beginning with Avraham Avinu, through Moshe Rabbeinu, and continuing with the Prophets, generally deal with what He wants from us as His Holy People and Nation – we might surmise that this is what He wants to say:

"My beloved people: I miss you!

"Come home to My Land! I've kept it waiting for you for 2,000 years! You have a mission here! You're different than them!

"When you're away, you can never be totally safe in the long run; don't again miss the getaway boat! Come home and help those who are here already, in building Me a Sanctuary, a light unto the nations, and a prosperous, holy and quality society – precisely as I outlined for your father Avraham long ago!

"Please hear Me!!"