Ki Tisa and the Corona Crisis (Ki Tisa)

This has been a week during which, I think, most people are feeling a sense of chaos, of anxiety … a sense of something unique happening in the world. Not surprising, this week’s parsha, Ki Sissa, is rife with passukim that one can find relevant to our current world situation. There is, significantly, the verse “they shall wash their hands and feet, that they may not die. It shall be a law for all time for them – for him and his offspring – throughout the ages” (30:21) – and see, it is verse 21, an allusion that one person should wash their hands for 20 seconds!

Another interesting piece of this week’s parsha is the worship of the Golden Calf, always a troubling parsha to review. But this week, as we have all watched with concern how the stock market has tumbled, one wonders if a connection cannot be made to a reminder that we must not rely on gashmius, but that we must look to spiritual richness.

Of course, one cannot do a quick review of the parsha and the Corona Virus without noting Moshe’s mask that he wore anytime he went in public!

One last small thought is one I saw in the Sefer Talelei Oros on the pasuk “And I shall remove My palm, and you will see My back, but you will not see My face” (33:23). “The Chasam Sofer points out that there are many things in life that seem totally incomprehensible at the time they occur, but, with the passage of time, their purpose becomes clear in retrospect.”

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“And God said to Mosher, ‘carve for yourself two stone tablers, like the first ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first Tablets that you broke'” (34:1). They broke. A human broke the tablets that God had carved, but Hashem was willing to write on a new set of tablets. Hashem was willing to try again.

Perhaps this is a way to look at the seeming chaos of the current world situation. Even before the Corona virus began to spread, many of us were watching the news, scratching our heads, puzzled by how the world seemed to have lost its sanity. And it is not just a North American thing, although the politics of the United States dominate the news. But in many countries, including Israel, there has been a sense of witnessing a political circus? Most of the people I know are strikingly moderate people who stare at the news and are bewildered by the strange turns the political extremes both sides have taken. And it seems to me that the reason we are having an era of such strong political opinions is because, Baruch Hashem, we are also living in an era of incredible prosperity. Many of the problems of the past have been resolved, if not completely but greatly, and so people find new problems to think about.

The markets have stopped. Politics have been (or should be) put on hold. We have to come together as a world and figure out what we can do, all of us. And because we have been forced to stop, forced to think, we are also looking at an opportunity when, if we are wise, we have the ability for a fresh start. As the Carona virus unfolds, it is easy to focus on fear, but now is the time to focus on the amazing ways we are being shown how Hashem runs the world.

Indeed, we can see it even in the thought that Hashem sends the cure before he sends the illness. Imagine how much harder this massive amount of quarantine would be if we did not live in an age of when we can order food by phone or on websites. Schools are being closed, but thousands of children are using online learning so that their education will not be disrupted.

Alas, this will be a shortened piece with no clear conclusion… but remember in this time of uncertainty that we have been blessed with the guidance of the Torah.

1Kayla Bauer

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