One little virus, and life is turned upside down. Is this virus trying to tell us something?
As the entire human race is shaking in fear over a microscopic germ, nation after nation are closing their borders to foreigners, and their own citizens are being thrust into quarantine. Warm human contact has been put on hold. No more hugging, no kissing, no handshakes. Everyone looks at the other with suspicion — after all, that nice person next to you might be a carrier.
The airports are quiet and desolate, as if it were wartime, and airlines, with so many canceled flights, are on the verge of bankruptcy. Schools around the world have been closed until further notice. Nations usually hostile to each other have been forced by necessity to cooperate and share information in a desperate effort to prevent the spread of the epidemic threatening us all. Skimming the news headlines, we read each day of more cases of infection, and a warning bell is set off in the back of our minds: Who knows, it could be me or you next, Rachmana litzlan. And other than washing our hands more often, what can we really do to prevent it? Day by day, it’s looking more apocalyptic. The world has been shaken up, caught up in a web of fear.
For those of us who believe that the Creator is always watching over His world and has everything under control, it is clear that this is no random event. The sense of foreboding that has shaken humanity out of its complacency is here for a purpose. The meaning of Dovid Hamelech’s words, “He Who looks at the earth and it quakes” (Tehillim 104:32) hits us now with full force. Indeed, we are quaking, and the illusionary foundations of our material well-being are shifting under our feet.
But we know that in the words of the Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni 972), “Bakol, HaKadosh Baruch Hu oseh shlichuso — HaKadosh Baruch Hu uses all things as His agents.” And this microorganism, called coronavirus because it resembles a crown, is no exception. It’s a mussar shiur for humanity, forced in droves into quarantine, where there is plenty of time for introspection, plenty of time to think about what life is truly all about. One little virus, and life is turned upside down and inside out. Is this virus trying to tell us something?
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