The Day After — Part II

Dealing with new tech habits for our children and ourselves, stretching our limits to help organizations that were always on our tzedakah roster, reimagining our simchahs, and navigating the emotional fallout of our families and new norms for our communities, are all part of the “new normal.” When the dust settles and life reemerges from lockdown, how will we readjust to a new reality? Part Two of a special project

Rav Reuven Leuchter
Prepared for print by Rabbi Noam Paley

For several weeks now, many of us have had a strong feeling that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is manipulating nature because He wants to see something happening — and in particular, that He wants something from us. A change this big, and this disruptive, didn’t occur just so that after the crisis passes, everything should go back to the way it was before.

In order to be able to answer the question, “What does Hashem, your G-d, ask of you,” we first have to accept the premise that quite possibly, the Creator has plans for us that don’t match our assumptions.