DRAFT (WORK IN PROGRESS): Understanding Covid-19 in light of the Talmud, Halachah, Musar, Kabbalah and Chassidut

How strong is the power of the holy name! Its power extends to the whole Earth! How precious are the words of the Torah! There is no small thing that is not found in the Torah!

§ The Sages taught: If there is plague in the city, gather your feet, i.e., limit the time you spend out of the house, as it is stated in the verse: “And none of you shall go out of the opening of his house until the morning.” And it says in another verse: “Come, my people, enter into your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourself for a little moment, until the anger has passed by” (Isaiah 26:20). And it says: “Outside the sword will bereave, and in the chambers terror” (Deuteronomy 32:25).

And if you would say that this matter applies only where there is no fear inside, which explains why it is preferable to remain indoors, but where there is fear inside, one might think that when he goes out and sits among people in general company it is better, therefore, the Gemara introduces the third verse and says: Come and hear: “Outside the sword will bereave, and in the chambers terror.” This means that although there is terror in the chambers, outside the sword will bereave, so it is safer to remain indoors.

Go, my people, enter your chambers, And lock your doors behind you. Hide but a little moment, Until the indignation passes.

Go, my people, enter your chambers:... enter your houses of prayer and study. Another interpretation: reflect upon your behavior in the chambers of your heart. So explained Rabbi Tanchuma.

And lock your doors behind you: Targum Yonatan (explains): Do good deeds that will protect you. Rabbi Tanchuma taught: Close the doors of your mouth; do not question (G-d's) measure of justice.

No translation available. Yet.

Healing - Our sages of blessed memory said on the verse "And heal he will be healed" [shemot 21;19] - from here the Torah gave the permission to doctors to heal. [berakhot 60a] And it is also said [with respect to illnesses] - that they are bad and trustworthy [Deut / devarim 28;59] - that they are "trustworthy" as an emissary / delegate [of heaven] [rashi there] for at the time that they are appointed / delegated [to fall upon a person] - it is decreed upon them that they should only leave on a determined day by the appointed doctor using the prescribed medicine. Our sages have also said "A person should not live in a place where there is no doctor" [sanhedrin 17b]

And thus we find that an [interesting] inquiry arises. Since it is Hashem who determines death and life - what what will the doctor add [by aiding to heal the patient]? Is it not so that if it was decreed [in Heaven] that one will die, even if all the doctors in the world arose to heal him, they would not be able to save him from death?And thus [we can better understand] our sages statement "the error / malpractice of the doctor is the will of the Creator" and it is not in his power to save. And if it was decreed upon the person that he should live, even without a doctor, the Holy One Blessed Be He, will turn over [worlds] and cure him. For Hashem has many ways and with Him there is much deliverance and He will stretch out his word [other version "hand"] and heal him. However, the answer to this inquiry and to many others like it is that there are three different types of decrees - 1) If he is one that holds a special merit and his merit is strong and his fate is salutary - even if he doesn't have a doctor and he does things that will worsen his condition, he will not die and "live he will live". 2) And there are those, upon whom death is decreed - that is to say, even if he guarded himself with all protection in the world, his persistence of protecting himself is all in vain, and doctors will be of no help and he will not be saved. 3) However, there are those who, due to their sins, place themselves under the influence of "nature": - if they protect themselves and act with the proper cures according to nature - "live he will live" - he will surely live. - and if not they will die and on this type of person it is said "and there is death without judgment."

The students of Rabbi Shimon bar Yoḥai asked him: For what reason were the enemies of Jewish people, a euphemism for the Jewish people themselves when exhibiting behavior that is not in their best interests, in that generation deserving of annihilation? He, Rabbi Shimon, said to them: Say the answer to your question yourselves. They said to him: It is because they partook of the feast of that wicked one, Ahasuerus. Rabbi Shimon responded: If so, those in Shushan should have been killed as punishment, but those in the rest of the world, who did not participate in the feast, should not have been killed. They said to him: Then you say your response to our question. He said to them: It is because they prostrated before the idol that Nebuchadnezzar had made, as is recorded that the entire world bowed down before it, except for Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

It is a positive commandment from the Torah to cry out and to sound trumpets for all troubles that come upon the community; as it is stated (Numbers 10:9), "upon an enemy who attacks you and you sound trumpets." That is to say, [with] every matter that troubles you — such as famine, a plague, locusts and that which is similar to them — cry out about them, and sound the trumpets.

And this thing is from the ways of repentance. For when a trouble comes and they yell out about it and sound [trumpets], everyone will know that it was because of their evil deeds that this bad was done to them. As it is stated (Jeremiah 5:25), "It is your iniquities that have diverted, etc." And this is what will cause them to remove the trouble from upon them.

But if they do not cry out and sound [trumpets], but rather say, "What has happened to us is the way of the world, and this trouble is merely happenstance" — it is surely the way of cruelty, and it causes them to stick to their bad deeds. And the trouble will add other troubles. About this is it written in the Torah (Leviticus 26: 27-28), "but walk arbitrarily with Me. Then I will (also) walk arbitrarily with you in fury." That is to say, "When I will bring upon you troubles — if you will say that it is arbitrary, I will increase the fury of this arbitrariness."

(1) These are the troubles of the community about which we fast and sound [trumpets]: About haters of Israelites making troubles for Israelites; about the sword (foreign troops); about a plague; about evil (dangerous) animals; about [the two main types of] locusts; about blight; about chlorosis; about collapse; about sicknesses; about [the lack of] provisions; and about the rain.

About a plague — how is this? What is a plague? A city that has five hundred footmen and three of them are eliminated and died in three days — one after [the other] — this is surely a plague. If they were eliminated in one day or in four days, it is not a plague. If there were a thousand and six of them were eliminated in three days — one after [the other — this is] a plague. If they were eliminated in one day or in four days, it is not a plague. And so forth, according to this calculation. And women, minors and old men that have stopped from working are not in the count of the people of the province regarding this matter.

A man whose vices exceed his virtues dies immediately as a result of his wickedness, as it is said: "For the multitude of thine iniquity" (Hos. 9. 7). So is a state whose vices exceed immediately destroyed, even as it is said: "Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorroh is great (Gen. 18. 20). So, too, is the whole world, if their vices exceeded their virtues they are immediately destroyed, as it is said: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great" (6. 5). But the weighing of this is not according to the number of virtues and vices, but according to their magnitude. There is a virtue that overbalances many vices, even as it is said: "Because in him there is found some good thing" (I Kings, 14. 13); and there is a kind of vice which overbalances many virtues, even as it is said: "But one sinner destroyeth much good" (Ecc. 9. 18). Moreover these are not weighed by anyone, save only in the knowledge of the All-knowing God, for only He knoweth the estimate of virtues versus vices. (³Yebamot, 50a; Kiddushin 40a. C.)

Notwithstanding that the blowing of the ram's horn trumpet on Rosh ha-Shanah is a Scriptural statute, its blast is symbolic, as if saying: "Ye that sleep, bestir yourselves from your sleep, and ye slumbering, emerge from your slumber, examine your conduct, turn in repentance, and remember your Creater! They that forget the truth because of the vanities of the times, who err all of their years by pursuing vanity and idleness, which are of neither benefit nor of salvation, care for your souls, improve your ways and your tendencies, let each one of you abandon his evil path and his thought which is not pure! It is, therefore, necessary for every man to behold himself throughout the whole year in a light of being evenly balanced between innocence and guilt, and look upon the entire world as if evenly balanced between innocence and guilt; thus, if he commit one sin, he will overbalance himself and the whole world to the side of guilt, and be a cause of its destruction; but if he perform one duty, behold, he will overbalance himself and the whole world to the side of virtue, and bring about his own and their salvation and escape, even as it is said: "But the righteous is an everlasting foundation" (Prov. 10. 25), it is he, by whose righteousness he overbalanced the whole world to virtue and saved it. And, because of this matter, it became the custom of the whole house of Israel to excel in alms-giving, in good conduct and in the performance of duties during the intervening days of Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom ha-Kippurim above what they do during the whole year. It also became a universal custom to rise early during those ten days, to deliver in the synagogues prayers of supplication and ardor till the dawn of the day.⁵Kiddushin, 39b–40a. C.

Rabbi Akiva says that the verse should be understood as follows: If one studied Torah in his youth he should study more Torah in his old age; if he had students in his youth he should have additional students in his old age, as it is stated: “In the morning sow your seed, etc.” They said by way of example that Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of students in an area of land that stretched from Gevat to Antipatris in Judea, and they all died in one period of time, because they did not treat each other with respect.

With regard to the twelve thousand pairs of Rabbi Akiva’s students, the Gemara adds: It is taught that all of them died in the period from Passover until Shavuot. Rav Ḥama bar Abba said, and some say it was Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Avin: They all died a bad death. The Gemara inquires: What is it that is called a bad death? Rav Naḥman said: Diphtheria.

It is a time of trouble. Then there will be a time of trouble for Israel, but from that trouble deliverance will come.

O mortal, record this date, this exact day; for this very day the king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem.

Due to what reason was the First Temple destroyed? It was destroyed due to the fact that there were three matters that existed in the First Temple: Idol worship, forbidden sexual relations, and bloodshed...

why was the Second Temple destroyed? It was destroyed due to the fact that there was wanton hatred during that period. This comes to teach you that the sin of wanton hatred is equivalent to the three severe transgressions: Idol worship, forbidden sexual relations and bloodshed.

Translation?

(13) Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa said: From that ram, which was created at the twilight, nothing came forth which was useless. The ashes of the ram were || the base which was upon the top of the inner altar. The sinews of the ram were the strings of the harp whereon David played. The ram's skin was the girdle (around) the loins of Elijah, may he be remembered for good, as it is said, "And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins" (2 Kings 1:8). The horn of the ram of the left side (was the one) wherein He blew upon Mount Sinai, as it is said, "And it shall come to pass, that when the ram's horn soundeth long" (Josh. 6:5). (The horn) of the right side, which is larger than that of the left, is destined in the future to be sounded in the world that is to come, as it is said, "And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great trumpet shall be blown" (Isa. 27:13); and it is said, "And the Lord shall be king over all the earth" (Zech. 14:9).

Rabbi Samlai taught: To what is a fetus in its mother’s womb comparable? To a folded notebook [lefinkas]. And it rests with its hands on its two sides of its head, at the temples, its two arms [atzilav] on its two knees, and its two heels on its two buttocks, and its head rests between its knees, and its mouth is closed, and its umbilicus is open. And it eats from what its mother eats, and it drinks from what its mother drinks, and it does not emit excrement lest it kill its mother. But once it emerges into the airspace of the world, the closed limb, i.e., its mouth, opens, and the open limb, its umbilicus, closes, as otherwise it cannot live for even one hour.

(4) The Sages and the Prophets did not long for the days of the Messiah because they wanted to rule the world or because they wanted to have dominion over the non-Jews or because they wanted the nations to exalt them or because they wanted to eat, drink and be merry. Rather, they desired this so that they would have time for Torah and its Wisdom. And there would be no one who would oppress them or force them to be idle (from Torah). This, in order that they may merit the World to Come, as we have explained regarding the Laws of Repentance.

(5) At that time there will be no famines and no wars, no envy and no competition. For the Good will be very pervasive¹⁴⁸Or, inspiring, affecting, influencing.. All the delicacies will be as readily available as is dust. The world will only be engaged in knowing G-d¹⁴⁹Compare with Rabbi S. R. Hirsch in his Nineteen Letters.. Then, there will be very wise people¹⁵⁰Some editions have, “Israel will be very wise”. who will understand the deep, sealed matters. They will then achieve knowledge of the Creator to as high a degree as humanly possible, as it says, “For the Earth shall be filled of knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9).