Dear Hashem,
We are no Yirmiyahu HaNavi but hear our cries of Eicha 2020.
“How doth the city sit solitary?”
How has it become that a year ago we could not have fathomed the hundreds of gems that were taken from our midst as the brunt of this pandemic bore down on our communities?
Healthy men and women that celebrated the feats of Mordechai and Esther just a few days earlier, now felt the wrath of a virus, that had them gasping for air. Ventilators, if available were to no effect.
Sirens wailed day and night, as Hatzolah ferried those too fragile to breathe to the hospitals. Those who did make it to the hospitals were the lucky ones or were they? As they flailed in solitude, the last possible comfort of a family member at their death bed nothing but a fleeting dream.
The Shuls and Batei Medrash were left empty. Sifrei Torah and Seforim lay in their holy places, drenched in all of their holiness but with no one to tap into them.
As Pesach came around, Eliyahu Hanavi took on the daunting task of visiting each seder of families, many more stops this year, as they were celebrating alone. Many parents who usually enjoyed the company of four sons (and daughters and grandchildren) at the seder, now sat alone.
Kol Dichifin Yaisai Vyaichol, all who are needy let them come and eat we said. But this year we were all needy, and we could not go and eat nor could we have guests. Needy for Your mercy.
Mah Nishtana Halayla Hazeh Mikol Halilois, what made this Pesach different from all other Pesachs? Where do we start, perhaps that this year we did not have four questions but four thousand.
As we said the Birkas Hamazon and drank the cups of freedom, we said Shir Hamaalos …..Oz Yimolei Schoik Pinu, soon our lips will be filled with laughter but it felt like we should have been saying gam bochinu bzochreinu ez tziyon, we wept as we remembered what used to be.
Lag B’Omer came and Lag B’Omer went, Hinei Mah Tov U’mah Naim Sheves Achim Gam Yachad, except that this year we rejoiced in the joy of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai alone.
Chavi Kimat Rega Ad Yaavo Zo’am, wait just a moment so that the anger can pass, but how much more bloodshed did we need on our doorposts before this plague would finally pass us over. The moment went on and on and on…….
Surely by the time the Omer was over and the mageifah that effected Rabbi Akiva’s students had been mourned this would all be over, but it was not to be. For many, it was a case of Vayichan Shom Yisroel, and they camped in their homes for Shavuos, K’Ish Echad, as one man.
The once bustling schools, yeshivas and Talmudei Torah now sat in solitude. The once bustling hallways of pilpul and shakla v’tarya were confined to the phone or internet waves but the walls could no longer soak in the sights and sounds of vociferous Torah learning. The yeshivos sat in solitude.
She Weepeth Sore in the Night
Kallahs who prepared for their wedding were left traversing the unknown. She weepeth sore in the night for the wedding she planned. She weepeth sore in the night for her friends that cannot make the wedding, she weepeth sore in the night for her chosson who will stand under the chuppah without his parents. Not because his parents are in Oilam HaEmes but because his parents cannot travel.
Bar Mitzvah boys who spent weeks of preparation to be ready to read from the Torah, they too were not spared heartache from the pandemic. The pandemic does not have any effects on the children the experts said, go tell it to these boys who just became young men.
Mothers giving birth in solitude. A bris milah, a time to gather and feel the energy of Eliyahu Hanavi, where have they gone?
“All of her gates are desolate”
For more than half a century, we have found solitude that a flight to the land of our forefathers was nothing more than a flight away. But all the gates at the airport were desolate. That too we cannot do from Chutz La’Aretz. The few that were allowed to travel, did so, but the restrictions were too cumbersome for many.
Pesach in Israel was not going to be and now we wonder about Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Sukkos.
הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ יְהוָה אֵלֶיךָ ונשוב (וְנָשׁוּבָה), חַדֵּשׁ יָמֵינוּ כְּקֶדֶם.
Hashem we did not turn our back on you.
Weddings the way we knew them we could not have, but we made them even more memorable. The more we were forced into what seemed like Torah Study in solitude, the more shiurim we made and the more group Torah learning we conducted. We welcomed into the fold myriads of people who could not have accessed this Torah in person.
Pesach was different but immediate family was placed at the forefront as we retold the story of yetzias mitzrayim with the same gusto for the few as we would have for the many.
Shavuos indeed was celebrated K’Ish Echad but the pulsing of achdus and chessed that coarse through our veins was certainly that of a Leiv Echad.
The chesed organizations, Hatzalah, Chevrah Kadisha, Misaskim and many others have faced the brunt of this challenge and have been the lighthouse in the distance shining the way for Am Yisroel.
Our desire for Moshiach and for a time of the true redemption has not wavered for a single second.
Hashem, we beg of you, we plead of you, we beseech you, it has been a really hard year and the tears will probably flow as freely as ever this Tisha B’Av but Hashivain Eilecha V’Noshiva Chadeish Yomeinu K’Kedem.
