The Cure for Corona May Be Right Under Our Noses

Is it possible that the cure to the Corona virus may be sitting right in front of our faces? When you start to put all of the clues together, you will see that the answer is right under our noses.

When we read the Parsha Ki Tisa this past Shabbat, it started to get me thinking that the answer to this plague is in the Torah. It said that every Jew was to give a half shekel for the building of the Temple in the desert and that when you give away the money, there will not be a plague among you. Now that’s a pretty big coincidence that this was the Torah portion we read last Shabbat and there happens to be a plague going around the entire world! Doing this Mitzvah is pretty easy. If we give away money to charity, we can avoid the plague. That’s a no-brainer! Then the Torah goes on to says that the High Priests and his sons have to wash their hands when they do their service in the Temple. The Torah says if they don’t wash their hands, they will die. This makes sense to most of us now especially since we are washing our hands incessantly. The media says that the smartest thing we can do is to keep washing our hands to keep ourselves free of the virus. If giving money to charity and washing our hands will keep us from getting the Corona virus, then that’s what we will do.

But here’s where it starts to get really good. I heard an amazing talk given by The Palm Beacher Rebbe, Rabbi Moshe Scheiner. He said the word Corona in Hebrew could be divided into two words, Co-reh and Na. Co-reh being “call out” and Na being “please”. We call out to Hashem to please help us for the sake of our communities, our elderly, our financial situation and especially the fear of our future. So when we pray, we should be calling out to Hashem and saying please. I doubt that we will have a hard time calling out to the Almighty and saying please especially in the situation we find ourselves in now.

Here’s where it starts get really good. The Corona virus is also known by it’s scientific name, Covid-19. Covid is also a Hebrew word. It appears in the Mishna in the tractate Brachot. The Mishna says “Ain omdeem lihitpalail ella mitoch Covaid rosh”. We stand up to say the Amida, the Amida being the standing prayer that Jews all over the world say three times a day, only from “Covaid rosh.” Rashi, the famous medieval commentator, says Covaid means humility. We only say our daily prayers with humility. This means that when we stand before the Almighty we ask him, with humility, to help us and provide everything that we need to sustain us, our families and our communities. This also works well with Co-reh Na, calling out to Hashem with humility by saying please. Furthermore, how many blessings are there in the Amida? 19! The scientific name for Corona is Covid-19. I’m not making this stuff up!

If that’s not enough clues to tell you that the Torah has our cure, then there is one last thing. This is the first time in the history of Israel that the entire public transportation system will be off for Shabbat. The entire country will be in a lockdown. It might be the first time that every Jew in Israel will not have to try that hard to keep the entirety of Shabbat. There will be police and army units out in force to remind people who leave their house. In fact, the entire world might be shut down which means that every Jew in the world would not have to make much of an effort to keep the entire Shabbat.

This week we will read the Torah portion called Vayakhel where in the very beginning it says “on six days work will be done, but the 7th day shall be holy for you, a complete day of rest. And if you don’t rest, you won’t survive”. We are living in times where there are people dying by the hundreds everyday. We have no idea if we will be alive next year, next month, or even next week. Is it possible that if we keep Shabbat we will not get the virus?

There’s a concept in Judaism that the Messiah/Moshiach, who will usher in the final redemption, will come when all the Jews keep two Shabbats in a row. When that happens, there will be a Corona, a coronation of the King, who is the Almighty who runs the world and the entire world will recognize it with clarity. If there is ever a time to keep two Shabbats in a row, this may be the time.

There are certainly many clues that the cure to the Corona virus is being shown to us. We just have to open up our eyes and hearts and listen to the messages that the Almighty is sending us. We need to give away money to help Jewish charities and they need our help now more than ever. We need to call out to Hashem and pray with humility by saying please. When we are able to keep just two Shabbats in a row, it’s possible that the cure to the virus will make itself known and we will have the clarity to get back to the life we all want to have. May we hear the messages the Almighty is sending us and may we make it through this plague with our health and a stronger connection to Hashem our Torah and each other.